STATE v. GAINES (2022)

Writ application granted. See per curiam.

Granted. The court of appeal erred in finding as errors patent that defendant's sentences of 50 years imprisonment at hard labor on counts one and two for molestation of a juvenile under the age of 13, La.R.S. 14:81.2, were illegal. The 50-year sentences are within the range authorized by the amended and renumbered penalty provision for those crimes during the times the State alleged and proved that defendant committed them. Therefore, we reverse the court of appeal's ruling, which vacated the sentences for counts one and two and remanded for resentencing. Because the trial court has already resentenced defendant in accordance with the court of appeal's erroneous instructions, we also vacate those sentences. We reinstate the sentences originally imposed by the trial court. We remand to the court of appeal for further consideration of defendant's assignment of error, which the court of appeal partially pretermitted in its ruling.