State v. Howard

• Decision Date: 20 August 1973
• Docket Number: No. 53350,53350
• Citation: State v. Howard, 281 So.2d 701 (La. 1973)
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Walter HOWARD.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 701

281 So.2d 701

STATE of Louisiana v. Walter HOWARD.

No. 53350.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Aug. 20, 1973.

Dodge, Friend & Wilson, Gordon F. Wilson, Jr., New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., LeRoy A. Hartley, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jim Garrison, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

MARCUS, Justice.

On this appeal, we are presented with consideration of two bills of exceptions reserved below by appellant. Bill of Exceptions No. 1 was reserved to the ruling of the trial judge denying a motion for a new trial, and Bill of Exceptions No. 2 was taken to the denial of the relief sought in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant was tried and convicted of armed robbery on March 13, 1967. He was then represented by counsel of his own choosing. On July 7, 1967, he was sentenced without being represented by counsel. On September 17, 1971, upon application of appellant, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered that the accused be resentenced because of his showing that he was without counsel at the time he was sentenced. It was also ordered that counsel be appointed to represent him at this re-sentencing and on any subsequent appeal. On September 21, 1971, in compliance with the order of the Federal District Court, the court below appointed counsel for appellant. On January 12, 1972, with counsel present, appellant was re-sentenced to serve thirty years at hard labor in the State Penitentiary with credit for time already served. A motion for appeal was filed and granted on January 21, 1972.

On October 5, 1972, counsel for appellant filed a motion for a new trial and an application for habeas corpus. Both were denied by the trial judge, and bills of exceptions were reserved which are now the subject of this appeal.

Bill of Exceptions No. 1 deals with the denial of appellant's motion for a new trial. This motion urges that: (1) new and material evidence was available; (2) errors have been discovered in the proceedings since the verdict; and (3) the ends of justice would be served by the granting of a new trial.

A motion for a new trial may be urged for any of the five reasons set forth in Article 851 C.Cr.P. However, this motion except for the third ground relating to the availability of new and material evidence, must be filed and disposed of before sentence. Article 853 C.Cr.P. When this ground is urged, the motion may be filed within one year after verdict or judgment of the trial court, even though a sentence has been imposed.

The motion herein was not filed prior to appellant's re-sentencing. Therefore, the trial judge, under Article 853 C.Cr.P., need only have considered the first allegation recited in this motion, viz.:

'New and material evidence, that notwithstanding the exercise of reasonable diligence by the defendant, was not discovered before or during the trial, is available, and if the evidence had been introduced the verdict probably would have been different.'

When this ground is urged as a basis for the motion for a new trial, Article 854 C.Cr.P. provides that the motion shall contain allegations of fact, sworn to by the defendant or his counsel, showing: (1) that, notwithstanding the exercise of reasonable diligence by the defendant, the new evidence was...