State v. Mayeux
| Decision Date | 05 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. CR85-372,CR85-372 |
| Citation | 485 So.2d 256 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Harold MAYEUX, Defendant-Appellant. 485 So.2d 256 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Lewis O. Unglesby, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.
J. Edward Knoll, Dist. Atty., Thomas E. Papale, Asst. Dist. Atty., Marksville, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before STOKER, DOUCET and YELVERTON, JJ.
Defendant, Harold Mayeux, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery, LSA-R.S. 14:34. He was convicted by a jury of attempted aggravated battery on both counts, and sentences were fashioned and handed down based on these verdicts. Defendant now appeals his conviction and sentence assigning three errors. The first two assignments have to do with the validity of attempted aggravated battery as a responsive verdict to aggravated battery. The third assignment complains that the sentence was an illegal one.
Defendant's assignments have merit.
The trial judge told the jury that attempted aggravated battery was responsive to each charge, and gave the jury verdict sheets with that described offense on them. The trial judge gave that described responsive verdict because the defendant requested it, and the state did not object.
The only responsive verdicts which may be rendered when the indictment charges aggravated battery are Guilty, Guilty of Second Degree Battery, Guilty of Simple Battery, and Not Guilty. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 814, subd. A (14). The trial judge instructed the jury as to these four responsive verdicts, then added the instruction that attempted aggravated battery was also a responsive verdict. Aside from the fact that there is no such designated crime, attempted aggravated battery is not a responsive verdict under Art. 814. When responsive verdicts are mandated by C.Cr.P. art. 814, the trial court is without authority to vary or to add to the prescribed verdicts. State v. Thibodeaux, 380 So.2d 59 (La.1980).
The conviction based on the nonresponsive verdict of attempted aggravated battery was patently invalid. Id.
The jury's verdict shows that the state failed to prove the elements of the offense charged or of those offenses for which responsive verdicts are prescribed by C.Cr.P. art. 814. When this happens, the defendant is entitled to an acquittal. State v. Marse, 365 So.2d 1319 (La.1978).
The convictions and sentences are reversed and set aside; a judgment of acquittal is hereby rendered; and ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Hurst
...court reversed the conviction, set aside the sentence, and ordered an acquittal to be entered for aggravated battery. State v. Mayeux, 485 So.2d 256 (La.App. 3 Cir.), rev'd, 498 So.2d 701 (La.1986). The supreme court affirmed the appellate court's ruling vacating the conviction and setting ......
- State v. Brown
-
State v. Brown
...responsive verdict to a charge of aggravated battery, and therefore the court of appeal entered an order of acquittal. State v. Mayeux, 485 So.2d 256 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1986). This court reversed the court of appeal, agreeing that the convictions must be set aside because the verdicts were inv......
-
Mayeux v. Belt, Civ. A. No. 89-0551-A.
... ... No opposition to the report and recommendation of the magistrate having been filed, this court adopts these recommendations as its own ... IT IS ORDERED that the application of John Harold Mayeux for a writ of habeas corpus is GRANTED. Accordingly, the State of Louisiana and any of its political subdivisions, including William O. Belt, Sheriff of Avoyelles Parish, State of Louisiana, are ordered to liberate, free and surrender the petitioner, John Harold Mayeux, from custody immediately. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF ... ...