State v. Francis
State v. Francis
Opinion of the Court
On appeal, defendant's appointed appellate counsel has filed an Anders
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In 1993, defendant, Vernon Francis, who was tried as an adult at the age of 16 years, was convicted of the second degree murder of Shannon Cooks in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Defendant's conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. State v. Francis , 93-953 (La. App. 5 Cir. 03/16/94),
ANDERS BRIEF
Under the procedure adopted by this Court in State v. Bradford , 95-929, pp. 3-4 (La. App. 5 Cir. 6/25/96),
In Anders , supra , the United States Supreme Court stated that appointed appellate counsel may request permission to withdraw if he finds his case to be wholly frivolous after a conscientious examination of it.
In State v. Jyles , 96-2669 at 2,
When conducting a review for compliance with Anders , an appellate court must conduct an independent review of the record to determine whether the appeal is wholly frivolous. Bradford , 95-929, at 4,
ANALYSIS
Defendant's appellate counsel asserts that after a detailed review of the record, she could find no non-frivolous issues to raise on appeal. Counsel indicates that the trial court sentenced defendant to the mandatory minimum and granted him parole *203eligibility with credit for time served. Counsel further notes that there were no objections made during this sentencing and no new motions were filed that would give rise for additional appeals or claims. Appellate counsel has filed a motion to withdraw as attorney of record and has mailed defendant a copy of his brief.
The State agrees with appellate counsel that there are no non-frivolous issues to be raised on appeal and urges that this Court should grant appellate counsel's motion to withdraw.
An independent review of the record supports appellate counsel's assertion that there are no non-frivolous issues to be raised on appeal. Because appellate counsel's brief adequately demonstrates by full discussion and analysis that she has reviewed the trial court proceedings and cannot identify any basis for a non-frivolous appeal and an independent review of the record supports counsel's assertion, we affirm defendant's sentence and conviction and grant appellate counsel's motion to withdraw as attorney of record.
Defendant raises three pro se assignments of error in his supplemental brief, which are addressed below.
PRO SE ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBERS ONE AND TWO
In his first pro se assignment of error, defendant asserts that his appellate counsel is ineffective for failing to assign as error that defendant's appointed counsel for sentencing was also ineffective for "not challenging the impermissible retroactive application that would occur if the provision of [ La. C.Cr.P. art.] 878.1 & [La.] R.S. 15:574.4(E) were to be applied to his collateral review sentence". In his second pro se assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court's retroactive application of La. C.Cr.P. art. 878.1 and La. R.S. 15:574.4(E) is impermissible and that he should have instead been sentenced to the most serious penalty for the next lesser offense of manslaughter.
We first note that the issue of the retroactive application of Miller has been addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court. In Miller,
To implement Miller's "meaningful opportunity to obtain release" for those juveniles who commit murder but are not found to be irreparably corrupt, the Legislature in2013 La. Acts 239 enacted La. C.Cr.P. art. 878.1 and La. R.S. 15:574.4(E). Article 878.1 requires the District Court to conduct a hearing "[i]n any case where an offender is to be sentenced to life imprisonment for a conviction of first degree murder ( R.S. 14:30 ) or second degree murder ( R.S. 14:30.1 ) where the offender was under *204the age of eighteen years at the time of the commission of the offense ... to determine whether the sentence shall be imposed with or without parole eligibility pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 15:574.4(E)." La. R.S. 15:574.4(E) then provides the conditions under which any person serving a sentence of life imprisonment for first or second degree murder committed under the age of 18 can become parole eligible, provided a judicial determination has been made the person is entitled to parole eligibility pursuant to Article 878.1.
In State v. Jones , 15-157 (La. App. 5 Cir. 9/23/15),
[w]e reject defendant's contention that the appropriate remedy is to resentence him to the next lesser responsive verdict of manslaughter. Rather, the remedy for noncompliance with Miller is to remand the matter for the sentencing court to reconsider defendant's sentence after conducting a hearing to consider defendant's youth and attendant characteristics as mitigating circumstances before deciding whether to impose the harshest penalty for juveniles convicted of a homicide offense.
Jones ,
Similarly, in the instant case, defendant has been afforded relief permissible under Miller , pursuant to the trial court's proper application of La. C.Cr.P. art. 878.1 and La. R.S. 15:574.4(E). Accordingly, we find no merit to the defendant's argument. Relatedly, because this substantive issue is without merit, defendant's claim that his appellate counsel is ineffective for failure to assign as error that his counsel at sentencing was ineffective for failing to raise it is also without merit. See State ex rel. Roper v. Cain , 99-2173 (La. App. 1st Cir. 10/26/99),
PRO SE ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER THREE
In his third pro se assignment of error, defendant appears to argue that the district court judge erred in failing to make a downward departure in his sentence pursuant to State v. Dorthey ,
*205ERROR PATENT DISCUSSION
Defendant requests an error patent review. However, this Court routinely reviews the record for errors patent in accordance with La. C.Cr.P. art. 920 ; State v. Oliveaux ,
Our review reveals that the trial judge did not advise defendant of the provisions of La. C.Cr.P. art. 930.8. The commitment also does not reflect that the trial judge advised defendant of these provisions. If a trial court fails to advise, or provides an incomplete advisal, pursuant to La. C.Cr.P. art. 930.8, the appellate court may correct this error by informing the defendant of the applicable prescriptive period for post-conviction relief by means of its opinion. See State v. Brooks , 12-226 (La. App. 5 Cir. 10/30/12),
DECREE
Accordingly, for the reasons provided herein, defendant's sentence is affirmed and appellate counsel's motion to withdraw as attorney of record is hereby granted.
SENTENCE AFFIRMED; MOTION TO WITHDRAW GRANTED
Anders v. California ,
First, on June 20, 2013, defendant filed a pro se motion to correct illegal sentence. The record does not show that a hearing was held on that motion. Next, on May 8, 2016, defendant filed another pro se motion to correct illegal sentence, again asking for a new sentencing hearing. On December 13, 2016, defendant filed a pro se memorandum regarding sentencing under Miller , supra , that was similar to his previously filed motions.
In Bradford , supra , this Court adopted the procedures outlined in State v. Benjamin ,
The United States Supreme Court reiterated Anders in Smith v. Robbins ,
However, the trial court provided lengthy explanations and numerous reasons for his decision. The record reflects that the trial judge considered a number of factors at the Miller hearing, including: the testimony of defendant, the original record, positive letters of character reference from wardens at Angola, and "numerous certificates from the courses that the defendant took for self-improvement, bible studies, G.E.D., anger management, and as a registered tutor to help the other inmates that he was thrown into contact with."
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.