State v. Robinson

Supreme Court of Louisiana
State v. Robinson, 888 So. 2d 767 (La. 2004)
2004 La. LEXIS 3288; 2004 WL 2579739
Calogero, Reasons

State v. Robinson

Opinion of the Court

In re Robinson, Claude; — Defendant; Applying for Writ of Certiorari and/or Review, Parish of Jefferson, 24th Judicial District Court Div. I, Nos. 01-1577; to the Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, no. 03-KA-1350.

Writ denied.

CALOGERO, C.J., concurs and assigns reasons.

Concurring Opinion

|, CALOGERO, Chief Justice,

concurring in the denial of the writ application.

Although the application is untimely as a matter of La. S.Ct. Rule X, § 5(a), and the court of appeal’s decision is therefore final on direct review, State v. Matthews, 02-1121 (La.3/25/04), 855 So.2d 740, this court has the authority to review the merits of a defendant’s constitutional claims because *768Louisiana law governing collateral attack on a final conviction provides a narrow exception to the finality of claims fully litigated on direct appeal. See La.C.Cr.P. art 930.4(A) (“Unless required in the interest of justice, any claim for [post-conviction] relief which was fully litigated in any appeal from the proceedings leading to the judgment of conviction and sentence shall not be considered.”). In this case, a review of the merits reveals no error in the court of appeal opinion which might have prompted this court in the interest of justice to consider the application as one seeking post-conviction review of constitutional claims previously rejected by the court of appeal on direct review. Cf. State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817, 819, n. 1 (La. 1987) (“Since the request for review of the intermediate court’s judgment was untimely, we treated the filing as an application for post-conviction relief ... granting] the application in order to provide further review of a seemingly meritorious claim.”). Accordingly, the writ application is properly denied.

Reference

Full Case Name
STATE of Louisiana v. Claude ROBINSON
Cited By
5 cases
Status
Published