State v. Gomez

Supreme Court of Louisiana
State v. Gomez, 940 So. 2d 663 (La. 2006)
2006 La. LEXIS 3118; 2006 WL 3253199
Calogero, Grant, Kimball, Traylor, Victory, Weimer, Writ

State v. Gomez

Opinion of the Court

In re Gomez, Marcus; — Defendant; Applying for Supervisory and/or Remedial writs, Parish of St. John, 40th Judicial District Court Division B, No. 2005-CR-211; to the Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, No. 06-K-382.

Denied.

CALOGERO, C.J., & KIMBALL, J., would grant the writ.

Concurring Opinion

VICTORY, TRAYLOR & WEIMER, JJ.,

concur in the writ denial and assign reasons: The trial court’s policy of denying a defendant’s right to a preliminary examination because of the absence of the defendant is erroneous. See La.C.Cr.P. arts. 831 and 834 which do not require the defendant’s presence at a preliminary examination. Based on these provisions and the constitutionally (La. Const, art. I, § 14) and statutorily (La.C.Cr.P. art. 292) recognized right to a preliminary examination, the trial court cannot initiate a policy which deprives an absent defendant of a preliminary examination when the defen*664dant’s presence is not required and can be waived. However, in this matter, the minutes do not reflect a contemporaneous objection and no writ was taken from the trial court’s initial denial of the preliminary examination. Consequently, the writ should be denied on the showing made.

Reference

Full Case Name
STATE of Louisiana v. Marcus GOMEZ
Status
Published