State Of Louisiana v. Joshua Jermaine Calloway ( 2020 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL
f
yy FIRST CIRCUIT
NO. 2018 KA 1724
STATE OF LOUISIANA
VERSUS
JOSHUA JERMAINE CALLOWAY
Judgment Rendered.
MAY 2 g 2028
Appealed from the
32nd Judicial District Court
In and for the Parish of Terrebonne
State of Louisiana
Case No. 731417 E
The Honorable Randall L. Bethancourt, Judge Presiding
Bertha M. Hillman Counsel for Defendant/Appellant
Covington, Louisiana Joshua Jermaine Calloway
Joseph L. Waitz Counsel for Appellee
District Attorney State of Louisiana
Ellen Daigle Doskey
Assistant District Attorney
Houma, Louisiana
BEFORE: GUIDRY, THERIOT, AND PENZATO, JJ.
THERIOT, J.
Defendant, Joshua Calloway, was charged by bill of indictment with second
degree murder, a violation of La. R. S. 14: 30. 1. He pled not guilty. After a trial by
jury, defendant was found guilty as charged. The trial court imposed a term of life
imprisonment at hard labor, to be served without the benefit of probation, parole,
or suspension of sentence. Defendant now appeals.' In his sole assignment of
error, defendant challenges his conviction by a non -unanimous jury verdict.
In the recent decision of Ramos v. Louisiana, — U.S. _, 140 S. Ct. 1390,
1397, _ L.Ed.2d — ( 2020), 2020 WL 1906545, at * 6, the United States Supreme
Court overruled Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404, 92 S. Ct. 1628, 32 L.Ed.2d 1841972), and held that the right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment of the
United States Constitution, incorporated against the States by way of the
Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, requires a unanimous
verdict to convict a defendant of a serious offense. The Ramos Court further noted
that its ruling applied to those defendants convicted of felonies by non -unanimous
verdicts whose cases are still pending on direct appeal. Ramos, 140 S. Ct. at 1406,
2020 WL 1906545, at * 13.
Accordingly, defendant' s conviction and sentence are set aside, and the case
is remanded for a new trial.
CONVICTION AND SENTENCE SET ASIDE, REMANDED TO TRIAL
COURT FOR NEW TRIAL.
Due to the United States Supreme Court' s grant of certiorari in Ramos v. Louisiana, _
U. S._, 139 S. Ct. 1318, 203 L.Ed. 2d 563 ( 2019), and because the constitutionality of defendant' s
conviction by a non -unanimous jury verdict is the sole assignment of error on appeal, this court
stayed the instant matter until a ruling was issued in Ramos. See State v. Calloway, 2018- 1724
La. App. 1 st Cir. 4/ 10/ 19) ( unpublished order).
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