State Of Louisiana v. Bruce Hines

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 2020 KW 1288

VERSUS

BRUCE HINES MARCH 15, 2021

In Re: Bruce Hines, for
applying supervisory writs, 21st
Judicial District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa, No.
901086.

BEFORE: McDONALD, HOLDRIDGE, AND PENZATO, TT.

WRIT DENIED. In Ramos v. Louisiana, U. S. 1 140
S. Ct. 1390, 1397, 206 ithe United States
L. Ed. 2d 583 ( 2020),
Supreme Court held, " the Sixth Amendment' s unanimity requirement

applies to state and federal criminal trials equally." However,
the Court declined to address whether its holding applied

retroactively to cases on collateral review. The Court
specifically observed that the question of "[ w] hether the right
to jury applies to
unanimity cases on collateral review is a
question for a future case where the parties will have a chance
to brief the issue and we will benefit from their adversarial
presentation." See Ramos, U. S. at , 140 S. Ct. at 1407.
The question of whether Ramos must to
apply retroactively cases
on federal collateral review is before the
currently pending
Court. Edwards v.
Vannoy, — U. S. 140 S. Ct. 2737, 206
L. Ed. 2d 917 ( 2020). Moreover, the Louisiana Supreme Court has
declined to definitively rule on whether Ramos should apply on
collateral review in state court proceedings
pending a decision
in Edwards. See State v. Gipson, 2019- 01815 ( La. 6/ 3/ 20), 296
So. 3d 1051, 1052 ( Johnson, C. J., dissenting to point out that

she disagreed with the majority' s decision to defer ruling until
the United States Supreme Court mandates action). Therefore, we
are to
constrained deny relief at this time. However, our
decision does not preclude relator from the issue in
reurging
the district court if warranted by the decision of the higher
ccurt( s).

JMM

GH
AHP

COURT OFF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

DEPUTLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT