State Of Louisiana v. M.P.

STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 2024 KW 0797
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VERSUS

16" D OCTOBER 21, 2024

In Re: M. P., applying for supervisory writs, 21st Judicial
District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa, No. 2101151.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, C. J., PENZATO AND STROMBERG, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The district court' s ruling denying relator' s
motion to quash is reversed. Pursuant ' to La. Ch. Code art. 804,
child" is defined as " any person under the age of twenty- one,
including an emancipated minor, who commits a delinquent act before
attaining seventeen years of age." In this case, it is alleged

that relator committed the offense of attempted first degree rape
when he was fourteen years old, and thereafter, the State
instituted prosecution prior to his twenty- first birthday.
Therefore, relator is considered a child for purposes of

prosecution. See State v. Andrews, 2019- 0606 ( La. App. 4th Cir.
1/ 15/ 20), 364 So. 3d 95, 101, writ granted, 2020- 00463 ( La.
10/ 14/ 20), 302 So. 3d 1108. Thus, the matter is remanded to the
district court for further proceedings.

Penzato, J., dissents and would deny the writ. Louisiana
Children' s Code article 857( C)( 2) provides:

An adult who is charged with an offense committed at the
time he was a child for which the time limitation for the
institution of prosecution pursuant to Code of Criminal
Procedure Article 571 has not lapsed and for which he was
not subject to prosecution as an adult due to his age at
the time the offense was committed shall be prosecuted as
an adult in the appropriate court
exercising criminal

jurisdiction. If convicted, he shall be committed to the
custody of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections
to be confined in secure placement for a period of time as
determined by the court not to exceed the maximum amount
of confinement he could have been ordered to serve had he
been adjudicated for the offense as a child at the time
the offense was committed.

decidingInthe issue of sex offender registration for
offenders who were under 14 at the time of the commission of the
offenses of aggravated rape and indecent behavior with juveniles
and were 20 and 21 at the time of the institution of prosecution,
the Louisiana Supreme Court in State I. C. S.,
v. 2013- 1023 ( La.
7/ 1/ 14), 145 So. 3d 350, 351- 52, noted "[ t] here is no dispute that
Art. 857( C) ( 2) applies to the defendants in this case, and that
they, accordingly, ` shall be prosecuted as an adult in the
appropriate court exercising criminal jurisdiction."' Id. at 354.
Relevant to their underlying inquiry, the Court found that Article

NO. 2024 KW 0797
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857 ( C) ( 2) provides for prosecution of an adult for a non --prescribed
offense he committed as a child.

URT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

EPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT