City of Baton Rouge v. Bourgeois
Also decided on this docket: La., October 19, 1979 376 So. 2d 326
City of Baton Rouge v. Bourgeois, 380 So. 2d 63 (La. 1980).
Cited by
- State v. Sims 33 So. 3d 340 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2010
- State v. Hicks 30 So. 3d 1081 La. Ct. App. 2d Cir. 2010
- State v. Robinson 19 So. 3d 1206 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2009
- State v. Watkins 972 So. 2d 381 La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2007
- State v. Howard 805 So. 2d 1247 La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2002
- State v. Bass 767 So. 2d 772 La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2000
- State v. Hancock 748 So. 2d 549 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1999
- State v. Stewart 732 So. 2d 74 La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 1999
- State v. Christmann 692 So. 2d 1155 La. Ct. App. 5th Cir. 1997
- State v. Williams 681 So. 2d 77 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1996
- State v. Dorsey 672 So. 2d 188 La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 1996
- State v. McCoy 586 So. 2d 697 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1991
Authorities cited
Identified automatically; this list may not be exhaustive.
- State v. Johnson 363 So. 2d 458
- State v. McQueen 308 So. 2d 752
Opinion text
380 So.2d 63 (1980) CITY OF BATON ROUGE v. Norman J. BOURGEOIS. No. 65580. Supreme Court of Louisiana. February 6, 1980. *64 M. Glenn Hawkins, Baton Rouge, for defendant-relator. William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ralph Tyson, City Prosecutor, City of Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-respondent. PER CURIAM. On December 12, 1974, petitioner Norman J. Bourgeois pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated (first offense), a violation of La.R.S. 14:98. The trial court deferred sentencing, pending receipt of the requested presentence investigation report. It appears that no further action was taken in this case until December 21, 1978, when a bench warrant was issued for petitioner's arrest. During the interim, petitioner had moved to another parish, but learning of the warrant's issuance, he appeared in court, through counsel, to obtain its recall. Before sentence was imposed, petitioner filed a motion to quash on grounds of unreasonable delay. Although the motion was not opposed by the city prosecutor, the court denied it. Petitioner was ordered to pay a $200 fine and serve 30 days in prison, but jail time was suspended and petitioner was placed on one year's unsupervised probation. We granted writs to review the court's ruling on the motion to quash. A defendant is statutorily entitled to the imposition of sentence "without unreasonable delay" and the sanction for noncompliance is divestiture of the trial court's sentencing jurisdiction. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 874; State v. Johnson, 363 So.2d 458 (La. 1978); State v. McQueen, 308 So.2d 752 (La.1975). What constitutes an "unreasonable delay" is determined on a flexible case-by-case basis. The present record discloses an extreme and unjustified delay. There is no indication that petitioner was notified of a sentencing date, nor that he concealed his whereabouts nor that any effort was made to locate him before a bench warrant was issued in December of 1978, four years after his conviction for this relatively minor offense. Accordingly, we find error in the denial of the motion to quash. The ruling below is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.