Opinion
No.2020-KH-00004
08-14-2020
STATE of Louisiana v. Michael WARDLAW
Writ application denied.
Johnson, C.J., would grant and docket and assigns reasons.
Weimer, J., would grant to address the retroactivity of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 (2020).
On Supervisory Writ to the 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge
JOHNSON, C.J., would grant and docket and assigns reasons:
I would grant the writ to clarify that the Supreme Court's recent decision in Ramos v. Louisiana , ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L.Ed.2d 583 (2020) should be applied retroactively to cases on state collateral review. It is time we abandoned our use of Teague v. Lane , 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) in favor of a retroactivity test that takes into account the harm done by the past use of non-unanimous jury verdicts in Louisiana courts.
Regardless of the words or legal grounds a defendant uses to challenge his conviction, and for the reasons I explain further in State v. Gipson , 19-01815 (La. 06/03/20), 296 So.3d 1051, I believe Ramos should apply to anyone convicted by a non-unanimous jury.