Opinion
2023-KP-00945
05-07-2024
STATE OF LOUISIANA v. KENNETH WAYNE WHITMORE
IN RE: State of Louisiana - Applicant Plaintiff; Applying For Supervisory Writ, Parish of East Baton Rouge, 19th Judicial District Court Number(s) 05-75-8865, Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Number(s) 2023 KW 0427;
Writ application granted. See per curiam.
SJC
JLW
JDH
JTG
WJC
JBM
PDG
Crichton, J., additionally concurs and assigns reasons.
PER CURIAM
Writ granted. Applicant has failed to make a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing, and the district court erred in ordering the state to respond to the application for post-conviction relief on the merits. See State v. Harris, 18-1012 (La. 7/9/20), 340 So.3d 845; State v. Marcus Harris, 2021-01641, p. 1 (La. 1/19/22); 331 So.3d 321, 322 (Crichton, J., concurring).
Crichton, J., additionally concurs and assigns reasons.
In this case, defendant filed a post-conviction application alleging his attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel at his sentencing hearing. Defendant urged the district court to apply the holding of State v. Derrick Harris, 2018-1012 (La. 7/9/20), 340 So.3d 845, to his decades-old, final convictions and sentences. As I have stated previously, "[a] ruling from this Court addressing the issues in Harris and any potential retroactivity of that decision would certainly be beneficial for lower courts in their application of La. C.Cr.P. art. 930.8." State v. Dugas, 2023-1008, p. 1 (La. 12/19/23), 375 So.3d 407 (Crichton, J., concurring); State v. Marcus Harris, 2021-1641, p. 1 (La. 1/19/22), 331 So.3d 321, 322 (Crichton, J., concurring). However, this case presents an inadequate vehicle to do so.
Defendant was convicted of two counts of armed robbery. While the sentences were imposed consecutively, the judge did not impose the maximum sentence for either offense. Unlike in Derrick Harris, 2018-1012, 340 So.3d 845, and State v. Robinson, 2019-1330 (La. 11/24/20), 304 So.3d 846 where the judges imposed the statutory mandatory minimum life sentences blind to any mitigating information about the defendants, in this case it appears that the judge exercised discretion and imposed the sentences believed to be appropriate under the circumstances. Further distinguishing this case from that of Derrick Harris, Defendant does not present any mitigating information that was not considered by the sentencing judge as a result of counsel's alleged deficient performance. Accordingly, as in Marcus Harris, 2021-1641, 331 So.3d 321, the defendant here likewise failed to make a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance at sentencing. For these reasons, I agree with the per curiam decision to grant the state's writ application and reverse the trial court ruling.
In Robinson, 2019-1330, 304 So.3d 846, defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment as a habitual offender for a marijuana conviction. Robinson made a sufficient showing in his post-conviction application that his attorney failed to argue for a downward departure from the mandatory minimum sentence even after the judge expressed discomfort imposing the sentence.