Opinion

State v. Brown

  • 192 So. 3d 720
  • 2016 La. LEXIS 982
  • 2016 WL 3128774
Court
Supreme Court of Louisiana
Filed
Apr 22, 2016
Status
Published
Author
Crichton
On the bench
Additionally, Crichton, Knoll, Reasons, Weimer
Cited by
3 cases
Authority
More cited than 17.4%

The opinion

CRICHTON, J.,

additionally concurring.

| ,1 agree with the court’s decision to grant this writ application. However, I write separately to note that in State v. Touchet, 93-2839 (La.9/6/94), 642 So.2d 1213 , this Court answered the very narrow question of whether and to what extent indigent defendants are entitled to ex parte hearings on their motions for state funding of expert witness services. The Court did not purport to create a general procedure by which indigent defendants can hide all of their filings from the public eye nor should it have. Adversarial proceedings are the norm in our system of criminal justice, United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 675 , 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3380 , 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985), and ex parte proceedings the disfavored exception that may be invoked in good faith only in very limited circumstances. Cf. United States v. Arroyo-Angulo, 580 F.2d 1137, 1145 (2nd Cir.1978) (noting that closed proceedings “are fraught with the potential of abuse and, absent compelling necessity, must be avoided”). Here, the district court clearly erred in allowing defense counsel an extraordinary latitude that cannot be justified under any reasonable reading of Touchet I concur to emphasize that this practice, which according to defendant’s opposition has been used in at least three other capital cases, must, cease.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.