# State v. Bernard

> Supreme Court of Louisiana · December 23, 1980 · 391 So. 2d 1180

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7506769

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of Louisiana v. Albert BERNARD
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Louisiana
- **Decided:** December 23, 1980
- **Citations:** 391 So. 2d 1180; 1980 La. LEXIS 9538
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court
- **Cited by:** 1 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7506769

## Opinion text

PER CURIAM.
Defendant Albert Bernard was charged by bill of information with simple burglary, a violation of La.R.S. 14:62. On January 24, 1979, he was tried before a six person jury and convicted by a vote of five to one. Thereafter, defendant was sentenced as a second felony offender under the provisions of La.R.S. 15:529.1 to serve six years at hard labor. On appeal he urges six assignments of error, one of which relates to the less than unanimous verdict.
Supplemental Assignment of Error No. 4
By this assignment defendant contends that the 5-1 verdict returned in this case was unlawful.
In Burch v. Louisiana, 441 U.S. 130 , 99 S.Ct. 1623 , 60 L.Ed.2d 96 (1979), the Supreme Court concluded that conviction by only five members of a six-member jury raised such doubts as to the jury’s representation of the true sense of the community as to violate the Sixth Amendment guarantee of trial by jury. In Brown v. Louisiana, 447 U.S. 323 , 100 S.Ct. 2214 , 65 L.Ed.2d 159 (1980), the Court determined that the rule of Burch was fundamental to the integrity of the fact-finding process, and thus required retroactive application, at least to cases still pending on direct review. (See, Powell, J., concurring opinion).
Accordingly, defendant’s conviction and sentence are reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7506769. Public record. Not legal advice.