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Date: 10-06-2020

Case Style:

State Of Louisiana VS Kendell Shanner Cagler

Case Number: 2018KA0427R

Judge: Jewel E. "Duke" Welch, Jr.

Court: STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT

Plaintiff's Attorney: Warren L. Montgomery
District Attorney
Matthew Caplan
Assistant District Attorney

Defendant's Attorney:


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Description: Covington, Louisiana - Criminal Defense Attorney, armed robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated second degree battery


The State of Louisiana charged the defendant, Kendell Shanner Cagler, by
an amended bill of information with one count of armed robbery with a firearm, a
violation of La. R.S. 14: 64 and 14: 64. 3 ( count I); one count of possession of a
firearm by a convicted felon, a violation of La. R.S. 14: 95. 1 ( count II); and one
count of aggravated second degree battery, a violation of La. R.S. 14: 34. 7 ( count
III). Following a jury trial, a non -unanimous jury found the defendant guilty as
charged on counts I and II, and not guilty on count III. On count I, the trial court
sentenced the defendant to imprisonment at hard labor for sixty years, with an
additional five-year imprisonment at hard labor pursuant to La. R.S. 14: 64.3, the
firearm enhancement statute. On count II, the trial court sentenced the defendant
to imprisonment at hard labor for twenty years. The trial court ordered the
defendant' s sentences on both counts without benefit of parole, probation, or
suspension of sentence. The trial court gave the defendant credit for time served.
The trial court subsequently adjudicated the defendant a fourth -felony habitual
offender and resentenced him on count I to life imprisonment at hard labor without
the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
This court affirmed the defendant' s convictions and sentences on appeal.
See State v. Cagier, 2018- 0427 ( La. App. Pt Cir. 11/ 7/ 18), 2018 AVL 5876878
unpublished). However, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted the defendant' s
writ application and remanded the case to this court "for further proceedings and to
conduct a new error patent review in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, U.S. ,
140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d 583 ( 2020)[,]" as the defendant' s case was not yet
final, but still pending on direct review. See State v. Cagier, 2018- 02015 ( La.
6/ 3/ 20), 296 So.3d 1017, 2020 WL 3423802, at * 1 ( per curiam) ( citing Griffith v.
Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S. Ct. 708, 716, 93 L. Ed. 2d 649 ( 1987)).
P
In Ramos, the United States Supreme Court overruled Apodaca v. Oregon'
and held that the right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment of the United
States Constitution, incorporated against the States by way of the Fourteenth
Amendment of the United States Constitution, requires a unanimous verdict to
convict a defendant of a serious offense. Ramos, 140 S. Ct. at 1397. The Ramos
Court further noted that its ruling applied to those defendants convicted of felonies
by non -unanimous verdicts whose cases are still pending on direct appeal. Ramos,
140 S. Ct. at 1406. Accordingly, the defendant' s convictions and sentences are
vacated, and we remand this case for a new trial.

Outcome: In light of Ramos v. Louisiana, U.S. , 140 S. Ct. 13909 206 L. Ed.
2d 583 ( 2020), we vacate the defendant' s convictions and sentences and remand
this matter for a new trial.

CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCES VACATED; REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.

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