Summary
The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the district court’s ruling in a municipal criminal case involving Randall Matthews’s convictions for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. The court held that Matthews’s supervisory review was untimely because he filed nothing by the return date, did not seek an extension, and waited approximately four months after receiving the record to file. The court also declined to review the underlying convictions and affirmed the reinstatement of the suspended sentence and probation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the district court properly refused to review Matthews's convictions because he failed to file a supervisory-writ application by the return date, never sought an extension, and delayed filing for months after receiving the record.
- Whether the district court properly declined to reach Matthews's insufficiency-of-the-evidence and related due-process arguments after finding that review of the convictions was procedurally barred.
Holdings
- The convictions were not properly before the district court because Matthews filed nothing by the return date, never sought an extension, and unreasonably delayed filing until October 17, 2024, more than four months after receiving the transcript.
- The court did not address the insufficiency-of-the-evidence and other assignments because they concerned the underlying convictions, which were not properly before either the district court or the court of appeal.
Key quotations
“That four-month delay (after an additional five months from the stated return date) to make any filing with the court is an unreasonable delay.” (6)
Factual background
On December 17, 2021, Bossier City police officer Danny Turner, working security at a department store, confronted Matthews after Matthews angrily approached him, used profanity and threatening language, and refused to stop when directed. Turner arrested Matthews after following him. Matthews was charged with assault, disturbing the peace, and resisting an officer; the assault count was dismissed, and a city-court bench trial resulted in convictions for disturbing the peace and resisting an officer. Matthews later obtained a suspended sentence and probation based on his cancer diagnosis, but the city court subsequently reinstated the original jail sentence.
Procedural history
Following a bench trial in Bossier City Court, Matthews was convicted of disturbing the peace and resisting an officer. He filed a motion and order for appeal with a February 23, 2024 return date but made no filing by that date, never sought an extension, and did not file his supervisory-writ application until October 17, 2024, more than four months after receiving the transcript. The district court found review of the convictions procedurally barred, ruled that the city court improperly reinstated jail time after agreeing to a probationary sentence, and remanded for reinstatement of the probationary sentence. The court of appeal affirmed.