State v. Hynes

CALOGERO, Justice.

The state has appealed from a district court judgment holding La.C.Cr.P. art. 493.1 unconstitutional. This is a companion case to State v. Johnson, 458 So.2d 1301 (La.1984), the cases having been consolidated for argument in this Court.

The legal issue and procedural posture in two cases are identical.1 In each the defendant has requested a jury trial because the cumulative penalty exposure he faces for the crimes with which he has been charged exceeds six months imprisonment. La. Const, art. I, § 17; State v. McCarroll, 337 So.2d 475 (La.1976). The state opposes the jury…