State v. Bersch

Defendant, William Bersch, was tried by a jury and found guilty of aggravated rape, La.R.S. 14:42, and sentenced to serve a life imprisonment in the state penitentiary. On this appeal, the defendant reserved one bill of exceptions alleging that because the trial judge declared a recess and left the courtroom during the drawing of tales jurors, the jurors’ names were not, in fact, selected in open court as required by La.C.Cr. P. Art. 784.

La.C.Cr.P. Art. 784 provides:

“In selecting a panel, names shall be drawn from the petit jury venire indiscriminately and by lot in open court and in a manner…