State v. Dimopoullas

While agreeing with the result reached in this case, I cannot subscribe to all of its content, especially the statements in footnote 1. It is to answer the questions raised by this footnote and other objections to the Hudson Case that I file this concurring opinion.

Although the footnote is unclear, the implication may be drawn that the decision in State v. Hudson, 253 La. 992, 221 So.2d 484 (1969) is not well-founded, and invalidating the directed verdict is undesirable. In Hudson we declared Article 778 of the Code of Criminal Procedure unconstitutional. We held that the trial judge could…