State v. Frank

|1AMY, Judge.

On remand from the Louisiana Supreme Court1, the trial court held a hearing for a retroactive determination of whether the defendant was mentally competent to stand trial for second degree murder in 1994 in light of Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996). After a contradictory hearing, the trial court found the defendant was mentally competent at the time of trial, under the appropriate burden of proof. From this decision the defendant appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

The defendant, Curtis J. Frank,…