State Sen. Jay Morris is proposing a constitutional amendment giving prosecutors and crime victims the right to a jury trial in criminal proceedings — a right presently reserved for criminal defendants alone under existing Louisiana law. The U.S. Constitution gives defendants the right to trial by jury but no right to a judge trial. In the federal system and 30 other states, the prosecution must agree to a judge trial. At a hearing on March 17, several criminal defense advocates spoke against the amendment. Not a single opponent addressed the rights of the victims. For that matter, they never even uttered the word “victim.”
It is curious how criminal advocates celebrate differences between Louisiana and federal law when they benefit violent criminals and sexual predators but are quick to criticize differences and argue for parity with federal law when they do not. They argued that the amendment should be rejected because prosecutors can charge some felony offenses without a grand jury indictment and that the amendment would mean defendants would have to wait longer for a trial. These arguments, however, are red herrings, given that under existing law, defendants have a right to a preliminary examination and can file a speedy trial motion.
If opponents can tell me why a 13-year old little girl gunned down in her grandparent’s home by a gang member who initiated a street war in a quiet residential neighborhood in Shreveport or an infant who was tossed to her death off the Cross Lake bridge by her mother should have less right to a jury of their peers than the criminals who killed them, then please do so. If they cannot, then I find their opposition unpersuasive.
CHRISTOPHER S. BOWMAN
assistant district attorney — Special Victims Unit, Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office