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FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE # 23 FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

The Opinion handed down on the 24th day of April, 2006, is as follows:

BY TRAYLOR, J.:

2003-KA- 3067

STATE OF LOUISIANA v. MICHAEL WEARY (Parish of Livingston) (First Degree Murder) For the reasons assigned herein, and within the unpublished appendix made part of this opinion, the defendant's conviction and sentence are affirmed. In the event this judgment becomes final on direct review when either:(1) the defendant fails to petition timely the United States Supreme Court for certiorari; or (2) that Court denies his petition for certiorari; and either (a) the defendant, having filed for and been denied certiorari, fails to petition the United States Supreme Court timely, under their prevailing rules, for rehearing of denial of certiorari; or (b) that Court denies his petition for rehearing, the trial judge shall, upon receiving notice from this court under La. C.Cr.P.art. 923 of finality of direct appeal, and before signing the warrant of execution, as provided by La.R.S. 15:567(B), immediately notify the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board and provide the Board with reasonable time in which: (1) to enroll counsel to represent defendant in any state post-conviction proceedings, if appropriate, pursuant to its authority under La. R.S. 15:149.1; and (2) to litigate expeditiously the claims raised in that original application, if filed, in the state courts. AFFIRMED. JOHNSON, J., dissents and assigns reasons. WEIMER, J., concurs and assigns reasons.

04/24/2006 SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 03-KA-3067 STATE OF LOUISIANA VERSUS MICHAEL WEARY

ON APPEAL FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, FOR THE PARISH OF LIVINGSTON HONORABLE WAYNE RAY CHUTZ, JUDGE

TRAYLOR, Justice On June 7, 2000, a Livingston Parish grand jury indicted the defendant, Michael Weary, along with James Skinner and Randy Hutchinson, for the April 4, 1998 first degree murder of Eric Walber, in violation of La. R.S. 14:30. On June 18, 2001, a different Livingston Parish grand jury re-indicted the defendant, Hutchinson and Skinner, for the same offense. Trial proceeded against the defendant alone. A jury unanimously found the defendant guilty as charged. After a sentencing hearing, the same jury unanimously recommended a sentence of death after finding the following aggravating circumstances at the penalty phase: (1) that the offender was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of second degree kidnapping and armed robbery; and (2) that the offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner. La. C.Cr.P. art. 905.4(A)(1) and (7). The defendant now brings his direct appeal of his conviction and sentence to this court pursuant to La. Const. art. 5,

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