Preview:

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 95-K-2784 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. KARRIE DEAN COOK On Writ of Certiorari to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal PER CURIAM:* We granted the state's writ application to address the question of whether the defendant's sentence is excessive. Following the defendant's plea of nolo contendere to a charge of vehicular homicide, La.R.S. 14:32.1, in return for which the state dismissed a second charge of hit and run driving in violation of La.R.S. 14:100 and agreed to make no penalty recommendation, the trial court sentenced the defendant to nine years at hard labor. The Third Circuit vacated that sentence as

excessive on grounds that it "makes no meaningful contribution to acceptable penal goals and is therefore nothing more than the needless imposition of pain and suffering and would benefit neither defendant nor society." State v. Cook, 95-212, p. 5 (La. The Third Circuit

App. 3d Cir. 10/18/95), 664 So.2d 489, 492.

based that conclusion on the mitigating circumstances, also considered by the trial court but not found compelling, that "the defendant is a model employee and a hardworking mother successfully rearing her teenage daughter." Id. While we agree

that the defendant presented mitigating circumstances weighing in
*

Watson, J., not on panel.

See Rule IV, Part 2,

Download 95-K-2784.pdf

Louisiana Law