State of Louisiana v. William Serigne & Lionel Serigne

Summary

The court reinstated both defendants’ convictions and sentences after holding that Lionel validly waived a jury trial and that the court of appeal improperly granted William a new trial based on a Brady violation that had not been adjudicated by the trial court. The court held that the prior capital-classification approach no longer required capital-trial procedures where the defendant never faced the death penalty. It remanded for the district court to determine whether undisclosed grand-jury testimony warrants new trials for either defendant and preserved William’s misjoinder claim for later appellate review.