the appellate court is the state court that can order a new trial.
what state courts can order a new trial?
appellate court
on july 23, 2015, retired district judge michael kirby threw out rogers lacaze's conviction and sentence and ordered a new trial. kirby said that lacaze deserved a new trial because one of the jurors had hidden the fact that he was a louisiana state trooper and had previously worked as a railroad policeman. at the time, commissioned law enforcement officers were legally barred from sitting on a jury. kirby wrote that while he felt the evidence of lacaze's guilt was "overwhelming," the juror misconduct amounted to a "structural defect" and a "violation of a constitutional right so basic to a fair trial" that the only remedy was a new trial. kirby's ruling has no effect on frank's conviction. an appellate court later overturned the new trial order for lacaze. 4th circuit appellate judges edwin lombard, paul bonin and madeleine landrieu ruled "after review of the state's writ application in light of the applicable law and arguments of the parties, we find that the trial court erred in finding that the seating of mr. settle on the defendant's jury was a structural error entitling him to a new trial".
antoinette frank
in june 2007, kinkel sought a new trial, saying that his previous attorneys should have taken the case to trial and used the insanity defense. two psychiatrists testified that kinkel exhibited signs of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the shooting. in august 2007, a marion county judge denied him a new trial. kinkel appealed, arguing among other things that he had had ineffective assistance of counsel during the trial proceedings. on january 12, 2011, the oregon court of appeals affirmed the trial court judgment, denying his motion for a new trial. kinkel has appealed his sentence in both federal and state courts. in federal court he claimed his guilty plea should not have been accepted without a prior mental health evaluation. in state court, kinkel challenged the validity of the virtual life sentence he was given, citing "miller v. alabama." shortly before he was to go to trial, kinkel abandoned an insanity defense and accepted a plea deal to serve 25 years for shooting his parents, william kinkel, 59, and faith kinkel, 57, and two thurston high school students mikael nickolauson, 17, and ben walker, 16. but the deal also allowed a lane county judge to tack on 40 months for each of the 26 attempted murder counts kinkel faced for wounding the other students and lunging at an officer with a knife once in custody which added up to 111 years in prison. however a pending measure 11 reform bill could possibly reduce his sentence or even have him automatically released if passed.
thurston high school shooting