Can Louisiana's 1997 and 1998 legislative amendments to La. R.S. 14:42 (C) and (D) qualify, absent a constitutional amendment, as the attendant provision necessary to change the classification of a charged capital offense?

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Louisiana voted to change its Constitution to require unanimous verdicts in non-capital cases where they were not required before. In 1997 and 1998, without amending the Constitution, the Legislature amended Za. RS. 14:42(C) and (D) to give prosecutors a unilateral power to procure aggravated (first) degree rape convictions without unanimous verdicts: This case involves non-unanimous verdicts leading to the following questions: 1. Can Louisiana’s 1997 and 1998 legislative amendments to La. 2.8. 14:42 (C) and (D) qualify, absent a constitutional amendment, as the attendant provision necessary to change the classification of a charged capital offense? 2. Was Duong’s Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous verdict, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, contravened because La. RS. 14:42(D)(2)(b) unlawfully gave the State the authority to violate the constitutional and statutory mandates of La. Const. Art. 1, § 17(A) and La. C. Cr P. art. 782? it 1 -f