State v. Brooks, 124 So. 3d 1129

Defendant Alan G. Brooks was charged with theft (La. R.S. 14:67) and misapplication of funds by a contractor (La. R.S. 14:202) arising from a construction contract with victim Henry Bruser; offenses alleged August 17, 2007.
Preliminary hearing (Feb. 5, 2010) produced testimony but the district court found no probable cause; on March 19, 2010 the court granted Brooks’s motion to quash and dismissed both counts.
The State timely moved for an appeal and the district court granted it, but the appeal record was not lodged in the appellate court until April 2013 (over three years later); Brooks moved to dismiss the appeal as abandoned.
The Fourth Circuit denied Brooks’s motion to dismiss the appeal, finding no evidence the State caused the delay and no statutory rule authorizing dismissal of a criminal appeal as abandoned when the State timely moved for appeal.
On the merits, the appellate court reversed the district court’s grant of the motion to quash: the court held the trial judge improperly resolved factual defenses at the quash hearing and erred in concluding the dispute was purely civil; it instructed the district court to allow the State to amend count two (to allege amount and the knowing element) and to reserve speedy-trial/double-jeopardy issues for resolution at the appropriate times.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Brooks)	Held
Whether the State’s appeal was abandoned by delay in lodging the record	The State timely moved for appeal; delay was due to court personnel, not State	Appeal should be dismissed as abandoned because record was not lodged for over three years	Denied: no record that delay was appellant’s fault; criminal appeals not subject to local civil abandonment rule
Whether an oral (vs. written) motion to quash was used	State argued no written motion was filed; oral quash impermissible	Brooks maintained a written motion was filed and the transcript/minutes show it was	Held for Brooks: record shows a written motion was filed and read at hearing
Whether district court properly quashed indictment because matter was civil (contract dispute)	Prosecution discretion to bring criminal charges; facts in pleadings could support crimes	Brooks argued conduct was contract-based and matter belongs in civil court	Reversed: court impermissibly weighed factual defenses at quash stage; accepting pleadings as true, charges stand
Sufficiency/particularity of count 2 (misapplication)	State can amend defects; bill lacked amount and failure-to-plead knowing element	Brooks relied on deficiencies to quash count	Court directed remand for State to amend count 2 to allege amount and the knowing element; reserved Brooks’s right to move to quash on those grounds

State v. Smith, 284 So.2d 576 (La. 1973) (addressing effect of return-date expiration on State appeals)
State v. Jackson, 963 So.2d 432 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2007) (distinguishing Smith based on statutory amendments governing appeal extensions)
State v. Ambeau, 930 So.2d 54 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2006) (refusing to dismiss appeal after multi-year lodging delay where appellant not at fault)
State v. Byrd, 708 So.2d 401 (La. 1998) (motion to quash limits: accept pleadings as true; pretrial pleas not resolve factual guilt)
State v. Hall, 91 So.3d 302 (La. 2012) (double jeopardy claims from overlapping charges should generally be deferred until after trial convictions)
State v. Schmolke, 108 So.3d 296 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2013) (quash improperly granted where trial court resolved merits; guidance on amending misapplication counts)