2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 33 - Municipalities and Parishes
RS 33:441 - Mayor's court
SUBPART G. MUNICIPAL COURTS
§441. Mayor's court
A.(1) Except as provided in Chapter 7 of Title 13 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, there shall be a mayor's court in the municipality, with jurisdiction over all violations of municipal ordinances. The mayor may try all breaches of the ordinances and impose fines or imprisonment, or both, provided for the infraction thereof. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the mayor may also impose court costs not to exceed thirty dollars for each offense, as defined by ordinance, on any defendant convicted of a violation of a municipal ordinance. The mayor may authorize that a portion of court costs assessed be deposited into a special account and transmitted to the Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police to be used for law enforcement education and training as required by Louisiana law.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the mayor may impose additional court costs not to exceed twenty dollars for each offense, as defined by ordinance or traffic violation, on any defendant convicted of a violation of a municipal ordinance, provided that ten dollars of such additional court costs collected shall be remitted to the local public defender's office.
(3) The mayor may suspend the execution in whole or in part of a fine or imprisonment, or both, imposed for violation of a municipal ordinance and place the defendant on unsupervised or supervised probation with such conditions as the mayor may fix and, at any time during the probation, modify, add, or discharge. The probation shall be for a period as the mayor shall specify up to one year. The mayor may terminate or revoke the probation at any time. At the termination of the probation, the mayor may set the conviction aside and dismiss the prosecution.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, when a defendant has been convicted of violation of a municipal ordinance, the mayor may suspend the imposition or the execution of the whole or any part of the sentence and place the defendant on unsupervised probation upon such conditions as the mayor may fix. Such suspension of sentence and probation shall be for a period of six months or such shorter period as the mayor may specify. But in no case shall the probationary period imposed exceed the maximum penalty of imprisonment that may be imposed for violation of a particular ordinance.
B.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board of aldermen in its discretion may, upon request of the mayor, appoint one or more attorneys who shall be designated as court magistrate and who shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor and may from time to time be designated by the mayor to serve in his stead as the presiding official over the mayor's court. Whenever a magistrate is so designated by the mayor to preside over the mayor's court, he shall exercise the powers and authority of the mayor over said court. The board of aldermen shall fix and pay the salary of each magistrate, if any are appointed.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board of aldermen in its discretion may, upon request of the mayor, appoint one or more attorneys who shall be designated as prosecutor and who shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor. The board of aldermen shall fix and pay the salary of each prosecutor, if any are appointed.
C.(1) The mayor shall have the power of a committing magistrate.
(2) The presiding officer of a mayor's court shall be entitled to judicial immunity for his official acts as presiding officer in the same capacity as a judge in this state.
Amended by Acts 1981, No. 104, §1; Acts 1983, No. 350, §1; Acts 1985, No. 890, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986; Acts 1988, No. 827, §1; Acts 1997, No. 189, §1, eff. June 13, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 566, §1; Acts 2001, No. 33, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1225, §1; Acts 2008, No. 401, §1; Acts 2008, No. 661, §1; Acts 2016, No. 361, §1, eff. June 5, 2016.
