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State v. Lemoine11/29/2005
or enhancement of punishment, it could have easily said so. The Louisiana Supreme Court thus ruled in Adams that the automatic first offender pardon did not preclude a first felony conviction from serving as a predicate in a multiple offender proceeding. Id.
The law of this state has never recognized the automatic first offender pardon as being a full pardon and restoring the pardoned individual to the status of innocence. To the contrary, the law has consistently distinguished between the full and complete scope of the governor's pardon and the limited scope of the first offender pardon. The automatic first offender pardon restores the basic rights of citizenship without the need to appear before the pardon board. State v. Adams, supra; State v. Lewis, 366 So.2d 1355, 1357-1358 (La. 1978); State v. Selmon, 343 So.2d 720, 721-722 (La. 1977); State v. Moore, 03-16 (La. App. 3 Cir. 5/14/03), 847 So.2d 53, 58-60, writs denied, 03-1480 (La. 12/12/03), 860 So.2d 1150 and 04- 2931 (La. 1/21/05), 893 So.2d 55. See also La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 95-293.
In the present case, defendant received an automatic first offender pardon rather than a full and complete pardon from the governor. Given the limited scope of the first offender pardon, we find that defendant's pardoned third offense D.W.I. conviction can serve as a predicate conviction for the fourth offense D.W.I. charge against defendant. Accordingly, we reverse the trial judge's decision quashing the bill of information and remand the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.
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