Art. 738 Number of witnesses allowed

If you're charged with a crime in Louisiana, you have the right to call witnesses to testify on your behalf, and the parish will cover the cost for a certain number of them. If your case is a misdemeanor, the parish will pay to bring in up to six witnesses. If your case is a felony, that number goes up to sixteen witnesses.

If you need more witnesses than the free limit allows, you can still bring them in. You just have to pay for it yourself. The court will still make sure those extra witnesses show up (this is called "compulsory process"), but the cost falls on you instead of the parish.

This rule exists to make sure defendants can always defend themselves with enough witnesses, while keeping public costs reasonable. Felony cases get more free witnesses because they usually involve more serious charges and often need more evidence and testimony to build a fair defense.