Rule Text
A. If a court grants relief under an application for post conviction relief, the court shall order that the petitioner be held in custody pending a new trial.
B. In such a case, the petitioner shall be entitled to bail on the offense as though he has not been convicted of the offense.
C. The provisions of Paragraph B of this Article do not apply until a judgment granting post-conviction relief becomes final. If relief is granted, the effect of that judgment shall be stayed until either of the following occurs:
(1) The time period to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction of the Louisiana Supreme Court has expired.
(2) The Louisiana Supreme Court, after receipt of a timely application, has taken final action on the matter.
Amendment history: Added by Acts 1980, No. 429, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981; Acts 2025, No. 393, §1; Acts 2026, No. 54, §1.
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
When someone wins their post-conviction relief case, meaning a court agrees something went wrong with their original conviction, they don't just go free right away. Instead, the court orders them to stay in custody while they wait for a new trial.
However, the person now gets treated like someone who hasn't been convicted yet. This means they have the right to ask for bail, just like anyone else who is awaiting trial. The court has to consider bail as if the original conviction never happened.
There's an important catch though. This right to bail doesn't kick in immediately. The state gets a chance to challenge the decision first. So the ruling that grants relief gets put on hold until one of two things happens: either the deadline passes for the state to appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court, or the Supreme Court reviews the case and makes a final decision on it. Only after that waiting period ends can the person actually seek bail.
