State of Louisiana Versus Billy Lampton

Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided October 22, 2024·No. 24-K-444·Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 24-K-444 VERSUS FIFTH CIRCUIT BILLY LAMPTON COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF LOUISIANA

October 22, 2024

Linda Wiseman

First Deputy Clerk

IN RE BILLY LAMPTON

APPLYING FOR SUPERVISORY WRIT FROM THE TWENTY-FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, PARISH OF JEFFERSON, STATE OF LOUISIANA, DIRECTED TO THE HONORABLE JUNE B. DARENSBURG, DIVISION "C", NUMBER 23-2560

Panel composed of Judges Susan M. Chehardy, Fredericka Homberg Wicker, and Timothy S. Marcel

WRIT DENIED

Relator, Billy Lampton, seeks review of the district court’s August 23, 2024 ruling denying his motion to suppress evidence and identification. For the following reasons, we deny Lampton’s writ application. Procedural History On June 1, 2023, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging Billy Lampton with one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967(A) (count one), and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana weighing 2.5 pounds or greater, a violation of La. R.S. 40:966(A) (count two), with both counts alleged to have occurred on September 2, 2022. Lampton pled not guilty.

24-K-444

Lampton filed a motion to suppress evidence and identification. A hearing on that motion was held on August 7, 2024.1 At the close of the hearing, the district court took the matter under advisement after granting defense counsel’s request to file a post-hearing memorandum. After defense counsel’s post-hearing filing, additional arguments were heard on August 23, 2024, after which the district court denied Lampton’s motion to suppress.2 This writ application seeking review of the trial court’s ruling followed. The district court granted defense counsel’s motion to stay the matter pending this Court’s ruling. Factual Background At the August 7, 2024 suppression hearing, Sergeant David Biondolillo stated that he is a sergeant with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (“JPSO”) Narcotics Division and has worked as a task force officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) – Height Task Force along with other detectives, including Detectives Christopher Cade and Christopher Powe. Biondolillo explained that beginning in 2021 or 2022, the task force investigated high intensity drug trafficking using long-term wiretap investigations of criminal organizations. During the wiretap investigations, the task force received information from a confidential informant (“CI”), regarding Lampton dealing heroin and fentanyl. This information was later corroborated by surveillance of Lampton’s activities.3 The CI informed law enforcement that he knew Lampton

1 It does not appear from the record that Lampton ever filed a written motion to suppress.

2 The district court also denied Lampton’s motion for impeaching information regarding the “cooperative defendant” or “confidential informant” in this case. 3 According to Biondolillo, the task force researched the information provided by the CI, and through surveillance, identified Lampton’s vehicles and his residence on “Grandlake,” and observed Lampton engaging in activities consistent with hand-to-hand transactions. Biondolillo explained that Lampton was not arrested at that time because the transactions observed occurred in Orleans Parish, not Jefferson Parish.

and identified Lampton as the dealer in a photograph. That photograph was presented to the CI, individually, not in a six-pack lineup.4 Biondolillo testified that the task force conducted surveillance of Lampton at his apartment on September 2, 2022. On that day, officers observed IV Waste empty nearby trash dumpsters. Shortly thereafter, they saw Lampton exit his apartment with a garbage bag, discard it in the dumpster, and then re-enter his apartment. According to Biondolillo, who had observed the dumpster both before and after it was emptied, Lampton’s garbage bag was the only item in the dumpster. Officers then retrieved the discarded bag, which contained “three empty packages [kilo wrappers] immediately identified as packaging used for kilograms.” Biondolillo testified that upon opening the trash bag, officers recognized a pungent “pickle like vinegary smell” “consistent with the odor of heroin/fentanyl.”5 Based on these findings, Biondolillo requested a search warrant for Lampton’s residence. He confirmed the search warrant application was true to the best of his knowledge. In his testimony, Biondolillo explained the warrant application referenced “federal wiretaps” related to an ongoing federal investigation into a New Orleans organization, but there were no wiretaps pertaining to the instant case. Biondolillo further explained that the wiretaps involved fentanyl transactions and that Lampton may have been a third party to the transactions. However, Lampton never spoke in the wiretaps nor was his name mentioned in the recordings.

According to Biondolillo, the officers waited outside Lampton’s apartment for approval of the for the search warrant. While waiting, they observed Lampton

4 The CI was subject to criminal prosecution at the time he gave the information to the task force.

In briefing, and at the hearing, the CI was interchangeably referred to as the “confidential informant” and/or “cooperating defendant (“CD”).” In the search warrant affidavit, the CI was referred to as a “CD.” 5 According to Biondolillo, he has worked in narcotics investigations since 2008 and is familiar with the odor of marijuana, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin.

exit his apartment and the officers stopped him in the parking lot so as to detain him pending execution of the warrant. Lampton was handcuffed and patted down. Biondolillo testified that he read Lampton his Miranda6 rights, during which Lampton was cooperative and provided officers with a key to his residence. The officers then secured Lampton’s residence for the officer’s safety to ensure no one else was inside and to prevent the potential destruction of evidence. At Lampton’s request, the officers relocated inside his apartment. Biondolillo stated that once he received the signed search warrant, he executed it. The search of Lampton’s residence yielded approximately 181 grams of what was believed to be fentanyl in a box and a scale in the kitchen cabinet, where Lampton stated it would be located. Additionally, the search yielded a quantity of marijuana in a cardboard box found in the bedroom. The task force also discovered paperwork containing information indicating another residence connected to Lampton. Lampton gave his consent for the officers to search that residence, but nothing of evidentiary value was found therein. Lampton was placed under arrest. Post-Hearing Memorandum In his post-hearing memorandum, Lampton claimed the State, through Biondolillo, informed the district court that there was “not a single federal wiretap, little less multiple federal wiretaps” in the task force’s investigation, and that the officers had supplied false information to the court. Lampton alleged that there were no calls in which he was recorded, his name was not mentioned in any federal wiretap, and he made no transactions with the CI. Consequently, Lampton averred that Biondolillo’s statement in the search warrant affidavit that information about him was corroborated by “multiple federal wiretaps” was a false statement made

6 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478-79, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

with the intent of misleading the court. Lampton argued there was no probable cause that an identified controlled dangerous substance was located in his house.

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