State v. Addison

665 So. 2d 1224, 1995 WL 707932
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 30, 1995
Docket94-KA-2431
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 665 So. 2d 1224 (State v. Addison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Addison, 665 So. 2d 1224, 1995 WL 707932 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

665 So.2d 1224 (1995)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Larry D. ADDISON.

No. 94-KA-2431.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

November 30, 1995.

*1225 Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Susan M. Erlanger, Assistant District Attorney, Amy Knoll, Law Clerk, New Orleans, for appellee.

Dwight Doskey, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for appellant.

Before LOBRANO, JONES and MURRAY, JJ.

LOBRANO, Judge.

The defendant, Larry D. Addison, was charged by bill of information with possession of more than 200 but less than 400 grams of cocaine, a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 40:967.[1]

On January 25, 1993, defendant pled not guilty. On July 28, 1994, following a trial by jury, defendant was found guilty as charged.

On September 9, 1994, defendant filed a motion for post verdict judgment of acquittal which was denied by the trial court. Defendant *1226 waived all delays and was sentenced to fifteen (15) years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence with credit for time served. In addition, defendant was fined $100,000.00.

FACTS:

On November 6, 1992, during a routine check of the Federal Express Package delivery facility on Washington Avenue, a drug detention canine "alerted" to a package from Miami, Florida. The package was sent from "Richard Addison" and addressed to "Gail Addison", 5501 Tullis Drive, Building 5, Apartment 302, New Orleans, Louisiana. Sergeant Wayne Jusselin, who was in charge of the canine, prepared and obtained a search warrant to open the package which was the size of a shoe box.

After obtaining the warrant, the package was opened. It contained newspaper, a pair of tennis shoes, coffee grounds and a large plastic bag containing a white powder. The officers conducting the search removed the bag of white powder and tested a small sample. The sample tested positive for cocaine. A small amount of the cocaine, less then 2 grams, was placed back into the box. The remainder of the cocaine was kept by the officers.

The officers then obtained a search warrant for the Tullis Drive address. Detective Howard Gay, dressed in a Federal Express delivery uniform and accompanied by several other officers, went to the address on Tullis Drive to deliver the package. Defendant answered the door, accepted the package and paid for the delivery charge with a check. The officers then waited several minutes keeping surveillance on the apartment. During that time, they observed Rosalind Davis exit the apartment. The officers detained Davis in the parking lot. The officers, accompanied by Detective Charles Watkins, who also provided security for the building, approached the door of the apartment and shouted "maintenance". Watkins then attempted to open the door with a pass key but was unable to do so. The officers then shouted "police with a search warrant". When they received no answer, the officers forced entry into the apartment. Defendant was observed standing in the kitchen with the opened package on top of the kitchen counter. Also on the counter was a briefcase and a .357 magnum hand gun.

Inside the briefcase was a quarter ounce of cocaine of a slightly different color, a glass beaker with white power residue on the bottom, a saucer containing white powder residue, white incense powder, and a black Dearing gram scale. In the bedroom, the officers found a loaded MAC 11 machine gun pistol and a cellular phone. Other papers, packages, tennis shoes and cancelled checks written by defendant to Federal Express were found indicating that defendant had received similar packages in the past. The officers also found a utility bill, cable television bill and telephone bill for the apartment in defendant's name. Many of the long distance telephone calls were to Miami, Florida. In addition, the officers found a hotel bill from a Miami hotel in defendant's name and a transfer of money to the hotel room. The search also revealed a beeper in the name of Gail Addison and a receipt for it signed by defendant, a rental contract for furniture for the apartment in the name of Rosalind Davis and $800.00 in twenty dollar bills. A search of defendant's person revealed a beeper. Defendant was then arrested for possession of cocaine.

Defendant appeals his conviction and sentence asserting the following assignments of error.[2]

1) The trial court erred by ordering the denial of parole for defendant's entire sentence;
2) The magistrate erred by issuing a warrant that was not based on probable cause;
3) Defendant's conviction is based on insufficient evidence;
4) The trial court erred in admitting the guns, the cellular phone and the $800.00 into evidence.

*1227 ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR 2.:[3]

Defendant argues that the search warrant issued by the magistrate for the search of the package was not based on probable cause. We disagree.

In United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983), the United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of detection canine searches within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.[4] The Court stated:

The Fourth Amendment `protects people from unreasonable government intrusions into their legitimate expectations of privacy.' United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S., at 7, 97 S.Ct., at 2481. We have affirmed that a person possesses a privacy interest in the contents of personal luggage that is protected by the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 13, 97 S.Ct., at 2484. A "canine sniff" by a well-trained narcotics detection dog, however, does not require opening the luggage. It does not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view, as does, for example, an officer's rummaging through the contents of the luggage. Thus, the manner in which information is obtained through this investigative technique is much less intrusive than a typical search. Moreover, the sniff discloses only the presence or absence of narcotics, a contraband item. Thus, despite the fact that the sniff tells the authorities something about the contents of the luggage, the information obtained is limited. This limited disclosure also ensures that the owner of the property is not subjected to the embarrassment and inconvenience entailed in less discriminate and more intrusive investigative methods.
In these respects, the canine sniff is sui generis. We are aware of no other investigative procedure that is so limited both in the manner in which the information is obtained and in the content of the information revealed by the procedure. Therefore, we conclude that the particular course of investigation that the agents intended to pursue here—exposure of respondent's luggage, which was located in a public place, to a trained canine—did not constitute a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 706-707, 103 S.Ct. at 2644-2645. See also, United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 123, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 1663 (1984).

In State v. Rose, 607 So.2d 974 (La.App. 4th Cir.1992), writ denied, 612 So.2d 97 (La. 1993) and State v. Philippoff, 588 So.2d 778 (La.App. 4th Cir.1991), this court relying on Place and Jacobsen,

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Bluebook (online)
665 So. 2d 1224, 1995 WL 707932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-addison-lactapp-1995.