State v. Alvarez

8 So. 3d 50, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 558, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 57, 2009 WL 91971
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 13, 2009
Docket08-KA-558
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 8 So. 3d 50 (State v. Alvarez) 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. Alvarez, 8 So. 3d 50, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 558, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 57, 2009 WL 91971 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

MADELINE JASMINE, Judge Pro Tempore.

|2The Defendant, Mike Alvarez, appeals his conviction of possession of cocaine, and his subsequent sentence of ten years at hard labor as a second felony offender. For the reasons that follow, we vacate the conviction and sentence.

In February of 2007, the Defendant was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of La.R.S. 40:967(A), and with possession of a firearm while in possession of cocaine in violation of La.R.S. 14:95(E). He pled not guilty, and filed various motions including a motion to suppress the evidence. The motion to suppress was denied. The Defendant was tried by a jury in February of 2008, and found guilty of the lesser charge of possession of cocaine. He was acquitted on the firearms charge.

The Defendant was sentenced to five years at hard labor, which was later enhanced to ten years after a habitual offender hearing in which he was found to be a second felony offender.

|3On appeal, the Defendant asserts that the trial judge erred in failing to grant his motion to suppress the evidence, and that his sentence is excessive.

FACTS

On the evening of February 1, 2007, two Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office (JPSO) Reserve Officers, Sergeant Tim Mistretta, Captain Claude Wood, Jr., and JPSO Deputy Eric Lentz were patrolling the Wood-mere Subdivision of Jefferson Parish in separate marked police cars. During their patrol, Sergeant Mistretta and Captain Wood stopped an individual for a traffic violation. Deputy Lentz arrived shortly after to offer assistance.

Sergeant Mistretta testified that he noticed defendant standing at the entry of an alleyway between two apartment complexes watching him conduct a traffic stop. Sergeant Mistretta explained that every time he made eye contact with the defendant, the defendant would “back off’. Captain Wood testified that the defendant was going in and out between the two buildings and was fidgety.

Deputy Lentz testified that he noticed the defendant loitering between two apartment buildings. Deputy Lentz explained that he wanted to conduct an interview with the defendant out of concern for the other officers’ safety to find out what the defendant was doing and why he was walking around in a nervous manner. Deputy Lentz testified that he asked the defendant to come over to talk to him and defendant responded “Me”; when he repeated the request, defendant responded “Huh.” Deputy Lentz and Captain Wood testified that when they approached the defendant from different directions, the defendant turned and fled. The officers chased him.

[53]*53The officers testified that as they pursued the defendant, they saw the defendant remove a gun from his waistband and throw it into bushes in an |4alleyway between apartment buildings. The defendant then ran into an apartment and slammed the door shut. Officers Wood and Lentz then kicked the door down and entered the apartment. Sergeant Mistret-ta followed the other officers into the apartment. After a struggle, the defendant was handcuffed. The defendant was informed that he was under arrest and he was advised of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). When Deputy Lentz searched the defendant, he recovered a small bag containing a white rock substance from the defendant’s pants pocket. This substance tested positive for cocaine.

The defendant told the officers that he lived at the apartment with his girlfriend. He then signed a form consenting to a search of the residence.

During the search, Deputy Lentz discovered several bags of rock-like objects inside the freezer in the kitchen. These items tested positive for cocaine. Also found were a razor with some white powdery substance on the end consistent with cocaine, and clear sandwich bags consistent with those used to wrap the drug. No drug paraphernalia was found, although the officers found magazines with 9 mm bullets, and two empty ammunition boxes.

The defendant testified. He stated that on the evening of the incident, Willie Hodges and Levita Jackson arrived at his apartment to watch a basketball game. At that time, he saw a black male dressed in black standing in the alleyway outside the apartment. Shortly after they arrived, Hodges and Jackson left to pick up something to eat. About five minutes later, the police kicked his door in and entered his apartment. He said he did not struggle, that he cooperated and got on the floor when they entered with guns drawn. After the officers handcuffed him, he complied with the officers’ request to sign a form consenting to the search of his | ¡¡apartment. Although they searched the apartment, he denied that they searched him.

The defendant denied knowing where the crack came from, and asserted he was not aware of any drugs in his home. The defendant said Ariana Paul lived with him at the time, and claimed that the freezer in which the drugs were found belonged to Ariana’s mother. He said that both her parents had a drug problem.

The defendant denied that he was chased down an alleyway, or that he discarded a gun. He testified that there were no bushes near his apartment and there was no ammunition in his house.

Ms. Jackson testified that she and Hodges saw a man standing in the alleyway when they arrived at the defendant’s apartment. According to Ms. Jackson, when she and Hodges left to get something to eat, their car was blocked by two police cars. At that time, she again saw someone standing in the alleyway next to the apartment building. Ms. Jackson testified that she watched as the unknown man ran through the alley when the police went to question him. She claimed that the person chased by the police was the same individual she and Hodges had seen earlier when they drove into the driveway.

At the conclusion of trial, the defendant was found guilty of possession of cocaine. He was then adjudicated a second felony offender and received an enhanced sentence of ten years. This timely appeal followed.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in failing to suppress [54]*54physical evidence gathered as the result of an illegal seizure. He argues that a field stop is unjustified solely on the basis that a person is standing in front of his apartment located in a high crime area. He argues that the evidence should | (ihave been suppressed because it was recovered during an illegal investigatory stop at which the officers lacked reasonable suspicion, and he was unconstitutionally seized prior to his alleged flight.

The State responds that this Court has ruled on the suppression issue in the Defendant’s pretrial writ, and the Court need not address this issue again. The State also argues that the Defendant was not stopped at the time he fled, nor was an actual stop imminent. The State argues that the Defendant’s suspicious behavior in a high crime area and his unprovoked flight from the officers were sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

This court denied defendant’s supervisory writ application from the trial court’s denial of his pre-trial motion to suppress evidence, finding the gun and the cocaine obtained in the subsequent pat-down were properly seized.1

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 So. 3d 50, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 558, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 57, 2009 WL 91971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alvarez-lactapp-2009.