State v. Angel

356 So. 2d 986
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 6, 1978
Docket60815
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 356 So. 2d 986 (State v. Angel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Angel, 356 So. 2d 986 (La. 1978).

Opinion

356 So.2d 986 (1978)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Leon ANGEL.

No. 60815.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 6, 1978.
Rehearing Denied April 6, 1978.

*987 C. R. Whitehead, Jr., Whitehead & McCoy, Natchitoches, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ronald C. Martin, Dist. Atty., S. Michael Henry, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

SANDERS, Chief Justice.

After an adverse ruling on his Motion to Suppress tangible evidence, defendant pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of cocaine. In pleading guilty, defendant reserved his right to seek appellate review of the ruling on his motion to suppress. See State v. Crosby, La., 338 So.2d 584 (1976). The court sentenced defendant to three years' imprisonment on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently.

In his Motion to Suppress, defendant alleges that the evidence seized was the product of an illegal arrest and unconstitutional search.

The arrest, search, and seizure complained of occurred in the following factual context:

Officer Delphin of the Natchitoches Police Department received information on November 30, 1976, from a confidential informant that two men, Timothy Koen and Timothy Mosley, would drive a 1966 red Ford pickup truck to Natchitoches. The informant gave the license number of the truck to Officer Delphin and alleged that the truck would contain a large quantity of marijuana, cocaine, and quaaludes. Officer Delphin checked the license number given to him and found that the truck belonged to Mosley. According to the informant, the truck was to arrive either on December 1st or 2nd at either 225 Duplex Street or the University Shopping Center in Natchitoches.

Officers Delphin and Dison "staked out" the area described by the informant from about 3:30 to 10:00 p. m. on December 1, 1976. The "stake out" was fruitless.

The same informant again called Officer Delphin on December 2nd and told the officer that the truck would be arriving in Natchitoches that day at 225 Duplex Street. At this time, the informant told Officer Delphin that a blue or blue and white Ford car would be following the truck. At approximately 8:00 p. m. that same day, the informant again called Officer Delphin and told him that the driver would be Leon Angel, the defendant.

On the basis of this information, Officer Delphin and five other officers undertook a surveillance of the Duplex Street address and University Shopping Center areas. An officer near the University Shopping Center observed the pick-up truck and Ford automobile drive into the shopping center. After one of the individuals made a telephone call from the shopping center, the two vehicles proceeded to 225 Duplex Street and parked the vehicles.

When the three individuals alighted from their vehicles, the policeman approached them, frisked them, and required them to *988 lie on the ground and be handcuffed. They were advised that they were under investigation for possession of narcotics and were advised of their Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), "rights." After informing him that he could refuse to give his permission, the officers asked Mosley for permission to search the truck he was driving. Although Mosley gave his oral permission at this time, the police did not search the vehicle on the scene. Rather they had the truck and the car towed to the police station.

At the police station, the police again informed Mosley of his rights and requested his permission to search the truck, once again advising him of his right to refuse permission. He then gave his consent in written form. The police asked Angel, the present defendant, for permission to search the Ford automobile he had been driving. Stating that they would have to obtain a search warrant for his vehicle, he refused permission.

The search of the truck yielded various types of drugs in suitcases. The police also found quaalude tablets, and a substance thought to be cocaine on Mosley and several marijuana cigarettes on another defendant. At this point, Officer Dison applied for a search warrant to search defendant's automobile on the basis of the following affidavit:

"THAT A SEARCH WARRANT SHOULD BE ISSUED FOR THE SEARCH OF A 1975 Ford Elite bearing Texas license # MLA 795 being driven by Leon Angel

FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

"Today the 2nd of December Officers Delphin and I received information that a large quantity of Cocaine and Marijuana was being brought to Natchitoches tonight from Shreveport. This information was obtained from a confidential reliable informant. The informant also said they were to bring the drugs to 225 Duplex St. in the city of Natchitoches. The informant described the vehicle as being a red pick up truck and a Ford car.
"A surveillance of the house was begun at approximately 9:00 P.M. At 11:20 P.M. a truck and a car were observed stopping and parked in front of 225 Duplex. These subjects were taken into custody and brought to headquarters. The vehicles were also brought there.
"A large amount of Cocaine was found on the person of Timothy Mosley the driver of the truck. Marijuana was found Timothy Koen, a passenger in the truck. A brief case belonging to Koen was also searched and revealed a large amount of Cocaine.
"Due to the information and the drugs being found on the first two subjects, it is our belief that illegal drugs are being concealed in this car. Leon Angel was asked to give us permission to search his car but he refused."

The search of defendant's automobile pursuant to a warrant, issued on the basis of the above affidavit, produced a large quantity of marijuana and other drugs in suitcases.

Defendant argues that the trial judge erred in denying his motion to suppress on the grounds that: (1) the subjects' arrests were illegal; and (2) any evidence obtained after the illegal arrest was "fruit of the poisonous tree" and rendered any warrant to search his automobile fatally defective.

We agree that defendant's original arrest at 225 Duplex Street was illegal. The three individuals were taken into custody on Duplex Street; this constituted arrest. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 201. At the time defendant and his two associates were arrested without a warrant, no probable cause existed for an arrest. State v. Joseph, La., 351 So.2d 1162 (1977), and cases therein cited. Defendant, however, is in error in contending that any search made after an illegal detention or arrest is, per se, invalid.

A valid consent to search is a well recognized exception to the requirement of a valid search warrant; a search pursuant to a voluntary consent need not be based on probable cause. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). We have heretofore *989 determined that a voluntary consent to search, given after an illegal detention, is valid under circumstances which show no exploitation of the illegality. State v. Baker, La., 338 So.2d 1372 (1976); State v. Cox, La., 330 So.2d 284 (1976). The rationale of this exception to the general rule that information received after an illegal detention or arrest is inadmissible [State v. Joseph, La., 351 So.2d 1162 (1977); State v. Culotta,

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