State v. Ayche

717 So. 2d 1218, 1998 WL 423776
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 28, 1998
Docket98-KA-191
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 717 So. 2d 1218 (State v. Ayche) 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. Ayche, 717 So. 2d 1218, 1998 WL 423776 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

717 So.2d 1218 (1998)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Clifton B. AYCHE.

No. 98-KA-191.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

July 28, 1998.
Rehearing Denied October 19, 1998.

*1219 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry Boudreaux, Ellen S. Fantaci, Frank Brindisi, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Laurie A. White, Louisiana Appellate Project, Baton Rouge, for Defendant/Appellant.

Before DUFRESNE and GOTHARD, JJ., and ROBERT M. MURPHY, J. Pro Tem.

GOTHARD, Judge.

Defendant, Clifton Ayche, was convicted of possession of cocaine, in violation of La. R.S. 40:967 C, and he was sentenced to five years at hard labor. Pursuant to a multiple bill filed by the state, defendant was adjudicated a fourth felony offender and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. This appeal followed. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant's conviction, vacate the multiple offender adjudication and remand the matter for further proceedings.

FACTS

On the night of March 12, 1997, agents Mike Crossen and Billy Matranga of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Narcotics Division, were on patrol in an unmarked police car. The officers wore "raid" jackets which bore police badges. Their assignment was to target high crime areas on the Westbank. At about 8:45 p.m., the officers turned off the Westbank Expressway onto Garden Road in Marrero, and pulled into the parking lot of Kim's Grocery. The store was known to the officers as a regular site for drug transactions.

Crossen and Matranga saw defendant leaning on a soft drink machine in front of Kim's. As they exited their car, defendant pulled a white cigarette, which Crossen thought might be a marijuana cigarette, from behind his ear and place it in a front pocket of his pants. As the officers began walking toward defendant, he turned and ran into the store. The officers followed, and Crossen restrained defendant by grabbing his hands. Crossen took defendant outside and placed his hands on the police car. He then conducted a pat-down search of defendant, and he also retrieved the cigarette from defendant's pocket. He broke the cigarette open and found what appeared to be tobacco, mixed with small pieces of an off-white substance. Crossen performed a field test on the white substance, and the result was positive for cocaine.

Darren Poche, an expert in the analysis of controlled dangerous substances, testified at trial that he had tested the white substance *1220 for cocaine, and received positive results. Poche found the brown vegetable substance inside the cigarette to be tobacco.

Defense witness Darius Trufant testified that he was at Kim's Grocery on the evening of March 12 to give his father, Leroy, a ride home. He went inside the store with the defendant and they played video games. Fifteen to twenty minutes later, police officers entered the store and ordered the two men to go outside. Darius testified that the officers searched them and then he was allowed to go, while defendant was placed under arrest.

Darius Trufant's father, Leroy, testified that he and his friend, Gerald Comeaux, were waiting in Darius' car in the parking lot of Kim's Grocery while defendant and Darius were inside playing video games. One or two unmarked police cars arrived at the store, and officers went inside and retrieved defendant and Darius. The officers allowed Darius to go, but arrested defendant.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

Appellant was denied his right to due process of law under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 2 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as there was insufficient evidence to support the verdict.

Defendant alleges that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to prove that appellant committed the crime with which he was charged. In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, the appellate court must consider whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

Defendant was convicted of a violation of La.C.Cr.P. art. 967 C, which provides in part that "[i]t is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess a controlled dangerous substance as classified in Schedule II unless such substance was obtained directly or pursuant to a valid prescription or order from a practitioner...." Cocaine is classified as a schedule II narcotic. La. R.S. 40:964. Viewing the record in the light most favorable to the prosecution, there is sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Agents Crossen and Matranga both testified that they were ten feet away from defendant when they saw him remove the cigarette from behind his ear and place it in his pants pocket. Agent Crossen testified that he removed the cigarette from defendant's pocket. Crossen performed a field test on the contents of the cigarette, and the result was positive for cocaine. Forensic chemist Darren Poche also analyzed the white substance, and found it to be cocaine.

In this case, defendant argues that the state did not prove the elements of the crime beyond reasonable doubt because the testimony of defense witnesses, Darius and Leroy Trufant, was inconsistent with that of the arresting officers, and therefore the officers' testimony was unreliable.

The jury apparently found the testimony of the two officers more credible than that of defendant's witnesses. It is within the jury's sound discretion to accept or reject in whole or in part the testimony of any witness. State v. Girod, 96-660 (La.App. 5 Cir. 11/25/97), 703 So.2d 771. It is not the appellate court's function to assess the credibility of witnesses or re-weigh evidence to overcome the fact-finder's determination of guilt. State v. Issac, 97-497 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/28/97), 702 So.2d 320.

We find that this allegation of error has no merit.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR TWO, THREE AND FOUR

The trial court erred when it admitted evidence at trial without a determination of whether the evidence was obtained in an unreasonable search and seizure, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as the arresting officers did not have probable cause or even reasonable suspicion to stop and search the appellant.

In the alternative, appellant was denied his right to counsel as guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 2 *1221 and 16 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as trial counsel was ineffective when he failed to pursue his pre-trial motions to determine whether evidence was admissible or inadmissible at trial.

Appellant was denied his right to judicial review pursuant to Article I, Section 19 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as the trial record does not contain the trial court's decision regarding defense's pre-trial motions.

Defendant complains that he was prejudiced by the trial court's failure to rule on his motion to suppress evidence. Defendant further argues that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the cigarette seized from his pants pocket, as it was the fruit of an unlawful search.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
717 So. 2d 1218, 1998 WL 423776, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ayche-lactapp-1998.