State v. Beach

610 So. 2d 908, 1992 WL 358335
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 20, 1992
Docket91 KA 1708, 91 KA 1709
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 610 So. 2d 908 (State v. Beach) 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. Beach, 610 So. 2d 908, 1992 WL 358335 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

610 So.2d 908 (1992)

STATE of Louisiana,
v.
Huey Thomas BEACH.

Nos. 91 KA 1708, 91 KA 1709.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 20, 1992.

*910 Jason Lyons, Asst. Dist. Atty., Houma, for plaintiff and appellee, State of LA.

William Dunckelman, Indigent Defender, Houma, for defendant and appellant, Huey T. Beach.

*911 Before LOTTINGER, C.J., FOIL, J., and COVINGTON,[*] J. Pro Tem.

LOTTINGER, Chief Judge.

The defendant, Huey Thomas Beach, was charged by bill of information with the following: Count 1—distribution of cocaine, in violation of La.R.S. 40:967 A(1); Count 2—possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of La.R.S. 14:95.1; Count 3—possession of cocaine, in violation of La.R.S. 40:967 C; and Count 4—possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, in violation of La.R.S. 40:966 A. The defendant pleaded not guilty. Immediately before trial, Counts 2 and 3 were nol-prossed, and Count 4 was renumbered as Count 2.[1] After trial by jury, the defendant was found guilty as charged on both counts. Thereafter, the State filed a habitual offender bill of information; and, after a hearing, the defendant was adjudicated a second felony habitual offender. For the distribution of cocaine conviction, the defendant received a sentence of forty-five years at hard labor. For his conviction of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, the defendant received a concurrent sentence of forty years at hard labor. The defendant has appealed, alleging ten assignments of error, as follows:

1. The trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to suppress physical evidence.

2. The trial court erred in allowing State Exhibit 1 to be admitted into evidence.

3. The trial court erred in allowing State Exhibit 4 to be admitted into evidence.

4. The trial court erred in allowing State Exhibits 5 and 6 to be admitted into evidence.

5. The trial court erred in permitting the State's representative, Cmdr. Louis Hyatt, to testify after listening to the testimony of Lt. Willard Bunch.

6. The trial court erred in allowing State Exhibits 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 to be admitted into evidence.

7. The trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for new trial.

8. The trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal.

9. The trial court erred in adjudicating the defendant a second felony habitual offender.

10. The trial court erred in imposing excessive sentences.

Assignment of error number two was not briefed on appeal and, therefore, is considered abandoned. Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4.

FACTS

On April 19, 1989, Commander Louis Hyatt of the Terrebonne Parish Narcotics Strike Force learned from a confidential informant operating at Tommy's Lounge on Main Street in Houma, Louisiana, that Lisa and Theresa Feeback had informed the confidential informant that they could arrange a cocaine transaction. Commander *912 Hyatt gave the confidential informant $100.00 for the purpose of purchasing cocaine from the Feeback sisters. When the Feeback sisters left the lounge in their vehicle, the confidential informant told Hyatt that the Feeback sisters were leaving to obtain some cocaine and would return to the lounge shortly thereafter. Hyatt followed them to the defendant's apartment and observed them enter. A few minutes later, they exited the defendant's apartment and got back into their vehicle. As they drove back toward Tommy's Lounge, Hyatt and other officers stopped their vehicle and seized a syringe, a shot glass containing a yellow powder substance later determined to contain cocaine and oxycodone (Percodan), and a small plastic bag of cocaine hidden in Lisa Feeback's mouth. The Feeback sisters informed Hyatt that they obtained this cocaine from the defendant and that he had more cocaine at his apartment.

Based on the above information, Hyatt obtained a search warrant for the defendant's apartment. In the subsequent search of the defendant's apartment, police officers seized two small plastic bags of cocaine and fourteen plastic bags of marijuana.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NOS. ONE, THREE, FOUR, AND SIX

In assignment of error number one, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress physical evidence seized from his apartment. In assignments of error numbers three, four, and six, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing State Exhibits 4 through 11 to be introduced into evidence.

A search warrant may issue only upon probable cause established to the satisfaction of a judge, by the affidavit of a credible person, reciting facts establishing the cause for issuance of the warrant. La. Const. Art. I, § 5; La.Code Crim.P. art. 162. Probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances within the affiant's knowledge, and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient to support a reasonable belief that an offense has been committed and that evidence or contraband may be found at the place to be searched. State v. Revere, 572 So.2d 117, 128 (La.App. 1st Cir.1990), writ denied, 581 So.2d 703 (La.1991).

Since the instant search and seizure of evidence was conducted pursuant to a search warrant, the defendant had the burden to prove the grounds of his motion to suppress. La.Code Crim.P. art. 703 D; State v. Harris, 444 So.2d 257, 260 (La. App. 1st Cir.1983), writ denied, 445 So.2d 1234 (La.1984). For the reasons which follow, we find that the defendant failed to meet this burden of proof and, therefore, the trial court correctly denied the motion to suppress.

At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the affidavit in support of the search warrant was introduced into evidence. The affidavit provided as follows:

The affiant gave $100.00 of marked money to a C.I., who gave same to an unwitting party, who was to go pick up the cocaine. The affiant followed the unwitting party to the above address and saw them go inside then return to their vehicle and proceed back to the CI. The affiant stopped the unwitting party and seized what the unwitting party stated was cocaine that they obtained from the above address. The unwitting party stated that more cocaine was at the house.

In his brief to this Court, the defendant attacks the search warrant on three bases. First, he contends that the police had no probable cause to stop the Feebacks' vehicle and, therefore, the seizure of physical evidence from them, which led to the confessions that they obtained the cocaine from the defendant, tainted the instant search warrant for the defendant's apartment. We disagree. A person adversely affected by a confession unlawfully obtained from another has no standing to raise its illegality in court. State v. Burdgess, 434 So.2d 1062, 1064-1065 (La.1983); State v. Peters, 542 So.2d 592, 595 (La.App. 1st Cir.1989). Even if the police unlawfully stopped the Feebacks' vehicle, thus rendering *913 the subsequent search, seizure of evidence, and confession inadmissible, such information could nevertheless be utilized as a crucial part of the showing of probable cause in the affidavit in support of the search warrant for the defendant's apartment. See State v. Culotta, 343 So.2d 977 (La.1976); State v. Bearden, 449 So.2d 1109, 1118 (La.App. 5th Cir.), writ denied, 452 So.2d 179 (La.1984).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
610 So. 2d 908, 1992 WL 358335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beach-lactapp-1992.