State v. Bearden

449 So. 2d 1109
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 9, 1984
Docket83-KA-714
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 449 So. 2d 1109 (State v. Bearden) 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. Bearden, 449 So. 2d 1109 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

449 So.2d 1109 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Ronnie BEARDEN and Edwardo Arroyo.

No. 83-KA-714.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

April 9, 1984.
Writ Denied June 15, 1984.

*1112 William C. Credo, III and David C. Loeb, Asst. Dist. Attys., Gretna, for plaintiff/appellee.

Raleigh Ohlmeyer & G. Fred Ours, New Orleans, for defendants/appellants.

Before BOWES, GAUDIN and DUFRESNE, JJ.

BOWES, Judge.

Defendants, Ronnie E. Bearden, and Edwardo (Eduardo) Arroyo both pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute methaqualone. Arroyo additionally pled guilty to a second count, possession of cocaine (no amount designated). Both defendants reserved their rights to appeal the trial court's denial of their joint motion to suppress pursuant to State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976).

Bearden was given a three year sentence (without hard labor), which was suspended, and then placed on active probation for five years and fined $2,500.00 as a special condition of probation.

Arroyo was sentenced to five years at hard labor (suspended) on count two and, on count one, a concurrent five years at hard labor. This sentence was also suspended and he, too, was placed on active probation for five years. However, as a special condition of his probation, Arroyo was condemned to serve two years in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center (reviewable in one year) and additionally he was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.00. The defendants were also ordered to pay the costs of court.

On this appeal, we affirm the denial of the motion to suppress by the trial court as to both defendants.

On November 30, 1982, Lieutenant Anthony Soto of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office received a phone call from a previously-reliable, confidential informant (C.I.). The C.I. advised Lt. Soto that the defendant Bearden was in possession of a large quantity of Quaaludes (methaqualone) at his residence and, at approximately 7:00 p.m., an unknown subject (no description available) would go to the Bearden home to make a buy.

Based upon this information, Lt. Soto, accompanied by four other officers, established surveillance of the Bearden home and, at about 7:30 p.m., observed a subject later identified as John Nicotra arrive at the house in his red Corvette. He went inside the Bearden house, stayed about ten minutes, and then departed. Three officers, including Lt. Soto, followed the Corvette and, when they were some distance from Bearden's home, pulled the vehicle over and ordered Nicotra out of the car. While conducting a "pat down" for concealed weapons, the officers discovered a bag containing approximately four hundred Quaalude tablets in Nicotra's sock. After being advised of his Miranda rights, Nicotra told the officers that he had just purchased the contraband from Bearden.

About this time the agents, who had been left behind to maintain surveillance of the Bearden residence, radioed Lt. Soto that Bearden had left his house. Lt. Soto ordered the agents to follow the subject. Bearden drove to the home of an apparently well-known drug dealer, Edwardo Arroyo, (see testimony of Lt. Soto, transcript pages eight and nine) and, a short time after entering the house, emerged clutching a bulging jacket pocket.

Lt. Soto ordered the agents following Bearden to arrest him when he had driven a safe distance from the Arroyo house. The agents stopped Bearden's car and, upon searching his person, found a bag in his packet pocket containing 500 Quaaludes. *1113 After Bearden was arrested and advised of his rights, Lt. Soto arrived, informed the subject that a warrant for a search of his residence could be prepared, and requested that he consent to the search. Bearden acquiesced to the request, apparently concerned for his pregnant wife and child who were at home, and, additionally, implicated Edwardo Arroyo as a supplier from whom he had purchased the Quaaludes.

Upon their arrival at the Bearden house, Bearden's wife became hysterical and, according to Lt. Soto: "We had to put handcuffs on her to subdue her because she started swinging at the officers." After finding additional Quaaludes in the residence, the police discontinued the search, with the intention of obtaining a warrant for the search of the Arroyo house. During the Bearden search, it was learned that Arroyo was the godfather of one of the Bearden children. Lt. Soto, fearing that Mrs. Bearden would alert the Arroyo household, dispatched five officers to the house. After he gave the agents approximately five minutes "head start", Lt. Soto left the Bearden residence for his office on the Eastbank in order to prepare the Arroyo search warrant. Soto testified that the search of the Bearden house had taken approximately forty minutes and that he exited the residence at approximately 9:50 p.m.

At the Arroyo home, the officers entered the residence and gathered the occupants into the front room. The testimony differs as to the mode of entrance. Officer Lachute testified as follows:

Okay. We approached the house, knocked on the door, identified ourselves as police officers, you know. We advised them what was going on, that we were obtaining a search warrant for the house, if we could come inside and stand by with everybody inside, which they let us come inside. We went inside. We had everybody sit down on the couch and we watched TV until Lt. Soto arrived back with the search warrant. Ronnie Bearden, on the other hand, stated that the officers came into the house with guns drawn after the door was opened by Mrs. Arroyo.

Likewise, testimony varies as to the time of the search of the Arroyo house. The officers, although acknowledging a cursory check of the residence for other occupants (including the defendant, Arroyo) maintained that the actual search was not conducted until after the warrant arrived. Bearden asserted that the search occurred upon the entry of the officers into the residence.

It was established, however, that following their entry into the house, the five officers moved Mrs. Arroyo, her child and Ronnie Bearden into the front room. Upon Edwardo Arroyo's arrival, he, too, joined the others. Agent Lachute testified he had his gun drawn but didn't know if the other agents did. For approximately two hours (9:50 p.m.—11:40 p.m.), the officers maintained control over the residence and its inhabitants until Lt. Soto returned with the signed search warrant.

Following service of the warrant, a substantial quantity of methaqualone and cocaine was seized.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

The motion to suppress the evidence which was filed by the defendants should have been granted and error is assigned in the denying of the motion.

ARGUMENT

I. Detention and Search of Nicotra

While both the state and the defense argue the legality of the detention and search of Nicotra, which resulted in the seizure of narcotics from his person and a statement implicating Bearden, such legality need not be established.

The 1974 Constitutional Convention expanded the scope of protection provided by the previous Constitution as regards searches and seizures by granting standing to contest the illegality of a search or seizure to "any person adversely affected." See L.S.A. Const. Art. 1, Sect. 5.

*1114 But, in State v. Culotta, 343 So.2d 977 (La.1976), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the deterrent purpose served by the exclusionary rule did not mandate that illegally seized evidence could not be considered in support of a finding of probable cause.

In

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449 So. 2d 1109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bearden-lactapp-1984.