State v. Bell

169 So. 3d 417, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 69, 2015 WL 222443
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 15, 2015
DocketNo. 2014 KA 1046
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 169 So. 3d 417 (State v. Bell) 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. Bell, 169 So. 3d 417, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 69, 2015 WL 222443 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CRAIN, J.

|aThe defendant, Jacob McCalister Bell, was charged by bill of information with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, fourth offense, a violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:98. He pled not guilty and filed a motion to suppress. At the conclusion of a hearing on the matter, the trial court denied the motion. The defendant waived his right to a jury trial and, following a bench trial, was adjudged guilty as charged. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals, designating two counseled assignments of error and two pro se assignments of error. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

FACTS

On the night of December 8, 2011, the defendant was in the drive-through lane of a Burger King in Franklin, Louisiana, when he became upset and caused a disturbance. After initially refusing to take his food and leave, the defendant eventually left and went across the street to a McDonald’s restaurant. In response to a report of the incident, Officer Seth Dantin of the Franklin Police Department arrived at the Burger King about five minutes after the defendant had left the premises. A restaurant employee told Officer Dantin that the defendant caused a disturbance by “hollering” and cursing before finally going to the McDonald’s across the street, where he was in the drive-through lane in a maroon pickup truck. The Burger King personnel wanted Officer Dantin to tell the defendant that he was not allowed back on the premises that night.

Officer Dantin drove his patrol car to a parking lot next to the McDonald’s, where he parked and waited for the defendant to leave. When the defendant left the McDonald’s parking lot, Officer Dantin activated his vehicle’s lights and pulled the defendant over. Officer Dantin approached the truck’s window and, as he spoke with the defendant, smelled a strong odor of alcohol inside the truck and Lon the defendant’s breath. He then asked the defendant to step out of his vehicle and walk to the front of the officer’s vehicle. As the defendant walked, the officer observed him swaying from side to side. He also noticed that the defendant’s speech was slurred.'

After being advised of his Miranda2 rights, the defendant submitted to a field sobriety test, which revealed nystagmus in [421]*421both eyes. According to Officer Dantin, the defendant did not perform well on the walk-and-turn test, and when the officer attempted to administer the one-leg-stand test, the defendant advised that he could not raise his leg as directed. In response to Officer Dantin’s instruction to recite the alphabet from A to U, the defendant recited it from A to V. Officer Dantin found the defendant to be under the influence and placed him under arrest. At the police station, an attempt to measure the defendant’s blood-alcohol content with an Intoxi-lyzer 5000 was unsuccessful because the defendant refused to blow into the instrument’s tube. Officer Dantin was the only witness called at the hearing on the motion to suppress and at the trial, and the defendant did not testify.

COUNSELED ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In his first counseled assignment of error, the defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Specifically, the defendant contends that Officer Dantin did not have reasonable suspicion, much less probable cause, to stop him because he had not committed any traffic violations, and the officer had no reasonable basis to believe he had committed or was about to commit a crime.

Trial courts are vested with great discretion when ruling on a motion to suppress. State v. Long, 03-2592 (La.9/9/04), 884 So.2d 1176, 1179, cert. denied, 544 U.S. 977, 125 S.Ct. 1860, 161 L.Ed.2d 728 (2005). When a trial court denies a motion to suppress, factual and credibility determinations should not be reversed in the absence of a clear abuse of the trial court’s discretion, i.e., unless such ruling is not supported by the evidence. See State v. Green, 94-0887 (La.5/22/95), 655 So.2d 272, 280-81. However, a trial court’s legal findings are subject to a de novo standard of review. See State v. Hunt, 09-1589 (La.12/1/09), 25 So.3d 746, 751. In determining whether the ruling on the defendant’s motion to suppress was correct, we are not limited to the evidence adduced at the hearing on the motion. We may consider all pertinent evidence given at the trial of the case. State v. Chopin, 372 So.2d 1222, 1223 n. 2 (La.1979).

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 5, of the Louisiana Constitution protect people against unreasonable searches and seizures. Subject only to a few well-established exceptions, a search or seizure conducted without a warrant issued upon probable cause is constitutionally prohibited. Once a defendant makes an initial showing that a warrantless search or seizure occurred, the burden of proof shifts to the State to affirmatively show it was justified under one of the narrow exceptions to the rule requiring a search warrant. La. Code Crim. Pro. art. 703D; State v. Johnson, 98-0264 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/28/98), 728 So.2d 885, 886. Evidence derived from an unreasonable seizure will be excluded from trial. See State v. Benjamin, 97-3065 (La.12/1/98), 722 So.2d 988, 989.

The right of law enforcement officers to stop and interrogate one reasonably suspected of criminal conduct is, however, recognized by both federal and state jurisprudence. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. Ducre, 604 So.2d 702, 706 (La.App. 1 Cir.1992). A law enforcement officer may stop a person in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed, or is about to commit an offense and may demand of him his name, address, and an explanation of his actions. La.Code Crim. Pro. art. 215.1A; State v. Belton, 441 So.2d 1195, 1198 (La.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 953, 104 S.Ct. 2158, [422]*42280 L.Ed.2d 543 (1984). Reasonable suspicion to stop is ssomething less than the probable cause required for an arrest, and the reviewing court must look to the facts of each case to determine whether a detaining officer had knowledge of sufficient facts and circumstances to justify an infringement of the suspect’s rights. State v. Robertson, 97-2960 (La.10/20/98), 721 So.2d 1268, 1269.

In order to assess the reasonableness of an officer’s conduct, it is necessary to balance the need to search or to seize against the harm of invasion. State v. Scott, 561 So.2d 170, 173 (La.App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 566 So.2d 394 (La.1990). The totality of the circumstances must be considered in determining whether reasonable suspicion exists. State v. Payne, 489 So.2d 1289, 1291-92 (La.App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 493 So.2d 1217 (La.1986). The detaining officer must have knowledge of specific, articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the stop. State v. Flowers, 441 So.2d 707, 714 (La.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 945, 104 S.Ct. 1931, 80 L.Ed.2d 476 (1984); State v. Turner, 500 So.2d 885, 887 (La.App. 1 Cir.1986).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 So. 3d 417, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 69, 2015 WL 222443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bell-lactapp-2015.