State v. Black

864 So. 2d 836, 2003 WL 23025568
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 30, 2003
Docket03-KA-911
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 864 So. 2d 836 (State v. Black) 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. Black, 864 So. 2d 836, 2003 WL 23025568 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

864 So.2d 836 (2003)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
William BLACK.

No. 03-KA-911.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 30, 2003.

*837 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Terry M. Boudreaux, Thomas J. Butler, Thomas S. Block, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Prentice L. White, Louisiana Appellate Project, Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendant-Appellant.

*838 Panel composed of Judges EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., JAMES L. CANNELLA and SUSAN M. CHEHARDY.

EDWARD A. DUFRESNE, JR., Chief Judge.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging defendant, William Black, with distribution of oxycodone, in violation of LSA-R.S. 40:967(A). The matter proceeded to trial before a twelve person jury, which found defendant guilty as charged. Defendant thereafter filed a motion for new trial, which the trial judge denied. After defendant waived delays, the trial judge sentenced him to imprisonment at hard labor for twenty years.

The state filed a multiple offender bill of information alleging that defendant was a fourth felony offender pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:529.1. After being advised of his rights, defendant admitted to the allegations contained in the multiple bill. The trial judge vacated the original sentence and imposed an enhanced sentence of twenty years at hard labor without benefit of probation or suspension. Defendant now appeals.

FACTS

On May 16, 2001, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office received information from a confidential informant regarding defendant's residence on 5th Street in Gretna. Based on that information, Sergeant Renton arranged for undercover Agent Casey Moore to purchase ten or more oxycodone pills the next day from defendant, a white male, who lived at the residence.

On May 17, 2001, Sergeant Renton called the confidential informant to make sure that the pills were still at the residence. Sergeant Renton also provided Agent Moore with eight $20 bills in case she was able to purchase more than twenty pills. At approximately 2:00 p.m., Agent Moore, accompanied by the confidential informant, went to defendant's residence. When Agent Moore knocked on the door, defendant opened the door and invited her into the house. Agent Moore separated from the confidential informant after entering the house. Defendant asked Agent Moore "how many [she] wanted." When Agent Moore responded, "20 pills," defendant replied that "all he had was ten left, that he had just gotten rid of ten." Defendant then asked how "did [she] use them," and Agent Moore replied that she "shot them up," meaning that she injected the pills with a syringe after melting them. After this exchange, Agent Moore felt that she had gained defendant's confidence.

Agent Moore heard someone call out to defendant, which surprised her because she had expected defendant to be alone in the house. She looked toward the direction of the voice and saw a black male, later identified as Calvin Ward, sitting on a bed in the next room smoking crack cocaine in a glass pipe. Defendant asked Agent Moore if she knew where the nearest drug store was located. Agent Moore believed defendant wanted her to obtain some syringes at the drug store and "just stay there." However, Agent Moore told defendant that she had to leave because her boyfriend was waiting on her. Thereafter, defendant pointed to Calvin Ward and said, "He'll deal with you. I'm going to take a hit off that crack pipe."

When defendant entered the bedroom, Ward handed the glass pipe to him. Ward exited the bedroom and defendant shut the door. Ward introduced himself to Agent Moore, asked how many she wanted, and Agent Moore told him that she wanted twenty pills. Ward explained that he only had ten because "they had just got rid of *839 ten for the crack cocaine they were smoking." Agent Moore told him that she could easily access crack cocaine and asked if he would be willing to trade pills for crack. Ward responded affirmatively, returned to the bedroom and shut the door.

A few seconds later, Ward came out of the bedroom with ten pills wrapped in newspaper that Agent Moore exchanged for $80. Following a brief conversation in which Ward provided Agent Moore his telephone number for future contact, Agent Moore left. At a prearranged location, Agent Moore gave the pills and remaining money to Agent Heggelund. According to the state's expert chemist, all of the pills were similar in appearance and he tested only one of the pills, which was positive for oxycodone. Sergeant Renton obtained arrest warrants for defendant and Ward, who was at large at the time of trial.

Mary Maggiore, defendant's mother, testified on behalf of the defense. Ms. Maggiore said that she took defendant to the hospital on May 17, 2001, for out-patient surgery. However, she acknowledged that he returned home sometime after lunch.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

In his first assigned error, defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict him. Specifically, defendant asserts that there was no evidence that he orchestrated or facilitated the drug sale between Agent Moore and Calvin Ward, and thus, the state failed to prove that he acted as a principal to the drug transaction.

The standard of review for the sufficiency of evidence to uphold a conviction is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could conclude that the state proved the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

Distribution of oxycodone is defined in LSA-R.S. 40:967(A)(1), which provides that it is unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally distribute a controlled dangerous substance classified in Schedule II. Oxycodone is classified in Schedule II as a controlled substance. LSA-R.S. 40:964(A)(1)(o). The term "distribute" is defined as "to deliver a controlled dangerous substance ... by physical delivery." LSA-R.S. 40:961(14). Delivery is defined as the "transfer of a controlled dangerous substance whether or not there exists an agency relationship." Delivery has also been jurisprudentially defined as transferring possession and control. State v. Celestine, 95-1393 (La.1/26/96), 671 So.2d 896, 897.

A defendant may be guilty of distribution as a principal if he "aids and abets in the distribution or if he directly or indirectly counsels or procures another to distribute a controlled dangerous substance...." State v. Bartley, 00-1370 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2/14/01), 782 So.2d 29, 32-33, writ denied, 01-717 (La.2/22/02), 809 So.2d 981.

To support a defendant's conviction as a principal, the state must show that the defendant had the requisite mental state for the crime. State v. Saylor, 01-451 (La.App. 5 Cir. 11/27/01), 802 So.2d 937, 941, writ denied, 01-3406 (La.10/4/02), 826 So.2d 1122. Distribution of a controlled dangerous substance only requires general intent. State v. Banks, 307 So.2d 594, 596-597 (La.1975); State v. Ruffin, 02-798 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/30/02), 836 So.2d 625, 631. General criminal intent is present whenever there is specific intent, and also when the circumstances indicate that *840 the offender, in the ordinary course of human experience, must have adverted to the prescribed criminal consequences as reasonably certain to result from his act or failure to act. LSA-R.S. 14:10(2).

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Bluebook (online)
864 So. 2d 836, 2003 WL 23025568, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-black-lactapp-2003.