State v. Chairs

466 So. 2d 642
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 11, 1985
Docket84-KA-432
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 466 So. 2d 642 (State v. Chairs) 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. Chairs, 466 So. 2d 642 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

466 So.2d 642 (1985)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Lester CHAIRS.

No. 84-KA-432.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

March 11, 1985.

John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., James Maxwell, Dorothy A. Pendergast, Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Attys., Gretna, of counsel, for plaintiff-appellee.

John H. Craft, Staff Appellate Counsel, 24th Judicial Dist., Indigent Defender Bd., Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

Before KLIEBERT, CURRAULT and GRISBAUM, JJ.

KLIEBERT, Judge.

Defendant, Lester Chairs, was charged by bill of information with armed robbery, *643 in violation of Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:64, and attempted first degree murder, in violation of Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:27 and 14:30. The defendant pled not guilty to the charges. After a preliminary examination the court found probable cause to hold the defendant for trial. After hearings on preliminary discovery motions and a motion to suppress, the defendant was tried by a twelve member jury on May 15 and 16, 1984 and found guilty as charged on both counts.

The trial court sentenced the defendant to ninety-nine years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for the armed robbery conviction and fifty years at hard labor for the attempted first degree murder without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, with the sentences to run consecutively with each other, and other sentences for armed robbery and aggravated crime against nature imposed for previous convictions of the defendant. The defendant now appeals from these convictions and sentences.

On May 15, 1983, a black male entered a Time Saver Store located on Jefferson Highway in Jefferson Parish. The male walked up to the counter and requested a pack of cigarettes from Ronald Lodriguss, the assistant manager of the store who was the only employee on duty that night. As Lodriguss rang up the purchase, the black male pulled a gun out of his pants and said "Put your money in the bag." A customer then approached the register and the black male slipped the gun back into his shirt and told Lodriguss to "go ahead and wait on him." Lodriguss then handed a grocery sack with approximately $80.00 to $100.00 in it to the black male, who said "stay cool." The black male then backed towards the door and ran out into the rain down Jefferson Highway towards Causeway Boulevard. Lodriguss immediately called the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, giving them a description of the black male as being 6' 1" tall, with sad eyes, a moustache and small goatee, wearing a green pullover shirt and bee-bop hat and carrying a snub-nose revolver.

At approximately the same time, Deputy Alton Quave of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office was traveling up Jefferson Highway in his patrol car. Deputy Quave was off duty and returning with his wife from a family function. Deputy Quave had his police radio on and heard an all-points bulletin broadcasting an armed robbery which had just occurred at 4327 Jefferson Highway and a description of the perpetrator. As Deputy Quave continued driving up Jefferson Highway toward the Time Saver Store, he spotted a black male, matching the description of the armed robber, running down Jefferson Highway away from the Time Saver Store. Deputy Quave switched on his police lights, his siren, and his spotlights and pulled to a stop in front of a fried chicken outlet next to a firehouse. According to Quave's testimony, the black male subject was clearly visible in the spotlights, the street lights, and the business lights. Deputy Quave partially exited the patrol car, crouched behind the door, and ordered the suspect to stop. The suspect wheeled around, fired four shots in the direction of the patrol car, and then fled around the side of the firehouse.

Deputy Quave radioed for assistance and, during the course of the investigation at the scene, investigators found a spent pellet under one of the fire trucks located in the firehouse.

Detective Susan Miller contacted Detective William Lunsford, who was assigned to the Time Saver Store armed robbery involved here, and informed him that the description of a suspect Detective Lunsford was seeking matched the description of a suspect she was investigating for another crime. Miller identified her suspect as Lester Chairs. Detective Lunsford prepared a photo lineup and showed it to Ronald Lodriguss, who identified the defendant as the man who committed the armed robbery. Detective Lunsford prepared another photo lineup and showed it to Deputy Quave, who identified the defendant as the man who shot at him. Ballistics tests determined *644 that the pellet found on the firehouse floor was fired from a gun found as a result of a search warrant in the house where the defendant habitually resided.

The defendant originally cited three assignments of error. However, the assignments of error relative to the defendant's motion to suppress identification testimony and the excessiveness of the sentences were not briefed and therefore are considered abandoned. Uniform Rules of Court—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4; State v. Dirden, 430 So.2d 798 (5th Cir. 1983); State v. Smith, 452 So.2d 251 (5th Cir.1984).

In the only remaining assignment of error originally cited, the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from the residence of Margaret and Henry Chairs during a search under a judge-ordered search warrant.

The search warrant was obtained and the subsequent search and seizure were actually made in connection with another crime. The defendant contends that the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant did not establish a connection between the items to be seized and the house searched pursuant to the search warrant.

La.C.Cr.P. Article 162 provides:

"A search warrant may issue only upon probable cause established to the satisfaction of the judge, by the affidavit of a credible person, reciting facts establishing the cause for issuance of the warrant.
A search warrant shall particularly describe the person or place to be searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful purpose or reason for the search and seizure."

The search warrant was issued upon the affidavit of Detective Susan Miller of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. The affidavit, dated May 20, 1983, amongst others, in substance set forth the following facts:

(1) On May 5, 1983, a black male attacked a white female, committing an armed robbery and an aggravated crime against nature. The victim reported the incident to the Sheriff's Office and described her attacker's physical appearance, the clothing which the attacker wore at the time of the attack (a cream colored shirt with a design on one side of the same with front buttons and collar, dark pants, dark "tennis" type shoes, and a "garden" type glove worn on his left hand) and the weapon used to effect the crime (a blue steel revolver);
(2) On May 19, 1983, the victim spotted the perpetrator cutting grass on Claiborne Drive in Metairie and called the Sheriff's Office to report his location;
(3) Detective Miller proceeded to the location given and arrested the suspect, who was identified as Lester Chairs;
(4) Chairs informed Miller that he resided most of the time with his father and step-mother, Henry and Margaret Chairs, at 560 Brown Street in Jefferson;
(5) A check of the municipal directory revealed that the listing of 560 Brown Street was registered to a Margaret Chairs;

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Related

State v. Sanders
742 So. 2d 1009 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Martinez
552 So. 2d 1365 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
State v. Holley
528 So. 2d 752 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
State v. Chairs
493 So. 2d 202 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)

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466 So. 2d 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chairs-lactapp-1985.