State v. Daniel

811 So. 2d 84, 2001 La.App. 4 Cir. 1736, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 569, 2002 WL 338856
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 13, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-KA-1736
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 811 So. 2d 84 (State v. Daniel) 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. Daniel, 811 So. 2d 84, 2001 La.App. 4 Cir. 1736, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 569, 2002 WL 338856 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

|,BYRNES, Chief Judge.

On June 2, 2000, the defendants, Brian K. Daniel and Undra Holmes, were charged by bill of information with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967. On June 7, 2000, they were arraigned and pleaded not guilty. The trial court denied their motion to suppress on August 30, 2000. The defendants were jointly tried by a twelve-member jury on January 16, 2001. The jury found Daniel guilty as charged, and Holmes guilty of the lesser included offense of simple possession. On February 9, 2001, the trial court denied a motion for new trial. The defendants waived delays, whereupon the trial court sentenced Daniel to five years at hard labor, and Holmes to two years at hard labor. The trial court denied a motion to reconsider sentence, and granted a motion for appeal. Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to being second offenders on May 31, 2001. The original sentences were vacated, and Daniel was re-sentenced to fifteen years at hard labor without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. Holmes was resen-tenced to thirty months at hard labor.

Statement of Facts

On March 30, 1995, around 2:00 p.m., New Orleans Police Department officer, [87]*87Brian Elsansohn, was watching for narcotics activity at the corner of |¡North Miro Streets. As he approached the corner bar at that location in his unmarked car, he observed two men attempting to flag down cars. A vehicle slowed and Daniel approached the car, holding up two fingers. Officer Elsansohn said this is a common gesture of someone trying to sell a twenty dollar piece of crack cocaine. The car sped away. Officer Elsansohn parked, while the two defendants stayed on the corner. Within five minutes, another car slowed, and Daniel again waived two fingers. The car stopped, Daniel approached, and engaged the driver in brief conversation. The driver handed Daniel currency, which Daniel held up and shook, indicating to Holmes that he had been paid. Holmes walked over to the car, reached into his pocket, opened his hand, and displayed its contents to the driver. It appeared to the officer that the driver was choosing a rock of cocaine from Holmes’s hand. The driver took an object from Holmes’s hand and drove away. Officer Elsansohn radioed to other officers who stopped the defendants.

As the marked unit approached, the defendants were the only two people on the corner. Officers observed Holmes put something in his mouth. Daniel removed one hand from his pocket. Officer McCabe, testified that people in possession of narcotics often put the drugs in their mouth when they are about to be arrested in an attempt to swallow them. The officers stopped and handcuffed the defendants. Holmes fell to the ground and spit two pieces of crack cocaine under the car. Officers pried open Daniel’s hand and found a $20 bill and thirty-one pieces of crack cocaine. A search of Daniel pursuant to arrest resulted in seizure of $2,250 in small denominations.

The seized drugs tested positive for cocaine.

| ^Sergeant Michael Glaser, an expert in the packaging and sale of narcotics, said that the defendants’ activities were consistent with street sales of narcotics. The division of the cocaine into rocks to sell was also typical.

The defense called one witness, Daniel’s wife, who testified that Daniel subsequently lost his eye in a drive-by shooting.

Motion to Suppress

The defendants argue the trial court erred in denying their motion to suppress.

As this Court stated in State v. Davis, 612 So.2d 1052, 1053 (La.App. 4 Cir.1993):

C.Cr.P. art. 213 authorizes a policeman to arrest a person who has committed an offense in his presence. The search of a defendant is legal if there is probable cause of [sic] his arrest. Probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances known to the officers and of which they have reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient .to justify the belief by a man of ordinary caution that the suspect has committed or is committing a crime.

In this case, Officer Elsanshon saw the defendants acting as a team. Daniel was actively waiving cars to stop while displaying a gesture known to the officer to indicate that a twenty dollar rock of cocaine was for sale. Officer Elsansohn saw the driver of a car stop, and saw Daniel accept a twenty dollar bill from the driver. Daniel waved the currency to Holmes in open air in the middle of the afternoon in clear view of the officer. Holmes came over to the car and displayed objects in his hand for the driver to examine and choose. The driver took an object and drove away.

[88]*88When the arresting officers appeared, the defendants were the only two people on the corner. The officers observed Daniel with his hands in his pockets. He took one hand out. Holmes attempted to swallow something, an activity the | ¿officers knew to be consistent with the destruction of narcotics. At that point, the officers clearly had probable cause to arrest. The trial court in this case did not err in finding probable cause for the arrest and in denying the motion to suppress.

Excessive Sentence

Daniel argues that his statutory minimum sentence is excessive.

Article 1, Section 20 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 provides that “No law shall subject any person ... to cruel, excessive or unusual punishment.” A sentence within the statutory limit is constitutionally excessive if it is “grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime” or is “nothing more than the purposeless imposition of pain and suffering.” State v. Francis, 96-2389 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/15/98), 715 So.2d 457. Generally, a reviewing court must determine whether the trial judge adequately complied with the sentencing guidelines set forth in La. C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 and whether the sentence is warranted in light of the particular circumstances of the case. State v. Burns, 97-1553 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/10/98), 723 So.2d 1013.

To insure adequate review by the appellate court, the record must indicate that the trial court considered the factors set forth in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1. State v. Forde, 482 So.2d 143, 145 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1986). Although a judge need not specifically recite each of the factors listed in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1, the record must reflect that the judge adequately considered the sentencing guidelines and that there is an adequate factual basis for the sentence imposed. State v. Soco, 441 So.2d 719 (La.1983).

In the present case, although the trial court indicated that it had conferred with Daniel and his wife, thus suggesting that he might have considered factors enunciated in Article 894.1, he did not give any reasons for the sentence. The | ¿judge simply announced that the sentence would be the statutory minimum fifteen-year term, and the defendant now asserts that his sentence is in violation of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1(C) which requires enunciation of reasons for the sentence.

The purpose behind La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.1 is to provide an explanation for a particularized sentence when the trial court is given discretion to choose a sentence tailored to the offender’s circumstances from within a legislatively provided sentencing range. Here, while the trial court did not formally comply with La. C.Cr.P. art. 894.1, it imposed the lowest possible sentence under the statute. Thus, there was no reason to explain a term that was statutorily mandated.

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Related

State v. Torres
919 So. 2d 730 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)
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832 So. 2d 389 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
811 So. 2d 84, 2001 La.App. 4 Cir. 1736, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 569, 2002 WL 338856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-daniel-lactapp-2002.