State v. Diaz

461 So. 2d 1099
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 11, 1984
Docket84-KA-71
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 461 So. 2d 1099 (State v. Diaz) 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. Diaz, 461 So. 2d 1099 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

461 So.2d 1099 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Manuel DIAZ and Pedro Diaz.

No. 84-KA-71.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 11, 1984.

*1101 William C. Credo, III, Asst. Dist. Atty., Research & Appeals, Gretna, for State of La., plaintiff-appellee.

John H. Craft, Staff Appeals Counsel, 24th Judicial Dist., Indigent Defender Bd., Gretna, for Manuel Diaz and Pedro Diaz, defendants-appellants.

Before BOUTALL, KLIEBERT and CURRAULT, JJ.

BOUTALL, Judge.

Manuel and Pedro Diaz ("The Diazes"), appellants, were each charged by bill of information with violating R.S. 40:966(E), possession of marijuana in excess of 100 pounds. After a two day trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged as to both defendants. Following the denial of defendants' motion for new trial, each defendant was sentenced to 10 years at hard labor and ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.00. This appeal followed.

The Diazes assign the following errors for our review:

1. The court erred in denying appellants' motion to suppress evidence.
2. The court erred in ruling that counsel for Manuel Diaz lacked standing to cross-examine prosecution witnesses concerning the seizure from Pedro Diaz.
3. The trial court erred in failing to charge the jury that it could return a verdict of guilty of possession of less than 100 pounds of marijuana.
8. The court erred in imposing an excessive sentence and in failing to comply with the sentencing guidelines stated in C.Cr.P. art. 894.1.
*1102 9. The court erred in denying defendants' motion for a severance.

Appellants have raised other assignments of error but have neither briefed them nor argued them. We find several errors in this case and we set aside the convictions and the sentences. We have considered all of the above because they are pertinent to whatever proceedings may later ensue.

FACTS

On the morning of March 3, 1982, George Frisch, an off-duty traffic sergeant with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, was waxing his car in the driveway of his home at the corner of Morningside and Guardian Avenue in Gretna, when he noticed a blue Oldsmobile pass slowly down the side street and park next to a vacant lot about 50 feet from where he was standing. As Frisch watched, he saw two Hispanic males get out of the car, go to the trunk, partially open it, and examine its contents. From his viewpoint, Frisch could see three large burlap-covered bales. Because of Frisch's prior experience on the vice squad, which worked closely with narcotics agents, he knew that marijuana was frequently packaged in burlap sacks such as the ones he observed in the trunk of the Oldsmobile. Frisch then ran inside to get his identification and gun, intending to arrest the two men. When he emerged, he saw the two occupants of the car walking down the street away from him.

At the same time, two officers drove by on routine patrol. Frisch stopped them, told them what he had observed, and ordered them to run a registration check on the Oldsmobile, which bore an out-of-town license plate. They ran a registration check and while examining the car, noticed two hand guns on the front seat. Shortly thereafter, Pedro reappeared. He walked up to the three officers standing around his car, and one of them started asking Pedro about the two hand guns. During this time, the other officer noticed a brown substance on the rear bumper of the car, which looked like marijuana.

The officers then asked Pedro Diaz if he had the keys to the trunk. According to the officers, Pedro answered yes and handed them over. At trial, Pedro testified to the contrary: that the keys were taken from him without his consent. In any event, the trunk was opened, the marijuana was seized, and Pedro was arrested.

As the officers waited for backup units to arrive on the scene, another car drove by with Manuel in it. Frisch recognized Manuel and ordered the car stopped. After a short chase down Morningside, the car was stopped and Manuel was arrested.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR 1 & 2

The first two assignments of error relate to the defendants' Motion to Suppress Evidence. Appellants contend that they were wrongfully detained and that the automobile was illegally searched and that the marijuana found therein was illegally seized.

We find that the detention of Pedro Diaz was not a custodial arrest so as to require probable cause, but rather an investigatory stop which need only be based on a reasonable suspicion that an offense has been or is about to be committed. State v. Davis, 407 So.2d 666 (La.1981). The criteria for an investigatory stop is codified in Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 215.1 which provides in pertinent part that 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." In applying this criterion, Louisiana courts have adopted a "totality of the circumstances" approach to determine when a person has been arrested. State v. Brown, 445 So.2d 456 (La.App. 5th Cir. 1984).

Immediately prior to the investigatory detention the following facts were known to the officers:

1. A car bearing out-of-town license plates had been driven into a residential neighborhood and parked on the roadside next to a fenced vacant lot;
*1103 2. The two Hispanic occupants exited the car and after furtively glancing around the area opened the trunk of their vehicle revealing to an off-duty police officer three large burlap-covered bundles;
3. Because of the police officer's experience with the narcotics office of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, he noted the bundles appeared to be consistent in configuration and wrapping materials with bales of marijuana as they are shipped for transport;
4. After leaving the car, the subjects left the area and to the best of the officer's knowledge did not enter or approach a residence in the immediate area;
5. That the police officers at the site saw two hand guns on the front seat of the vehicle.

We are of the opinion that these facts justify the investigatory detention of Pedro Diaz when he returned to the vehicle. Inherent in the officer's right to stop a suspect and demand his name, address, and an explanation of his actions is the right to detain him temporarily to verify the information given or available to the officers or to obtain information independently from his cooperation. State v. Fauria, 393 So.2d 688 (La.1981).

After the police officers talked to Diaz they received from him his consent to search the vehicle and he gave them the keys to it. Although Diaz disputes this voluntary surrender of the keys and his consent, the trial judge found that he did give consent to search the vehicle. The officers testified that consent was voluntarily given and based upon an assessment of their credibility by the trial judge, there is sufficient basis for that conclusion.

Additionally, we are of the opinion that the factual situation then presented to the officers justified an immediate search of the automobile without obtaining a search warrant.

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