State v. Dimes

195 So. 3d 1263, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0129, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1228, 2016 WL 3505986
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 2016
DocketNo. 2016-KA-0129
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 195 So. 3d 1263 (State v. Dimes) 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. Dimes, 195 So. 3d 1263, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0129, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1228, 2016 WL 3505986 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

_JjThe defendant, Rory Dimes (“Dimes” or “the defendant”), was charged on 19 November 2012 by bill of information with one count of a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, and one count of possession of oxycodone, to which he entered pleas of not guilty at his arraignment. On 29 November 2012, he filed a motion to suppress evidence, statement, and identification, as well as a motion for preliminary examination, exculpatory and impeachment information, and an omnibus motion for discovery.

On 24 September 2013, the trial court denied the motion to suppress the evidence. A jury trial was held on 22 Sep[1265]*1265tember 2014 and the defendant was found guilty as charged as to all three counts. At his 3 October 2014 sentencing, Dimes was sentenced (a) to twenty years at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension, but with credit for time served, to run concurrently with the other counts herein and with other sentences on Count One (felon in possession of a firearm); (b) to fifty years at hard labor to run concurrently with the other counts herein and with other sentences without the benefit of probation or suspension, but and with credit for time served on Count Two (possession with intent to distribute heroin); and (c) to five years at hard labor to run concurrently |¿with the other counts herein and with other sentences, but with credit for time served, on Count Three (possession of oxycodone).

At a 13 January 2015 multiple bill hearing, Dimes entered a plea of guilty as a fourth offender with respect to Count Three. The trial court vacated his earlier sentence on Count Three and sentenced him to forty years at hard labor, with credit for time served, to run concurrently with other sentences, pursuant to La. E.S. 15:529.1.

On 10 September 2015, the trial court granted the defendant an out-of-time appeal pursuant to his pro se application for post-conviction relief.

FACTS

Probation and Parole Agent Amy Gisel-son testified at trial.1 She stated that during the daytime of 24 September 2012, she performed a residence check with Agent Amy Richard at the defendant’s home in conjunction with the defendant’s status as a probationer. After she and Agent Richard knocked on the door and received no answer, they began walking back to their car. Dimes called out to Agent Giselson, and she and Agent Richard turned around to see the defendant and Penny Hicks, Dimes’ girlfriend, standing in the doorway.

Dimes invited the agents into the house, and the agents walked through the residence. As the agents walked through the bedroom area, Agent Giselson observed approximately $1,900.00 in cash on the bedside nightstand. Agent Giselson testified that the defendant was unemployed at the time of this residence check. Accordingly, she asked the defendant how he obtained the money, and he | ^responded that he won it playing dice.2 Agent Gisel-son stated that Dimes’ response gave her reasonable suspicion to believe that he was engaged in criminal conduct because he was not supposed to be gambling.

Agent Giselson further testified that because she had reasonable suspicion to believe that the defendant was engaged in criminal conduct, she began a search of his residence. She opened the top drawer of the defendant’s bedside nightstand and found a black semi-automatic handgun and over $25,000.00. After this discovery, she handcuffed the defendant and advised him that he was in violation of his parole for possessing a firearm. Agent Richard took [1266]*1266control of the firearm and made it safe. The agents escorted Dimes and Ms. Hicks downstairs and notified a supervisor so that additional probation and parole officers could be dispatched to the residence. Agent Giselson stated that her supervisor gave the officers permission to search the remainder of the residence.

■ In her continued search of the residence, Agent Giselson searched a pair of men’s pants that were on a chair near the side of the bed where the agents found the large sums of money. In the pants, which Ms. Hicks identified as the defendant’s, Agent Giselson found four white pills with the imprint of “512” that she testified were later identified as oxycodone pills. She testified that Agent Richard also located a white pill imprinted with “512” on the floor between the bed and the chair. ' Agent Richard also found approximately seventeen grams of heroin pin an oven mitt, and Agent Justin Green found methadone and a scale in the kitchen cabinet.

Agent Giselson testified that Dimes was read his Miranda rights.3 The defendant elected to fill out the waiver of rights form, and he also made a written statement that the drugs were his, and the firearm was for his personal protection. The agent testified that she spoke to Ms. Hicks, who also stated that'the firearm, drugs, and cash were not hers.

Probation and Parole Agent Amy Richard testified regarding her participation in Dimes’ residence check and arrest. Her testimony was substantially similar to that of Agent Giselson with regard- to the search of the defendant’s bedroom. With regard to. her search of the kitchen, Agent Richard stated .that she began her inspection by attempting to open the kitchen cabinets, but two oven mitts were tacked on the front of the cabinets.- The mitt on the right was flat, while the mitt on the left “was kind of open making a pouch;” when she put her hand inside the mitt she “retrieved a large bag of white powder.”

Agent Richard testified that she subsequently opened the kitchen cabinets and observed “various paraphernalia, a box, a little wooden box that opened up just to have little vials of things that looked l[ike] oils or chemicals.” Additionally, she stated that “[t]here were Ziploc bags that were filled with just a white substance, a powdery substance, that [she] believed was not drugs” but looked like baking soda. She also observed Ziploc bags that were filled with Kool-Aid and a bottle of Manni-tol. Agent Richard identified the objects she found during her search of the defendant’s kitchen, including two small scales and a calculator.

pKori Keaton testified as a previous detective with the project safe neighborhood for the special operations division of the New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) that would conduct narcotics investigations. Mr. Keaton testified that on the date of the residence check, he received a telephone call from probation and parole that one of their parolees was detained at 1918 Amelia Street, New Orleans, with a firearm and some narcotics. He stated that he located to the residence to gather facts from the parole agents and recover evidence. With respect to the defendant’s case, Mr. Keaton testified that he recovered five white pills imprinted with “512”, which “is typical of oxycodone.” He also recovered a. clear plastic bag that contained what he believed was heroin, “arid then it was proved positive through a [1267]*1267NIK kit by Parole- Officer Justin Green.” He also collected a bottle of Mannitol.

Mr. Keaton testified that he interviewed Dimes and asked him how long he resided at that residence, to which he replied “two to three years.” He also asked the defendant whether Ms. Hicks’ children (who were not present during the residence check) were his, and he responded in the negative.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 So. 3d 1263, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0129, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1228, 2016 WL 3505986, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dimes-lactapp-2016.