State v. Dixon

146 So. 3d 662, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0396, 2014 WL 2993624, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1716
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 2, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KA-0396
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 146 So. 3d 662 (State v. Dixon) 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. Dixon, 146 So. 3d 662, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0396, 2014 WL 2993624, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1716 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

JAMES F. McKAY III, Chief Judge.

|,STATEMENT OF CASE

On May 11, 2012, the defendant, Darrell Dixon (“defendant”), was charged by bill of information with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of La. R.S. 14: 95.1. The bill of information provides that the defendant was found in possession of a “rifle” on May 10, 2012, and had previously been convicted of simple burglary in Case No. 495-690 in Section “D” of the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans.

The defendant appeared for arraignment on June 4, 2012, and entered a plea of not guilty. The defendant subsequently filed a motion to suppress and motion for preliminary hearing. On July 21, 2012, the trial court denied the motion to suppress and found probable cause to substantiate the charge.

On February 1, 2013, the defendant filed a motion to quash the bill of information and declare La. R.S. 14:95.1 unconstitutional based on the 2012 ^amendment to Article 1, Section 11 of the Louisiana Constitution.1 The State filed an opposition to [664]*664the motion to quash on February 19, 2013. The same date, the trial court heard and granted the defendant’s motion to quash the bill of information. The trial court stated:

I don’t want to hold — I don’t think that the statute, per [se], is unconstitutional in every set of circumstances. But, I think the Louisiana population added that language to that amendment, and I think that you have a nonviolent crime here. It was a non-violent crime. It is not in fourteen two.2 It is a non-violent crime. It was a burglary of an automobile that belonged to the city, and then he has a gun. I think the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution talks about the penalty having to fit the crime. I have never liked the overreaching of these things anyhow, but I think in this case, this case specifically, it is case specific, and not the stature as a whole, but I will grant the Motion to Quash in this case.
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But, I want the Court of Appeal or whoever reviews this to understand that it is case specific because of the language in that amendment and not the statute in general. I am not quashing the entire statute, but I am looking at that language, you know, and that language indicates to me strict scrutiny. I am giving it strict scrutiny on an individual case basis and not the statute as a whole.

On February 21, 2013, the trial court further clarified that its decision to quash the bill of information was based the interpretation of the law as applied to the specific | .¡facts of the case. The trial court stated:

As to Darrel Dixon, I quashed the Bill of Information in that case and it was a 95.1, but I am not contesting the constitutionality of the 95.1_
As the amendment to the Louisiana Constitution added specific language, I am interpreting that language to meet these set of facts, and these set of facts only. And that’s why I quashed it. Not any other reason.

On April 22, 2013, the State filed a motion to stay the appeal pending the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Draughter3, which was on direct appeal from a trial court’s ruling that La. R.S. 14:95.1 was unconstitutional on its face. This Court granted the State’s motion, stayed the matter, and ordered that the State notify the Court in writing of the Louisiana Supreme Court’s disposition in Draughter within seven days of its issuance.

On December 11, 2013, the State timely notified this Court that the Louisiana Supreme Court had reached a decision in Draughter and included a copy of the opinion. On December 23, 2013, this Court [665]*665was advised by the Clerk of Criminal District Court that no pleadings were located in the record regarding the motion to quash. On December 26, 2013, this Court lifted the stay and issued notice advising the parties that the record was complete.

STATEMENT OF FACT

The facts of the underlying offense are limited to testimony adduced at the preliminary hearing.

Officer Edwin Patrick (“Officer Patrick”) testified that he was working for the Sixth District of the New Orleans Police Department on May 10, 2012. He stated that he and his partner, Officer John Waterman, were patrolling in the 2800 14block of Danneel Street in a marked police vehicle when he observed three black males in an empty lot next to 2840 Dan-neel Street. Officer Patrick testified that the three subjects were standing behind a gray Toyota attempting to get in the vehicle. He observed that one of the subjects, identified in open court as the defendant, was holding what appeared to be a gun in his right hand close to his waist in the attempt to conceal it. When defendant noticed the officers, he threw the gun under the back of the vehicle. Officer Patrick and his partner immediately stopped their vehicle and approached the suspects. Officer Patrick stated that they placed all three subjects in handcuffs for officer safety. Officer Patrick testified that he recovered a “fully loaded” “twenty-two caliber submachine gun” under the Toyota. After running a check on the defendant’s name, Officer Patrick discovered the defendant had a previous arrest for illegal carrying of a weapon. The name search did not, however, show that he had been convicted of that offense.

On cross-examination, Officer Patrick estimated that he was ten feet away from the defendant when he observed the gun in defendant’s possession. He stated he believed he had previous “run-ins” with defendant but had never arrested the defendant before May 10, 2012. Officer Patrick testified that he wears corrective lenses every day and could clearly see within at least ten feet. He stated that the twenty-two caliber weapon found at the scene was “sort of like a handgun with ... an extended clip.” Officer Patrick stated he initially stopped the defendant for a “signal 107,” police department code for “suspicious person,” but arrested the defendant for illegal carry of a weapon.4 He admitted that the gun was not reported stolen. Officer Patrick also admitted that he did not finger print the gun or call | fjCrime Lab to the scene, but explained he felt it was unnecessary considering he observed the defendant with the gun. Officer Patrick testified that a search incident to the defendant’s arrest did not reveal any additional evidence. He stated that one of individuals with the defendant was previously arrested for illegal carrying of a handgun and had two warrants out for his arrest. Officer Patrick testified that he learned from nearby residents that neither the defendant nor the other two suspects lived at the home next to the empty lot.

After Officer Patrick’s testimony, the State offered a certified copy from the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Clerk’s Office of the defendant’s prior conviction for simple burglary into evidence. These documents contain: a bill of information dated March 22, 2010, charging the defendant with “simple burglary of a vehicle,” namely, a “2009 Kia Borrego belonging to the City of New Orleans”; a guilty plea form dated June 30, 2010; the docket [666]*666master; minute entries; a screening action form; and an arrest register in Case No. 495-690. The minute entry of June 30, 2010 provides that the defendant was sentenced to five years, suspended, with two years active probation and three years inactive probation.

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Related

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192 So. 3d 140 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 So. 3d 662, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0396, 2014 WL 2993624, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dixon-lactapp-2014.