State v. Dozier

949 So. 2d 502, 2006 WL 3849946
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 2006
Docket2006-KA-0621
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 949 So. 2d 502 (State v. Dozier) 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. Dozier, 949 So. 2d 502, 2006 WL 3849946 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

949 So.2d 502 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Rodney DOZIER.

No. 2006-KA-0621.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

December 20, 2006.

Eddie J. Jordan, Jr., District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Graham L. Bosworth, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans, Louisiana, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Sherry Watters, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, Louisiana, for Defendant/Appellant.

(Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge MICHAEL E. KIRBY).

*503 JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge.

STATEMENT OF CASE

On January 18, 2005, Rodney Dozier was charged with one count of simple possession of cocaine. At his arraignment on January 24, 2005, he pled not guilty. The court heard and denied his motion to suppress the evidence on February 18, 2005, and found probable cause to hold the defendant for trial. On March 29, 2005, the defendant went before a jury for trial. The defendant moved for a mistrial, which was granted. On April 11, 2005, the defendant went to trial before a jury and was found to be guilty as charged. The State subsequently filed a multiple bill. On May 24, 2005, the court found him to be a third offender and sentenced him as such to serve eight years at hard labor. On that same date the defense filed a motion for appeal and then filed a second motion on June 2, 2005. The court denied his pro se motion to reconsider sentence on July 14, 2005.

FACTS

N.O.P.D. Officer Gary Lacabe and his partner were on patrol in the First District on the evening of December 16, 2004. They were driving down St. Phillip Street, and as they approached the corner of St. Claude they saw the defendant Rodney Dozier standing with his back to the street, facing a brick wall surrounding Armstrong Park. The officers suspected Rodney Dozier was urinating on the wall, but as they flashed a spotlight on him, they saw him trying to light what appeared to be a glass crack pipe. The officers exited their car and asked Rodney Dozier to approach them. He did so, clutching objects in his hands. The officers ordered him to open his hands, but he refused to do so. Officer Lacabe then grabbed Rodney Dozier's right hand and tried to handcuff him behind his back. Rodney Dozier pulled his hand back and tried to flee. Officer Lacabe grabbed Rodney Dozier around the waist, and Rodney Dozier began flailing his arms widely trying to escape. Officer Lacabe hit Rodney Dozier in the back of his head, and the two men fell to the ground where they continued to struggle. Officer Lacabe testified that during this struggle Rodney Dozier threw the glass pipe to the ground, and the glass broke. Eventually Dozier stopped struggling when Officer Lacabe's partner hit him with a baton several times on the arms and legs. The officers handcuffed Rodney Dozier, placed him under arrest, and searched him incident to this arrest. They found a rock of what appeared to be crack cocaine hidden in a piece of brown paper inside his sock. They also retrieved the broken glass pipe and the lighter. The officers called for EMS personnel because Rodney Dozier was bleeding, and then took him to the hospital for treatment prior to being booked.

On cross-examination, Officer Lacabe testified that although it was after dark when they saw Rodney Dozier, there were streetlights in the area. He testified that he could see residue in the crack pipe, and at some point during the scuffle Rodney Dozier put his hand to his mouth as if to put something in his mouth.

The parties stipulated that the rock seized from Rodney Dozier's sock and the residue in the pipe tested positive for cocaine.

The defense introduced a photograph from Rodney Dozier's booking showing injuries to the right side of his face, as well as a bandage on his head.

DISCUSSION

A. Errors Patent

A review of the record reveals no patent errors.

*504 B. Assignment of Error

By his sole assignment of error, the appellant contends that the trial court erred by finding him to be a third offender and by not strictly complying with the requirements of La. R.S. 15:529.1. Although the State alleged in the multiple bill that the appellant was a fourth offender, the court found him to be a third offender.

The appellant raises several challenges to his multiple offender adjudication. First, he argues that he was entitled to a jury trial to consider whether he was a multiple offender. He next alleges the trial court and the State did not comply with the requirements of La. R.S. 15:529.1. He then maintains that the State failed to prove he voluntarily and knowingly pled guilty in his prior convictions and that the State failed to prove his release date for those offenses. Finally, he argues that these errors are of such constitutional magnitude that this court should recognize them as "plain error" requiring no contemporaneous objection.

I.

With respect to the first ground, the appellant contends that his multiple bill adjudication is invalid because it should have been considered by a jury. He cites Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000) and Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005), as support for this claim. However, in State v. Smith, XXXX-XXXX (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/20/05), 913 So.2d 836, this court stated:

The defendant also argues that he was entitled to a jury trial on the issue of his multiple offender status. He suggests that the multiple offender statute violates the Fourteenth and the Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution because the statute allows a sentence to be increased beyond the statutory maximum without requiring the fact of the prior convictions to be submitted to the jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant relies upon the recent United States Supreme Court case of Shepard v. U.S., 544 U.S. 13, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005), in which the Court held that a sentencing court cannot look to police reports in making "generic burglary" decisions under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In its opinion, the Court noted that the issue raised
The concern underlying Jones and Apprendi: the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a jury standing between a defendant and the power of a state, and they guarantee a jury's finding of any disputed fact essential to increase the ceiling of a potential sentence. While the disputed fact here can be described as a fact about a prior conviction, it is too far removed from the conclusive significance of a prior judicial record, and too much like the findings subject to Jones and Apprendi, to say that Almendarez-Torres[ v. U.S., 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998) ] clearly authorizes a to resolve the dispute. The rule of reading statutes to avoid serious risks of unconstitutionality, see Jones, supra, at 239, 119 S.Ct. 1215, therefore counsels us to limit the scope of judicial factfinding on the disputed generic character of a prior plea, just as Taylor[ v. U.S., 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Brazell
245 So. 3d 15 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
State v. George
204 So. 3d 704 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
State v. Jones
165 So. 3d 217 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
State v. Foster
59 So. 3d 500 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State of Louisiana v. James Lyndal Foster
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011
State v. Johnson
996 So. 2d 1235 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State v. Tassin
998 So. 2d 278 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State of Louisiana v. Deandre Johnson
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008
State of Louisiana v. Melvin Tassin
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008
State v. Smith
989 So. 2d 816 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
State v. Wilson
956 So. 2d 41 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
949 So. 2d 502, 2006 WL 3849946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dozier-lactapp-2006.