State v. Fisher

628 So. 2d 1136, 1993 WL 511983
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided November 24, 1993·No. KA 93 0157·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

628 So.2d 1136 (1993)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Donald FISHER.

No. KA 93 0157.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 24, 1993.
Rehearing Denied January 12, 1994.

*1138 William R. Campbell, Jr., New Orleans, for State of La.

Pamela Hershey, Asst. Dist. Atty., Covington, for appellee.

James H. Looney, Office of Indigent Defender, Covington, for appellant.

Before CARTER, GONZALES and WHIPPLE, JJ.

WHIPPLE, Judge.

Donald Fisher was charged by bill of information with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, a violation of LSA-R.S. 40:967(A)(1). He pled not guilty and, after trial by jury, was convicted as charged. The state filed a bill charging him as a second felony habitual offender. See LSA-R.S. 15:529.1. After a hearing, the court adjudicated defendant to be a second felony offender and sentenced him to serve a term of fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, and with credit for time served.[1] Defendant has appealed, urging two assignments of error.

FACTS

On September 21, 1991, the manager of the Motel 6 in Slidell observed suspicious behavior which led him to contact the police department. That morning, a man came into the office and asked to rent a two-bedded room at the price charged for only one person. When the manager refused, the man argued with the manager, causing the manager to ask the man to leave. After the man left, defendant came into the office, asking to rent a room for two people. The manager asked defendant if he was with the man who had just left. Defendant replied that he was not. Defendant then registered for room 251 under the name "Michael Franks" and paid cash for the room. The manager observed defendant walk to his room and saw that the first man also went to room 251 with defendant. On the way to the room, defendant tapped on the door of another room but did not stop. The occupant of that room walked to room 251 while holding something down at his side. After going into room 251, that man returned to his own room. The manager talked to one of the maids and discovered that defendant was known by the name "Heavy D," a different name from the name on the registration slip. The manager gave the police this information and continued his work duties.

*1139 Detective Jay Strahan, a narcotics officer with the Slidell Police Department, was familiar with a person named "Heavy D." He sent a confidential informant into defendant's motel room, who stayed for about twenty-five minutes and then spoke to Strahan. After talking to the informant, Strahan returned to the station, contacted other officers to get them to come in to help him, and set about preparing his request for a search warrant. Prior to securing the warrant, Strahan had one of the other officers conduct surveillance on defendant's room for approximately two hours. Other than during this period of surveillance, defendant's room was not watched. During the time of the surveillance, no one was seen either entering or leaving defendant's room.

After securing the warrant, the officers used a pass key to enter the room. They found defendant asleep, facedown on the bed. They awoke him, identified themselves as police officers, and told him about the search warrant. Before they could search defendant for weapons or secure his hands, defendant pulled a plastic bag from under the pillow and stuffed the bag into his mouth. Two of the officers saw the bag and testified that it appeared to contain about twenty rocks of crack cocaine, with each rock approximately being the size of an eraser on the head of a pencil. During the struggle which followed, the officers were unable to retrieve the contents of the bag. However, they were able to obtain a portion of the bag itself. While searching defendant after his arrest, the officers found cash in the amount of $688.33 on defendant's person. They did not find any additional cocaine or weapons in their search of the room.

Concerned about defendant's health after swallowing such a large quantity of what they suspected was cocaine, the officers decided to take defendant to the hospital before bringing him to the police station. At the hospital, the officers told the emergency room physician what had occurred. Defendant was very uncooperative at the hospital, and when the doctor told him that his stomach should be pumped, defendant refused and indicated he wanted to leave the hospital. Although defendant refused medical treatment, the doctor decided to have defendant's stomach pumped because he had taken a potentially lethal dosage. While preparing defendant for the procedure, a nurse found a small round, white substance in the corner of defendant's lip. However, this substance was not recovered by the police. Police secured the contents of defendant's stomach, which were later tested by the crime laboratory and were determined to contain cocaine. It was also determined that the residue on the plastic bag contained cocaine. The laboratory did not run tests to determine the amount of cocaine.

One of the officers testified that the street value for crack cocaine at that time was about twenty dollars per rock. Another officer testified that he had never seen anyone purchase twenty rocks for personal consumption. He stated that the most he had ever seen purchased for personal consumption was five rocks. He claimed that when a person purchases twenty rocks of cocaine, the intent is to redistribute the cocaine. This same officer however, admitted that if money is not a problem, a heavy cocaine user could use two or three rocks each hour.

DENIAL OF MOTION TO SUPPRESS

In the first assignment of error, defendant claims the court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence. Defendant argues the contents of his stomach, which were seized when the doctor pumped his stomach without his consent and without the police first securing a warrant, should not have been introduced into evidence. Defendant maintains the police had no authority to force him to receive medical treatment; however, he concedes that the officers did not ask the doctor to pump his stomach and that the decision to pump his stomach was made by the doctor alone.

Medical testing procedures have been held to constitute a search of the person. State v. Carthan, 377 So.2d 308, 311 (La. 1979). The fourth amendment of the United *1140 States Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. However, the amendment is not intended to protect against private trespasses. State v. Gentry, 462 So.2d 624, 628 (La.1985). See also State v. Revere, 572 So.2d 117, 131 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1990), writ denied, 581 So.2d 703 (La.1991). Louisiana courts have reached a similar conclusion under the Louisiana Constitution and have upheld the admission of items seized by private persons. See State v. McCabe, 383 So.2d 380 (La.1980); State v. Hutchinson, 349 So.2d 1252 (La.1977); State v. Coleman, 466 So.2d 68, 72 (La.App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 467 So.2d 542 (La.1985). Thus, the prohibitions of the United States and Louisiana Constitutions against illegal searches and seizures, and the corresponding exclusionary rule, are aimed at governmental conduct rather than the actions of private citizens operating independently of the government or its agents. See Allen v. Louisiana State Board of Dentistry, 543 So.2d 908, 911-912 (La.1989).

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

State v. Fisher, 628 So. 2d 1136, 1993 WL 511983 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

628 So. 2d 1136 (State v. Fisher) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of Louisiana v. James D. Flemones
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Michael D. Ellis
179 So. 3d 586 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2015)
State v. Lee
964 So. 2d 967 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2007)
State v. Durgan
931 So. 2d 1182 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
State of Louisiana v. Dallas D. Durgan
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006
State v. Marullo
923 So. 2d 638 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2006)
State v. Smith
868 So. 2d 794 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)
State v. Holmes
791 So. 2d 669 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
State v. Butler
760 So. 2d 322 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2000)
State v. Young
764 So. 2d 998 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)
State v. Mamon
743 So. 2d 766 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
State v. Perry
720 So. 2d 345 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
Hudson v. Day
703 So. 2d 702 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
State v. Brooks
664 So. 2d 760 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
State v. Jones
657 So. 2d 261 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
State v. Gordon
646 So. 2d 995 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)