State v. Foster

44 So. 3d 733, 9 La.App. 5 Cir. 837, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 982, 2010 WL 2595166
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 2010
DocketNo. 09-KA-837
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 44 So. 3d 733 (State v. Foster) 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. Foster, 44 So. 3d 733, 9 La.App. 5 Cir. 837, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 982, 2010 WL 2595166 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

CLARENCE E. McMANUS, Judge.

| ^¿Defendant, Richard Foster, was charged by bill of information with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:95.1 (Count 1); possession with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of LSA-R.S. 40:966(A) (Count 2); and possession of cocaine in excess of 200 to 399 grams, in violation of LSA-R.S. 40:967(F) (Count 3). Prior to trial, Count 1 was severed from Counts 2 and 3.

Defendant’s first trial ended in a mistrial. Subsequently, a second jury was selected and Defendant again proceeded to trial on Counts 2 and 3. The jury found Defendant guilty of the lesser included verdicts of possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine.

After the denial of Defendant’s motion for new trial, sentencing delays were waived, and the trial court sentenced Defendant to six months in Parish Prison on Count 2 and five years in the Department of Corrections on Count 3, to be served consecutively with Count 2. Thereafter, pursuant to a multiple offender bill of Isinformation, defendant pled guilty as a third felony offender. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the trial court vacated the five year sentence on Count 3, and re-sentenced Defendant to ten years in the Department of Corrections without the benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served, to run concurrently with all other sentences. At the same time, Defendant amended his plea on Count 1 to guilty, and was sentenced to ten years in the Department of Corrections without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in Count 3. Defendant now appeals from his convictions on Counts 2 and 3.1

On January 18, 2008, Agents Chris Morris and Eric Dufrene of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, Narcotics Division, participated in a narcotics investigation at a residence located at 200 Priest Street in Avondale, Louisiana. The officers obtained a search warrant, and forcibly entered the residence after receiving no response at the front door. Once inside, Agent Morris encountered Defendant, dressed in boxer shorts and an undershirt, coming out of the master bedroom. Defendant put his hands up and said “Sir, sir, I’m right here.” The officers also found one of Defendant’s sons asleep in another bedroom.

Agent Morris detained Defendant with handcuffs and advised Defendant that he had a search warrant for the residence and was conducting an investigation pursuant to the warrant. Agent Morris advised Defendant of his rights, which Defendant acknowledged as understanding, and moved Defendant to the living room so that the officers could conduct a secondary search of the residence.

Once the officers confirmed that there was no one else inside the house, Agent Morris returned Defendant to the master bedroom to speak with him outside of the presence of his son. Agent Morris again advised Defendant that he had a | ¿narcotics search warrant for the residence. In response, Defendant advised Agent Morris that the narcotics the officers were looking for would be located in the closet, and pointed to the closet located in the master bedroom. Agent Morris then asked if there were any weapons in the residence, and Defendant indicated that there was a pistol in the top drawer of a dresser located in the master bedroom. Defendant also advised that there was marijuana located in one of the dressers in [736]*736the master bedroom. Agent Morris testified that Defendant advised officers that he wanted to cooperate with the investigation and that Defendant insisted that his sons had no involvement in the narcotics possession.

Pursuant to the information obtained from Defendant, the officers searched the master bedroom closet and found a Pyrex dish containing a large piece of crack cocaine. When Defendant asked Agent Morris to retrieve a pair of pants from the master bedroom so that he could get dressed, Agent Morris discovered a bag of powder cocaine in the left front pocket. At trial, Daniel Waguespack, a forensic scientist with the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office crime laboratory, testified that both the white powder and the larger pieces of white substance seized from the residence tested positive for cocaine, and that the total weight of the cocaine seized was 389.1 grams.

The officers also searched the dressers located in the master bedroom in response to information provided by Defendant. The officers found a pistol and two bags of marijuana in two separate dressers. Mr. Waguespack testified at trial that the two plastic bags seized from the residence tested positive for marijuana, and that the total weight of the marijuana was 43.1 grams. Mr. Waguespack also confirmed that an additional, smaller bag found on Defendant’s son, Richshawn Williams, contained 1.6 grams of marijuana.

1 ¿Pursuant to the search warrant, the officers also seized sandwich bags, a razor blade, scales, a check book and nine cell phones. Agent Morris testified that these types of items are inconsistent with personal drug use and that, based on his experience, the street value of the approximately 400 grams of cocaine seized could be estimated at $40,000.

After the officers completed their search of the residence and processed the scene, they brought Defendant to the detective bureau to complete the arrest paperwork. Agent Morris testified that Defendant said he would be willing to give an audiotaped statement indicating that the narcotics found in the residence were his, that his sons had nothing to do with the drugs, and that he would take sole responsibility. Agent Morris again advised Defendant of his rights, and Defendant said that he wanted to speak to Agent Morris without an attorney. When Agent Morris informed Defendant that he was being charged with possession of 400 grams of cocaine, Defendant became upset, and was adamant with Agent Morris that he had only 200 grams in his possession. As a result, Defendant ultimately refused to give a statement.

Though Agent Morris testified that Defendant repeatedly denied involvement by his sons, Richshawn Foster, one of Defendant’s sons, testified at trial that he lived in the residence located at 200 Priest Street, that the drugs seized from his bedroom belonged to him, and that Defendant didn’t have anything to do with the drugs seized from the residence. Richshawn Foster also testified that Defendant did not reside at 200 Priest Street at the time of his arrest, and that Defendant had simply slept there the night before the arrest because he was drunk and had gotten in an argument with his fiancée.

Defendant’s fiancée, Lakeidra Payne, also testified that although she and Defendant previously resided at 200 Priest Street, Defendant did not live in the | (¡house at the time of his arrest. When Defendant and Ms. Payne moved back to Defendant’s house in Marrero, Louisiana, in November 2007, Defendant’s children and Defendant’s brother, Reggie Foster, remained in the home on Priest Street. [737]*737Ms. Payne also testified that Defendant slept at the Priest Street residence the night before his arrest because he was intoxicated.

In his first allegation of error, defendant alleges that the trial court erred in giving an improper Allen2 charge in its last instruction to the jury, and therefore he is entitled to remand for a new trial. The State responds that it is permissible for a trial judge to instruct a jury which is unable to reach a verdict, and that a determination of when such supplemental instructions shall be given is in the discretion of the trial court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 So. 3d 733, 9 La.App. 5 Cir. 837, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 982, 2010 WL 2595166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-foster-lactapp-2010.