State v. Harris

786 So. 2d 798, 2001 WL 360149
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 11, 2001·No. 00-KA-1930·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

786 So.2d 798 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana,
v.
Michael L. HARRIS, Jr.

No. 00-KA-1930.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

April 11, 2001.

*800 Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Rebecca J. Becker, Terry Boudreaux, Quentin P. Kelly, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, Counsel for State.

Karen G. Arena, River Ridge, LA, Counsel for defendant.

Court composed of Judges DUFRESNE, McMANUS, and JAMES C. GULOTTA, Pro Tempore.

McMANUS, Judge.

In this Crosby appeal, Defendant Harris appeals the trial judge's denial of his motion to suppress a gun seized from his person, possession of the weapon being an essential element of the crime charged. Harris further argues that the trial judge imposed a condition on his incarceration of which he had not been informed prior to a guilty plea to the weapons charge. We affirm both the ruling on the motion and Harris's sentence.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On June 22, 2000, Defendant, Michael J. Harris, Jr., was charged, by bill of information, with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. LSA-R.S. 14:95.1. The predicate offense was a conviction for aggravated battery that occurred in Orleans Parish (No. 412-773 "J"). LSA-R.S. 14:34.

Defendant was arraigned and pled not guilty on June 26, 2000.

On July 12, 2000, Defendant filed a Motion for a Preliminary Examination and a Motion to Suppress the Evidence. A hearing was held on both motions on October 31, 2000. The judge found probable cause and also refused to suppress the evidence. On the same day, the Defendant withdrew his not guilty plea and entered a Crosby plea, after a Boykin hearing. State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976).

On October 31, 2000, the court also sentenced the Defendant to serve ten years at hard labor, with credit for time served but without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

On November 21, 2000, an appeal motion was granted.

FACTS

On June 5, 2000, at approximately 6:45 p.m., Officer Jeremy Baye of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office received a call from the police dispatcher. The dispatcher told Officer Baye that the manager of the Taco Bell restaurant at 929 Manhattan Boulevard in Gretna, Louisiana, had called in a complaint. According to the dispatcher, *801 the manager of the restaurant reported that a black male had been causing a disturbance in the restaurant and that the individual had a gun in his back pocket.[1] Officer Baye and his partner, Officer Weber, proceeded to the location of the complaint and were advised, in route, that the suspect was wearing a white tank shirt and grayish-blue jeans. The shirt hung over the pants pocket. The officers arrived at the restaurant and saw a black male exiting the restaurant who met the description given by the manager. According to Officer Baye, as a safety precaution, the officers had their guns in hand and pointed at the suspect as they exited their police unit. The officers were in uniform. They told the suspect to get on the ground and keep his hands visible. The suspect responded by running away. He ran directly behind the restaurant to the area of a bowling alley, located at 929 Manhattan Boulevard. With Officer Baye in the police unit and Officer Weber on foot, they chased the suspect. The suspect jumped over the hood of the vehicle and continued to run. He was apprehended shortly thereafter. He was ordered to the ground, handcuffed, and frisked for weapons. A Walther P 38.9 mm handgun was found in his back pocket, under his shirt. The gun contained six rounds of ammunition in the clip and a bullet in the magazine. The officers arrested the suspect for resisting arrest by flight and simple criminal damage, advised him of his rights and transported him to police headquarters for booking. At the police station, a criminal background search was conducted and the suspect was found to have an aggravated battery conviction. He was booked with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

Defendant contends that the motion to suppress was improvidently denied in that his firearm was seized without probable cause. He reasons that he was unlawfully arrested and that the evidence was seized illegally; therefore, the evidence should have been suppressed.

The State responds, however, that the seizure was not illegal because the arrest and search incident thereto resulted from probable cause. The State reasons that the police initially had reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop and pat down of the Defendant for weapons. When the Defendant ran from the police, the reasonable suspicion developed into probable cause for the arrest and search incident thereto.

In the alternative, the State argues that even if probable cause did not exist for the arrest and search, the search was, nonetheless legal. The State contends that the police had reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop, and that during the stop an inevitable discovery of the firearm would have occurred.

The Fourth Amendment and Article I § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution protect individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures. State v. Flagg, 99-1004 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/25/00), 760 So.2d 522, 526, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX, 786 So.2d 117 (La.3/9/01); State v. Snavely, 99-1223 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/12/00), 759 So.2d 950, 956, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX, 785 So.2d 840 (La.2/16/01). In an effort to discourage police misconduct in violation of these standards, evidence recovered as a result of an unconstitutional search and seizure may not be used in a resulting prosecution *802 against the citizen. State v. Tucker, 92-2093 and 92-2130 (La.5/24/93), 626 So.2d 707, 710; State v. Duckett, 99-314 (La.App. 5 Cir. 7/29/99), 740 So.2d 227, 230. Provided it is supported by the evidence, a trial judge's ruling on the motion to suppress the evidence is entitled to deference. State v. Fisher, 97-1133 (La.9/9/98), 720 So.2d 1179, 1182.

In this case, the trial judge found the officer's show of force was reasonable under the circumstances. The trial judge gave the following reasons for his conclusion that the evidence was admissible and for refusing to grant the motion to suppress:

THE COURT:
Alright. In context with this Hearing, these facts are not in dispute. A call was received by the Dispatcher from the Manager of this business establishment, complaining that a Black male in the place was in possession of a firearm. The Officer, then [sic] Deputy, responding to the call, drove to the business location and observed a Black male fitting the same description, as indicated by the Dispatcher's report. Next the Officer, Officer Baye, proceeded to conduct himself as any Officer would under the circumstances. Once he determined that the description matched, he proceeded to act as if the defendant at the time, suspect if you will, was in fact in possession of a firearm; and proceeded to deploy procedures to determine whether or not that was correct. The rest of the circumstances are such that there was flight. Upon being subdued, Mr. Harris was found to be in possession of a firearm. At all times, at all times the Sheriff's Office acted reasonably under the circumstances.

Ultimately, the State bears the burden to show that a warrantless search falls within one of the exceptions to the rule that a warrantless search is, per se, unconstitutional. State v. Flagg, 760 So.2d at 526.

In State v.

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