State v. Howard

448 So. 2d 713
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 28, 1984
Docket83 KA 0796
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 448 So. 2d 713 (State v. Howard) 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. Howard, 448 So. 2d 713 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

448 So.2d 713 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
John HOWARD and Carl Hill.

No. 83 KA 0796.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 28, 1984.
Writ Denied May 4, 1984.

*715 Ossie B. Brown, Dist. Atty., by Richard Chaffin, Asst. Dist. Atty., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.

Frank Gremillion, Baton Rouge, for defendants-appellants.

Before LOTTINGER, EDWARDS and ALFORD, JJ.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

Defendants John Howard and Carl Hill were charged by grand jury indictment with three counts of violation of La.R.S. 40:967 A: Count 1, possession with the intent to distribute methaqualone; Count 2, possession with intent to distribute marijuana; Count 3, possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Defendants pled not guilty, were tried jointly by a jury and found guilty as charged on each count.

Defendant Howard was sentenced as follows: on Count 3, to hard labor for a period of ten years without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served and to pay a fine of $3,000.00 and costs of court or, in default of payment thereof, to be confined in the East Baton Rouge Parish prison for a period of six months; on Count 2, to ten years at hard labor to run concurrently with Counts 1 and 3; and Count 1, to ten years at hard labor to run concurrently with Counts 2 and 3.

Defendant Hill was sentenced as follows: on Count 3, to hard labor for a period of ten years without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, with credit for time served and to pay a fine of $1,500.00 and costs of court or, in default of payment thereof, to be confined in the East Baton Rouge Parish prison for a period of ninety days; on Count 2 to imprisonment at hard labor for a period of ten years to run concurrently with Counts 1 and 3; and Count 1, to imprisonment at hard labor for ten years to run concurrently with Counts 2 and 3. Defendants now appeal their convictions and sentences, alleging five assignments of error and briefing two.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

1. The trial court erred when it denied defendants' motion to suppress evidence.

2. The trial court erred when it allowed into evidence the testimony of a witness, Deputy Kuntz, concerning other evidence obtained by the police which was apparently not admissible at trial.

3. The trial court erred when it denied defendants' motion for new trial.

4. The trial court erred when it denied defendants' motion in arrest of judgment.

5. The trial court erred when it imposed an excessive sentence on defendants.

In brief, defendants have argued only Assignments of Error Nos. 1 and 2. Therefore, Assignments of Error Nos. 3, 4, 5 are considered abandoned. Rule 2-12.4, Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal.

FACTS

Defendant John Howard lived with his wife, Linda Howard, and Linda's 15 year old son by a former marriage, Mark Taylor. Defendant Carl Hill, Linda's brother, had just moved from Virginia and was staying *716 with the Howards until he found employment.

For some two months prior to the defendants' arrests, the Howard home had been under partial surveillance by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office. This was a result of information obtained by the sheriff's office that Mark Taylor was dealing drugs at a nearby convenience store and that Linda Howard was deeply involved in narcotics traffic. Ms. Mary Kuntz, a young member of the narcotics division of the sheriff's office, was assigned an undercover role to investigate.

Ms. Kuntz made Mark's acquaintance and on April 9, 1981, visited Mark at the Howards in the early afternoon. Mark and Ms. Kuntz were alone because John Howard was at work and Carl Hill had driven to Florida to pick up Linda. Deputy Kuntz and Mark shared two marijuana cigarettes in Mark's room; they were taken from a plastic bag kept in his dresser drawer which held approximately one ounce of the drug. Mark gave Ms. Kuntz a small sample from the bag and then placed it back in his dresser drawer.

Mark told her however, that his mother, Linda, was due back from Florida with more drugs, including cocaine and quaaludes (Methaqualone).

At about 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, Deputy Kuntz reported the above to her narcotics division captain, who, with Kuntz, swore out an affidavit for the issuance of a search warrant.[1] A search warrant was issued authorizing a search of the Howard residence for "a quantity of controlled dangerous substance to wit: Marijuana."

A raiding party of seven or eight sheriff's deputies, including deputy Kuntz, watched the Howard residence from concealed locations. Around 10:30 p.m. Linda Howard's Oldsmobile drove up to the house. The officers saw some suitcases being unloaded; they waited 20 minutes and then decided to enter (except for Ms. Kuntz who stayed behind in a van). Police knocked and declared their identity. Receiving no reply, the officers then began to kick and beat the door with a maul. Shots were fired from the house. John Howard finally let the deputies inside. They immediately handcuffed him and Mark; Hill and Ms. Howard were subdued a little later. Later testimony revealed that the Howards thought they were being burglarized as they had been before. Ms. Howard was found by the deputies to be on the phone to the police reporting a break-in.

The deputies then proceeded to search the house for drugs. In the master bedroom one suitcase was found on the floor and another in a closet. Both were locked and both were forcibly pried open by the deputies. Approximately one pound of cocaine and 30,000 quaaludes were found inside. A brown paper-wrapped package was found in a closet in the same room; a deputy slit it open and found a bale of marijuana.

Sometime after the bulk of the drugs was found, deputy Kuntz was called in from the surveillance van. She then went to Mark Taylor's room and retrieved the small bag of marijuana which she had seen that afternoon.

Small samples of marijuana were also seized in different areas of the house and in defendant Howard's car.

Linda Howard, John Howard, and Carl Hill were indicted by the grand jury. Linda Howard withdrew her plea of not guilty, *717 and pled guilty prior to trial and testified for the remaining defendants.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

Defendants contend that the trial court erred when it denied their motion to suppress evidence seized during the search of the Howard residence. Defendants' attack is on two fronts: first, that the affiants intentionally omitted facts in the affidavit which would have precluded a finding of probable cause, and second, that the deputies exceeded the scope of the search under the warrant.

If an affiant intentionally omits relevant facts when swearing out an affidavit in an attempt to mislead the court, the warrant is quashed. State v. Lehnen, 403 So.2d 683 (La.1981). Defendants say that the affiants, Deputy Kuntz and her superior Captain Michael Barnett, intentionally omitted the amount of the marijuana which Deputy Kuntz saw in the Howard home (one ounce) and also did not include the time when the officers planned to execute the warrant (whenever Linda Howard returned with the suspected drugs).

Defendants maintain that the affiants left this information out because they felt that the magistrate would not have issued the warrant because of the Supreme Court's opinions in State v. Lewis, 385 So.2d 226 (La.1980) and State v. Boneventure, 374 So.2d 1238 (La.1979).

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Related

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573 A.2d 1197 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1990)
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451 So. 2d 1342 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
448 So. 2d 713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-howard-lactapp-1984.