State v. Iron

780 So. 2d 1123, 2001 WL 123931
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 14, 2001
DocketCR00-1238
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 780 So. 2d 1123 (State v. Iron) 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. Iron, 780 So. 2d 1123, 2001 WL 123931 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

780 So.2d 1123 (2001)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Marcus W. IRON.

No. CR00-1238.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 14, 2001.
Rehearing Denied April 11, 2001.

*1124 Douglas L. Hebert, Jr., District Attorney, Oberlin, LA, Counsel for Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Paula C. Marx, Louisiana Appellate Project, Lafayette, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Marcus W. Iron.

Court composed of Judge THIBODEAUX, Judge PETERS and Judge PICKETT.

THIBODEAUX, Judge.

A jury convicted Defendant, Marcus Iron, of distribution of cocaine. The trial court sentenced him to serve twenty years at hard labor and suspended five years.

He appeals his conviction and sentence. We have reviewed his assignments of error which allege insufficiency of the evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel, entrapment issues, and excessiveness of sentence. We find them to be without merit and affirm his conviction and sentence.

FACTS

On July 13, 1998, the Defendant allegedly sold a rock of crack cocaine for $40 to Tina Hampton, a confidential informant who was working undercover on behalf of the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office. The substance purchased by Ms. Hampton tested positive for cocaine.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1:

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The Defendant contends that the verdict fails to meet the legal standard for sufficiency of the evidence in that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the substance sold to the confidential informant was cocaine. Specifically, the Defendant maintains that the issue is one of chain of custody because the lab report states that the evidence examined was contained in a glass vial whereas the testimony indicates that the evidence was stored and given to the lab in a film canister. The Defendant concludes that the contents of the film canister were not tested. Thus, the element of proof as to what he sold to Ms. Hampton is lacking.

Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:967(A)(1) prohibits any person from knowingly or intentionally distributing cocaine. The Defendant has limited his request for a sufficiency review of the evidence to the element involving the presence of cocaine. Thus, the sole issue for review under this assignment of error is whether the substance sold by the Defendant to Ms. Hampton was, in fact, cocaine.

The Defendant's argument centers around the chain of custody of the alleged cocaine. As noted by the Louisiana Supreme Court in State v. Paster, 373 So.2d 170, 177 (La.1979):

To admit demonstrative evidence at trial, the law requires that the object be identified. The identification can be visual, *1125 that is, by testimony at the trial that the object exhibited is the one related to the case. It can also be identified by chain of custody, that is, by establishing the custody of the object from the time it was seized to the time it was offered in evidence.

This court has consistently held that

[a] continuous chain of custody is not essential, provided the evidence as a whole establishes that it is more probable than not that the object introduced was the same as the object which was originally seized by the officers. State v. Sharp, 414 So.2d 752 (La.1982). Lack of positive identification goes to the weight of the evidence rather than its admissibility. Ultimately, connexity is a factual matter for determination by the jury. State v. Sharp, supra.

State v. Butler, 615 So.2d 496, 504 (La. App. 3 Cir.1993), writ denied, 94-0634 (La.6/28/96); 675 So.2d 1107. See also State v. Brooks, 505 So.2d 245 (La.App. 3 Cir.1987).

On July 13, 1998, Ms. Hampton participated in an undercover operation involving the Defendant. According to Deputy Ben Perkins and Ms. Hampton, Deputy Perkins searched Ms. Hampton and the vehicle she was driving before departing, turned on the monitoring equipment and gave her film canisters labeled "A," "B," "C" and "D"; she placed these in the glove box of the vehicle. Deputy Perkins testified that he instructed Ms. Hampton to put the first purchase in canister "A," the second purchase in canister "B," and so on. He also stated that film canisters were used in this operation because he did not have any glass vials that day. Deputy Perkins explained that he found several empty film containers in his truck and chose to use them as opposed to wrapping the drugs in paper.

Ms. Hampton testified that she proceeded to the Oakdale area where she purchased a rock of cocaine from the Defendant. She explained that after the purchase, she drove to another area where she would not be seen and placed the rock in the canister marked "A," returned the canister to the glove box and locked the box. Ms. Hampton added that she did not remove the rock from the glove box between the time she placed the rock in the glove box and the time she met up with Deputy Perkins. She also denied that the glove box had been tampered with while she was driving around, nor did she pick anyone up during that time. Ms. Hampton testified that she met Deputy Perkins at a designated place where he retrieved the rock from her.

Ms. Hampton denied that the substances in the canisters from the various purchases that evening were commingled. She also testified that the purchase from the Defendant had been removed from the glove box prior to the subsequent buys that evening when she changed areas. According to Ms. Hampton, the canister containing the rock purchased from the Defendant never came into contact with the canisters containing other purchases that evening. Ms. Hampton admitted that she could not identify the actual rock of cocaine she purchased from the Defendant or the other rocks purchased from other individuals that evening by looking at the rock. However, she could identify them from the markings on the canisters.

Deputy Perkins testified that Ms. Hampton returned to the designated area where he received the film canister marked "A." Deputy Perkins stated that he looked inside the container and saw two off-white rocks, then placed the evidence in his evidence bag and secured it in his truck. He testified that no one else possessed a key to the truck. After the purchase from the Defendant in Oakdale, they proceeded to Oberlin where subsequent purchases were made. Upon his return from Oberlin, Deputy Perkins testified that he removed the evidence bag from his truck containing the purchase from the Defendant and placed it into the evidence locker in his office. He stated that he possesses the only key to the locker. Next, Deputy Perkins testified that he removed *1126 the evidence bag from the locker the following day and turned it over to the evidence officer, Peggy Ray, at 11:00 a.m. He added that the evidence bag was in the same condition when he removed it from the locker as it was when he placed it in the locker.

Deputy Peggy Ray testified that she received the evidence regarding the Defendant from Deputy Perkins on July 14, 1998, at 11:00 a.m. and recorded it on an evidence receipt. Next, she explained that she filled out a submittal form to the Southwest Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory for an analysis of the evidence and locked up the evidence until she transported it to the crime lab. Deputy Ray stated that she hand-delivered the evidence to Dana Fleming at the crime lab on July 30, 1998, without ever looking inside the evidence bag. Ms. Fleming signed for the receipt of the evidence and gave it a lab number.

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Bluebook (online)
780 So. 2d 1123, 2001 WL 123931, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-iron-lactapp-2001.