State v. King

520 So. 2d 1260, 1988 WL 9310
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 8, 1988
Docket87-KA-659
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 520 So. 2d 1260 (State v. King) 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. King, 520 So. 2d 1260, 1988 WL 9310 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

520 So.2d 1260 (1988)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Isaac KING, Jr.

No. 87-KA-659.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

February 8, 1988.

*1261 John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Guy Delaup, Dorothy A. Pendergast, Asst. Dist. Attys., Gretna, for plaintiff/appellee.

Martha E. Sassone, Indigent Defender Bd., Gretna, for defendant/appellant.

Before GRISBAUM, WICKER and GOTHARD, JJ.

WICKER, Judge.

The defendant, Isaac King (King), and two co-defendants were charged by bill of information with simple burglary in violation of L.S.A.-R.S. 14:62. The two co-defendants pled nolo contendre pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970) reserving their right to appeal under State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). Trial by a jury of six proceeded against King alone. King was found guilty as charged and later sentenced to four years at hard labor.

The procedural history is as follows: Prior to trial King and his co-defendants filed a motion to suppress evidence alleging that the evidence was not in plain view and that there was no probable cause for a stop and/or an arrest. The trial court denied the motion and writs were taken to this court. On January 12, 1987 we refused writs (No. 86H764), concluding that on the showing made we saw no reason to exercise our supervisory jurisdiction. Writs were subsequently denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court on February 13, 1987, 501 So.2d 777.

Subsequent to the denial the co-defendants entered the Alford, plea, reserving Crosby rights. The co-defendants then appealed *1262 the denial of the motion to suppress. This court, in an opinion not designated for publication, held that it was precluded from addressing the issue and stated, "our review of the defendant's brief reflect no new issues not previously raised and considered in the writ application ... Accordingly, under a rationale similar to that of State v. Yelverton a/k/a Garland, 515 So.2d 828 (La.App. 5th Cir.1987) and State v. Butler, 462 So.2d 1280, 1286-87 (La.App. 5th Cir.1985), we are precluded from addressing the question." State v. Armand and Lemieux, (Not Designated for Publication, 87-KA-344, La.App. 5th Cir., December 8, 1987), slip op. at 3.

In the present case, King's counsel again argues that the evidence seized was not in plain view and that a warrantless search was illegal.

FACTS:

The testimony at trial set forth the following facts: On May 25, 1986 at approximately 2:00 a.m., the Sonitrol Alarm Company notified the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office that the silent alarm at Rex Painting and Blasting, Inc. had been activated. The business consists of a brick building and a trailer. The lot upon which these structures sit is surrounded by a fence. Enroute to the business, the officers responding to the alarm were informed by Sonitrol that movement was being monitored inside the building. When the officers arrived, they secured the premises, but did not enter either structure. (It was discovered that only the trailer was burglarized). A request for a canine unit was sent. A canine search of the trailer showed that no one was inside.

Sergeant Jeff Riseden was one of the officers sent to the scene. As he approached the back of the business, with the headlights of his unit turned off, he saw a red pickup truck. Three men, one of whom was later identified as the defendant, were inside the cab of the truck. When the men noticed the unit approached, they ducked and put their heads down. Riseden and Deputy John Meeks, who arrived immediately after Riseden, and who also saw the three men duck, approached the truck. The men inside pretended to be sleeping, however, they were breathing heavily and sweating profusely. The two officers ordered the men to exit the truck and they then conducted a search of each man's person. A bulge in the defendant's pocket was found to be a trash bag containing pennies and nickels. The back of the pickup truck contained a spare tire and some rotors and motors. A glove was lying on the floorboard of the cab of the truck.

A search of the premises showed that the brick building had not been broken into. The trailer had a forced window and the dead bolt lock on the door had been broken on the inside, apparently by a kick. A glove matching the one in the truck was found inside the trailer.

Rollyn White was the purchasing agent and supervisor of Rex Painting and Blasting, Inc. She arrived on the scene a few minutes after the officers. She identified the motors, rotors and spare tire in the back of the defendant's pickup truck as belonging to the business. She also stated that some pennies and nickels had been taken from a cigar box kept inside the trailer.[1] At trial Ms. White testified that neither the defendant nor anyone else had permission or authority to be on the premises of Rex Painting on May 25, 1986. She also stated that the business did not sell the rotors, motors or tires to the defendant.

The defendant did not take the stand or present a defense.

King now assigns the following errors:
1. That the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress the evidence;
2. Error patent;
3. Insufficiency of the evidence, and
4. That the trial court erred in allowing the state to use photographs of merchandise alleged to have been stolen as evidence instead of the actual merchandise as evidence.

MOTION TO SUPPRESS

The trial court, in denying the motion to suppress described above, gave the following reasons:

*1263 The three defendants were found by a police officer in a pickup truck next to a broken fence which surrounded a trailer in a deserted industrial area into which the police officer was called to investigate a burglary in process. After arriving on the scene, the police officer drew his gun on the defendants sitting in the cab of the pickup truck and demanded that they exit the truck. Subsequently, several other officers arrived on the scene and saw, by the light of a street lamp, some merchandise inside transparent plastic bags which were lying in open view in the uncovered bed of the pickup truck. Immediately, the police officers contacted the owner of the warehouse; and upon arriving on the scene, she identified the articles inside the plastic bags in the pickup truck as belonging to the theft victim. Consequently, the police officers, upon probable cause, arrested all three defendants on charges of simple burglary and for possession of stolen property.
This Court holds that the deputies had probable cause to stop the defendants in their pickup truck because (1) they were near a building where it had been reported that a burglary was taking place; (2) the fence beside which their vehicle was parked was broken through to the burglarized building: and (3) the area in which the defendants were found was otherwise deserted and no type of commerce was taking place.
It is the Court's further opinion that, after having had probable cause to stop the defendants, the officers legally seized the merchandise which they had seen in plain view in transparent plastic bags in the back of the open pickup truck. Therefore, the photographs of this merchandise which the State seeks to introduce into evidence are lawful and admissible.

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Related

State v. Hampton
782 So. 2d 1045 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
State v. Fontenot
550 So. 2d 179 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
State v. King
543 So. 2d 15 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
State v. Junior
542 So. 2d 23 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
State v. Madison
535 So. 2d 1024 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
520 So. 2d 1260, 1988 WL 9310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-king-lactapp-1988.