State v. Kinnemann

337 So. 2d 441
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided September 13, 1976·No. 57581·Published·Cited by 36 cases

Opinion

337 So.2d 441 (1976)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Kenneth KINNEMANN and Paul Sahuque.

No. 57581.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

September 13, 1976.

*442 Robert Glass, New Orleans, for defendants-appellants.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Joseph B. Tosterud, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

DIXON, Justice.

Defendants were convicted of possession of marijuana and fined $250.00 plus costs, given a four months suspended jail sentence and placed on one year probation. Assigned as error is the court's ruling on the motion to suppress. (See Rule 1, § 11, Louisiana Supreme Court Rules).

At fifteen minutes before 6:00 p.m. on January 6, 1975 three New Orleans policemen parked their vehicle about one-half block from 1620 Dante Street and began to watch the house. One of the police witnesses had been told by a "confidential and reliable informant" on that day that one "Favalora was selling pounds of marijuana and also cocaine from his residence located at 1620 Dante Street," and that the informer had been the contraband in the house.

At about 6:00 p.m. an automobile parked across the street from the house and defendant Sahuque left the other two occupants of the car and entered the building. Fifteen minutes later he reappeared on the front porch with two paper bags in hand—one a purple "K & B" bag. The bags are not in evidence and not further described in the testimony. Nor is there further description of 1920 Dante; whether it is a single or multiple family residence does not appear.

When the automobile, occupied by the two defendants and driven by a female companion, left 1620 Dante Street, the police followed it, stopping it in the 2700 block of South Carrollton by using their flashing blue light and siren. When they stopped, the police left their vehicle and had the occupants of the other car alight and walk to its rear. One of the policemen looked into the stopped car with a flashlight and announced that he found some marijuana. (That officer testified that he saw an open paper sack on the backseat with green vegetable material exposed). The occupants of the car were immediately told that they were under arrest, and the officer then entered the car and retrieved the contraband.

The testimony at the motion to suppress is substantially conflicting. The facts here related are taken from the police testimony. In addition to the mere presence of defendants at 1920 Dante Street, the State argues that Sahuque arrived empty-handed, left with two paper sacks, looked up and down before crossing the street, and that his demeanor on leaving differed from that on entering the house.

Information possessed by the police, as related at the trial, would have adequately supported a search warrant for 1620 Dante Street. See Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964); Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 85 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). Our question is whether all the information within the knowledge of the police justified the arrest of the visitor to 1620 Dante Street, or whether the arrest was made on suspicion.

In February of 1975 we decided State v. Jones, La., 308 So.2d 790, a case in which the facts were similar, except that the setting was rural instead of urban. The police had information that a house about ten miles from Natchitoches contained large quantities of marijuana, and were observing the house and activities around it by driving past. They had seen different cars come and go, and on one pass saw the car in *443 which Jones was riding parked at the house. A few minutes later they saw the car leaving and followed it. The car was later stopped and the occupants were arrested. A search of Jones at the police station disclosed marijuana gleanings which were the basis of the prosecution. We held that the police did not possess sufficient knowledge to justify stopping the Jones vehicle, and the contraband detected as a result of that stop should have been suppressed.

In November, 1974 we had decided State v. Saia, La., 302 So.2d 869. There, officers saw Saia leave a residence known to them to be a drug outlet. They sprang from their car and attempted to seize her, during which effort she exposed a packet like those which contain narcotics. The State argued that C.Cr.P. 215.1[1] authorized them to stop Saia and question her. We held that, properly interpreted, Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), Sibron and Peters v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968) and Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972) did not prohibit the police from approaching a person to investigate suspicious circumstances, and permitted "a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d 889.

We further held in Saia that Terry, Sibron, Peters and Adams did not permit, in the absence of probable cause, the warrantless search of another except for the protection of the investigating officer. The "stop and frisk" law of the State of New York, as well as C.Cr.P. 215.1 of the State of Louisiana, with the necessary exception of the right of the police to protect themselves, "must be judged under the Reasonable Search and Seizure Clause of the Fourth Amendment." Sibron and Peters v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 62, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 1902, 20 L.Ed.2d 917.

Again, in July of 1975 we held that a search of the person could not be justified by C.Cr.P. 215.1 without at least a reasonable connection between criminal conduct (law violation) and such suspicious activity as startled looks and changing course to avoid police. State v. Truss, La., 317 So.2d 177.

The Louisiana Constitution counterpart of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution is Article 1, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974:

"Every person shall be secure in his person, property, communications, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures, or invasions of privacy. No warrant shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful purpose or reason for the search. Any person adversely affected by a search or seizure conducted in violation of this Section shall have standing to raise its illegality in the appropriate court."

Should there be any doubt that the right of the police to forcefully stop and search others is circumscribed by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, there can be none that the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, by the inclusion of the words "invasions of privacy" meant to extend the "probable cause" requirement *444

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State v. Kinnemann, 337 So. 2d 441 (La. 1976).

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