State v. Lampton

110 So. 3d 557, 2013 WL 1363933, 2013 La. LEXIS 591
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedApril 5, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-K-1547
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 110 So. 3d 557 (State v. Lampton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lampton, 110 So. 3d 557, 2013 WL 1363933, 2013 La. LEXIS 591 (La. 2013).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The state charged defendant by bill of information with possession of cocaine in violation of La.R.S. 40:967. After the trial court denied his motion to suppress the evidence, defendant entered a plea of guilty as charged, reserving his right to seek review of the trial court’s adverse ruling on the suppression issue. State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). The trial [559]*559court sentenced him to two years imprisonment at hard labor, suspended, with two years of active probation. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit reversed defendant’s conviction and sentence on grounds that the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress. State v. Lampton, 11-0775 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/11/12), 95 So.3d 1199. We granted the state’s application to review the decision below and reverse for reasons that follow.

The testimony of New Orleans Police Officer Jimmy Peak at the hearing on the motion to suppress established the following facts. Peak was working with his partner, Officer Jonathan Sam, proactively patrolling the Iberville Housing Development maintained by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), when he and Sam observed a black male walking in the 1300 block of Bienville Street, which is located in the development. Officer Peak explained that the Iberville development is a high crime area known for drug trafficking and that nearly every building had a “no trespassing” sign. He also stated that he and Officer Sam were familiar with most of the Iberville residents through their cooperation with HANO’s own police officers, who “pretty much advise us of any individual that stays back there.” Because neither officer recognized the individual, they stopped him in the 1200 block of Bienville Street as he exited the development. Officer Peak patted defendant down and asked for identification. Defendant presented a Texas identification card reflecting he did not reside in the Iberville development. At that time, officers arrested him for trespassing, and during a search incidental to the arrest, observed a bulge in his right sock. A field analysis of the item recovered from the sock tested positive for crack cocaine.

On cross-examination, Peak confirmed that he had been assigned to the C.O.P.S. duty (Community Oriented Policing Squad) at the development for approximately one or two months at the time of defendant’s arrest and that he had been a New Orleans police officer for two years. He testified that he had spoken to a majority of the residents within that time, but could not recall the number of people living in the Iberville development. Peak explained that his partner, Officer Sam, had been assigned to the Iberville Housing Development longer than he had worked there. Officer Peak reiterated that he was unfamiliar with defendant when they made the stop. When asked why they conducted the stop, Peak elaborated that the block he was traveling on was known for drug trafficking, nearly all of the buildings had “no trespassing” signs, and neither he nor his partner was acquainted with defendant. Although there was some confusion on the number of pat-down searches, Office Peak clarified that he did an initial frisk of defendant “to make sure he didn’t have any weapons as we stopped him.... ” That pat down evidently did not produce any weapons or evidence, but the ensuing search incidental to defendant’s arrest for trespassing located the cocaine concealed in his sock. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence.

The court nevertheless permitted defendant to reopen the motion and at a second hearing on September 16, 2010, Officer Jonathan Sam testified that at the time of defendant’s arrest, he had been patrolling the Iberville development for eight or nine months and was familiar with the majority of residents. He testified that he and Peak stopped defendant because they suspected he was trespassing. Officer Sam offered a nearly identical version of the stop as his partner, emphasizing that it is common for non-residents to enter the Iberville Housing Development to buy narcotics. He also explained that every ten[560]*560ant’s lease includes a provision requiring residents to accompany their guests until they leave the area. The state did not, however, offer a copy of this lease into evidence.

On cross-examination, Officer Sam acknowledged that the area where they caught up to defendant and stopped him, the 1200 block of Bienville Street, was on the outskirts of the development, but noted that he and Officer Peak observed defendant coming out of the courtyard within the development immediately before the stop. He testified that defendant produced a valid identification when asked to do so, but the document showed an address not within the housing development. Sam confirmed that Peak conducted the initial pat down search of defendant for officer safety. After the arrest, officers noted that defendant kept moving his body so that they would not be able to check his right side. Defendant continued this motion even after Officer Peak asked him to stop moving. At that time, they conducted a full search incident to arrest, and discovered crack cocaine in defendant’s right sock. After considering the testimony of Officer Sam, the trial court again denied defendant’s motion to suppress the narcotics seized during the search.

In reversing the trial court’s ruling, the Fourth Circuit initially noted that the officers did not violate defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights by approaching him and asking for his identification. However, the appellate court, convinced that the state failed to produce any evidence of a “specific trespassing rule relating to the Iberville Housing Development, or any other housing development in New Orleans, that prohibited a person from walking through the development when that person is a nonresident of the development and not accompanied by a resident[,]” concluded that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest defendant for trespassing. Lampton, 11-0775 at 9, 95 So.2d at 1205. In its reasons for judgment, the appellate court relied heavily on its recent decision in State v. Mulder, 11-0424 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/19/11), 76 So.3d 1241, writ denied, 11-2511 (La.12/1/11), 76 So.3d 1160, a factually similar case which held that police lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop, based on an officer’s belief that defendant did not reside in Iberville Housing Development, because the state failed to present any evidence of an ordinance or statute outlawing a nonresident from entering a city housing development. Consequently, it determined that the illegal arrest invalidated the subsequent search of defendant and the seizure of cocaine from one of his socks. Id.

There is no dispute in the present case over the analytical framework for assessing the validity of the initial stop and subsequent arrest of defendant. While an arrest requires probable cause, an investigatory stop requires only the lesser standard of reasonable suspicion enunciated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). La.C.Cr.P. art. 215.1. In making a brief investigatory stop the police still “‘must have a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity.’ ” State v. Kalie, 96-2650, p. 3 (La.9/19/97), 699 So.2d 879, 881 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 695, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 So. 3d 557, 2013 WL 1363933, 2013 La. LEXIS 591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lampton-la-2013.