State v. Leonard

80 So. 3d 535, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 363, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1384, 2011 WL 5554381
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 15, 2011
DocketNo. 11-KA-363
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 80 So. 3d 535 (State v. Leonard) 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. Leonard, 80 So. 3d 535, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 363, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1384, 2011 WL 5554381 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

SUSAN M. CHEHARDY, Judge.

li>On appeal, defendant seeks review of his conviction for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. For the following reasons, we affirm his conviction.

Facts and Procedural History

Because defendant’s conviction resulted from a guilty plea without a trial, the facts presented were gathered from the hearing on defendant’s motions to suppress his statement and evidence. According to the testimony presented at that hearing, on or about November 21, 2008, Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Narcotics Officers, acting on information from an anonymous source, observed a man matching the description given by the tipster arriving at a specific home in Jefferson Parish in a black vehicle then lingering in the driveway. When the officers approached the man, they observed him handling three plastic bags containing off-white rocks, which field-tested positive for crack cocaine. The officers arrested the man, identified as defendant herein.

On December 23, 2008, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information alleging that defendant, Andre D. Leonard, possessed crack cocaine [ 3with intent to distribute, in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(A). At his arraignment on January 5, 2009, defendant entered a plea of not guilty.

On May 4, 2010, the trial court denied defendant’s motions to suppress evidence and statement. Although defense counsel objected and noted his intent to seek review of those rulings, the record does not reflect that defense counsel sought supervisory review of those rulings.

On October 6, 2010, defendant pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, reserving his right to appeal the adverse ruling on his motion to suppress evidence, pursuant to State v. Crosby.1 On October 12, 2010, the trial judge sentenced defendant, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for the first two years, as articulated in La. R.S. 40:967(B)(4)(b).

Immediately thereafter, the State filed a multiple offender bill of information alleging that defendant, Andre Leonard, was a second felony offender. Defendant stipulated to the allegations in the multiple bill. The trial judge vacated defendant’s sentence on the underlying felony and imposed an enhanced sentence pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1 of fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.2 His enhanced sentence was ordered to run concurrently with his parole violation time.3

[540]*540On November 12, 2010,4 defendant filed a written motion for appeal pursuant to Crosby, seeking review of the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. Defendant’s motion was granted and this appeal follows.

Lin his only assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to suppress the evidence. He argues that the police approached him without reasonable suspicion because they failed to adequately corroborate the anonymous tip. Further, defendant contends that the initial detention exceeded the limitations of an investigatory stop when the officers approached the vehicle with them weapons drawn and prevented him from leaving. Finally, defendant argues that there was no probable cause to arrest him so the illegally retrieved evidence should be suppressed as “fruits of the poisonous tree.”

The State responds that the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress. First, the officers had sufficient reasonable suspicion to approach defendant after corroborating the anonymous informant’s tip. Specifically, the anonymous source provided detailed “inside information” that reflected a familiarity with the suspect when he arranged, over a monitored cell phone, a bogus purchase of crack cocaine from the suspect at a specific time in a specific place.

The State provides that the officers corroborated the tip when, within the specific timeframe, a man matching the description given by the source, arrivéd at the location given by the source, in a vehicle matching the description given by the source. Further, the defendant was only briefly detained before the detective observed the crack cocaine in “plain view” in defendant’s mouth and hands. The State argues that, as soon as the detective observed the cocaine, probable cause existed to arrest the defendant, search for contraband, and legally seize any contraband that was discovered.

|5On May 4, 2010, a hearing was held on defendant’s motions to suppress evidence and statement.5 Detective Julio Alvarado of the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office (“JPSO”), Narcotics Division, was the sole witness to testify at the hearing. Detective Alvarado testified that JPSO had received complaints of illegal narcotics sales on Lyons Street in Harahan so they began an investigation using information from a confidential source. Detective Alvarado explained that the anonymous source used a cell phone monitored by a JPSO officer, called the suspect’s cell phone, and asked to purchase a specific amount of crack cocaine. The suspect told the source to meet him at a specific house on Lyons in ten minutes, which would have been approximately 7:00 p.m. that night.

The source described the suspect as a heavy-set black male in his mid-20s who would be driving a black, four-door vehicle. The source also gave the officers the address of the house where the purchase was to occur. Although the source was not able to give them the suspect’s given [541]*541name, Detective Alvarado said the source gave them a nickname of “Dee.”

After the source spoke with the suspect on the phone, Detective Alvarado and his partner, Detective Schiff, parked their surveillance vehicle on North Dilton Street, which is perpendicular to Lyons, so they could observe any vehicles turning right onto Lyons. Within ten minutes, a man, driving a black, four-door Cadillac, turned right onto Lyons from North Dilton. The driver then pulled into the driveway of the house that the suspect had described to the officers and waited.

Detective Alvarado testified that, from his vantage point on the street, he clearly observed the driver as he pulled into the driveway. He noticed that the driver was a heavy-set African-American man wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt, which matched the description of the suspect that the source had given them.

| ^Detective Alvarado testified that the driver could have turned into a number of other driveways and had ample time to use this driveway to back up and leave the area. Instead, however, this vehicle remained immobile.

Detective Alvarado testified that the investigators’ objective was to verily the source’s information then proceed with an investigatory stop. So, once the officers had corroborated the source’s information, Detective Alvarado moved his car into the driveway behind the black vehicle. The detectives exited their vehicle and approached the vehicle. Detective Alvarado approached the driver’s door of the vehicle, while his partner walked to the passenger-side door.

According to Detective Alvarado, the vehicle’s windows were not tinted. The officers drew their weapons and announced themselves as police officers as they approached the vehicle.

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Bluebook (online)
80 So. 3d 535, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 363, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1384, 2011 WL 5554381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-leonard-lactapp-2011.