State v. McMooain

680 So. 2d 1370, 1996 WL 570538
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 1996
Docket95 KA 2103
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 680 So. 2d 1370 (State v. McMooain) 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. McMooain, 680 So. 2d 1370, 1996 WL 570538 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

680 So.2d 1370 (1996)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Tracy McMOOAIN.

No. 95 KA 2103.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 27, 1996.

*1371 James H. Looney, James E. Talley, Assistant Indigent Defender, Covington, LA, for Defendant-Appellant, Tracy McMooain.

Walter P. Reed, District Attorney, Covington, LA, Terry Boudreaux, Gretna, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee, State of Louisiana.

Before SHORTESS, LeBLANC and TANNER, JJ.[1]

TANNER, Judge Pro Tempore.

Defendant, Tracy McMooain, was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance as classified in Schedule II [cocaine], a violation of La.R.S. 40:967(C), on February 5, 1992. He pled not guilty but subsequently withdrew that plea and pled guilty to the charge under State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976), reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to quash.[2]*1372 He was sentenced to three years at hard labor with the Department of Corrections, which sentence was suspended to three years probation with certain special conditions, and was to be served concurrently with another probation. He was advised by the court of the relevant delays for appeal and for filing motions for post-conviction relief.

Defendant was charged on February 5, 1992, and likewise pled guilty to, possession of drug paraphernalia, a violation of La.R.S. 40:1033(C). That proceeding was held in the City Court of Slidell. Defendant was sentenced on February 6, 1992, to ten days in prison, to run concurrently with other charges "on a different file number."[3]

On October 2, 1994, defendant filed a motion to quash in the prosecution for possession of cocaine based on double jeopardy grounds; that motion was denied on April 18, 1995, and a timely appeal followed. Defendant raises as his sole assignment of error the trial court's failure to grant the motion to quash based on double jeopardy.

FACTS

Defendant was stopped on February 5, 1992 in Slidell for a traffic offense. After a search of his person, a crack cocaine pipe was found, and he was arrested. Analysis of the residue in the crack pipe revealed the presence of cocaine.[4] This information was forwarded to the Slidell City Police, and a warrant was issued on June 15, 1992, for the arrest of defendant for possession of cocaine, La.R.S. 40:967(C). On May 30, 1994, he was stopped for another traffic violation and was arrested again on the outstanding warrant for possession of cocaine. After continuation of trial dates on several occasions, defendant filed a motion to quash based on double jeopardy, arguing that his plea of guilty to the charge for possession of drug paraphernalia, La.R.S. 40:1033(C), precluded the state from prosecuting him for possession of cocaine under La.R.S. 40:967(C).

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Federal Constitution's Fifth Amendment, applicable to the states through its Fourteenth Amendment, provides that no person shall "be subject for the same offenses to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." Article I, Section 15 of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution contains a similar guarantee. Under Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977), separate statutory crimes need not be identical either in constituent elements or in actual proof in order to be the same within the meaning of the constitutional prohibition. State v. Doughty, 379 So.2d 1088 (La.1980).

The test formulated in the federal system is constitutionally required of the states; that test was articulated in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932):

The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.

As described in State v. Doughty, supra, the Blockburger test depends on the evidence required to convict, not the evidence introduced at trial. Doughty, 379 So.2d at 1090.

*1373 Doughty discussed a double jeopardy test which it deemed "equivalent" to Blockburger's element test. Citing Morey v. Commonwealth, 108 Mass. (12 Browne) 433 (1871), Doughty states "offenses are the same when the evidence required to support a conviction upon one would have been sufficient to warrant a conviction upon the other." State v. Doughty, 379 So.2d at 1091.

This test, called the "same evidence" test, is somewhat broader in concept than Blockburger, and is articulated as follows in State v. Steele, 387 So.2d 1175, 1177 (La. 1980):

If the evidence required to support a finding of guilt of one crime would also have supported conviction of the other, the two are the same offense under a plea of double jeopardy, and a defendant can be placed in jeopardy for only one. The test depends on the evidence necessary for conviction, not all the evidence introduced at trial.

The Louisiana Supreme Court recognizes these two separate tests, but in recent years has principally relied on the "same evidence" test when evaluating double jeopardy claims. State v. Miller, 571 So.2d 603, 606 (La.1990).

In order to analyze the facts of the instant case under either the Blockburger or the "same evidence" tests, we must first examine the statutory scheme for possession of drug paraphernalia, La.R.S. 40:1031 through 1036. "Drug paraphernalia" is defined generally in La.R.S. 40:1031, and the object found on defendant's person is defined specifically in La.R.S. 40:1031(A)(12)(a) as:

(12) Objects used, intended for use, or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish, or hashish oil into the human body, such as:
(a) Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls.

La.R.S. 40:1032 sets forth twelve factors for a court's consideration in determining whether an object is drug paraphernalia. For example, one factor is "the existence of any residue of controlled substances on the object." La.R.S. 40:1032(4).

La.R.S. 40:1033(C), the statute under which defendant was originally charged, states:

C. It is unlawful for any person to use, or to possess with intent to use, any drug paraphernalia, to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack, repack, store, contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this Part.

Therefore, the determination that the pipe found on defendant's person was in fact drug paraphernalia could have been made through evidence of cocaine residue on the pipe itself. We believe proof of intent to use, required under La.R.S. 40:1033(C), could likewise have been made through evidence of cocaine residue. Although other factors listed in La.R.S. 40:1032 could have been considered as well in the determination that the pipe was drug paraphernalia, any one of them alone would suffice.

La.R.S.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
680 So. 2d 1370, 1996 WL 570538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcmooain-lactapp-1996.