State v. Nichols

871 So. 2d 590, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 1317, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 676, 2004 WL 626104
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 30, 2004
DocketNo. 03-KA-1317
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 871 So. 2d 590 (State v. Nichols) 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. Nichols, 871 So. 2d 590, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 1317, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 676, 2004 WL 626104 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

| JAMES L. CANNELLA, Judge.

The Defendant, William Nichols, appeals from his conviction of possession of cocaine and his enhanced sentence, as a third felony offender, to ten years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the conviction and sentence and remand.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging the Defendant with possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, cocaine, in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(A). On October 18, 2000, the Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to a judge trial. The trial continued the next day and, at the conclusion of the State’s case, the Defendant moved to appoint a sanity commission to determine his competence to stand trial.

On April 19, 2001, the State and the Defendant stipulated to the report of the sanity commission and the trial judge ruled that the Defendant was competent to proceed. Trial resumed on September 18, 2001, at which time the Defendant moved for a new trial because he desired a jury trial. After denying the motion, trial recommenced with the testimony of an additional defense witness. On September 21, 2001, more defense witnesses testified and trial recessed until |sOctober 12, 2001. The State declined to call any rebuttal witnesses and the trial judge found the Defendant guilty of the lesser responsive offense of possession of cocaine, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967(C).

On October 25, 2001, the trial judge sentenced the Defendant to five years imprisonment at hard labor. On that same date the State filed a habitual offender bill of information, alleging him to be a third felony offender based on prior convictions of attempted armed robbery and attempted simple burglary. The Defendant denied the allegations in the bill of information. The Defendant made an oral motion for appeal, which the trial judge granted.1

[592]*592After a multiple offender hearing on July 11, 2002, the trial judge found the Defendant to be a third felony offender, vacated the original sentence, and imposed a sentence of ten years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. The State objected to the sentence and informed the court that it would either appeal or seek supervisory writs on the court’s ruling.2 On August 2, 2002, the State filed a Motion to Correct an Illegally Lenient Sentence, which the trial judge denied on November 14, 2002. The State noted its intent to appeal.3 FACTS

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on November 19, 1999, State Troopers Flauss and Smith were on patrol in separate marked units on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish. At trial, Trooper Flauss testified that he and Trooper Smith were passing the 1300 block of Orange Blossom in Marrero, when the Defendant saw the police cars and ducked behind a building. The Defendant attempted to shove an object |4into his pocket and then fled toward a stairwell. The officers stopped their cars and ran behind the Defendant, who, at the top of the stairs, discarded a clear plastic bag containing green vegetable matter. The troopers followed the Defendant as he ran inside apartment number 1307. The Defendant stopped running and said, “I give up.” Trooper Smith arrested the Defendant for possession of marijuana and advised him of his constitutional rights. A search revealed nine white rock-like objects hidden in the Defendant’s sock. The officers thereafter advised the Defendant that he was also under arrest for possession of cocaine. These objects later tested positive for the presence of cocaine.

While inside the apartment, the officers observed a woman who had been asleep with a child on a mattress on the floor. Trooper Flauss testified that he did not see or recover any drugs from the apartment.4

The defense’s theory was that the drugs were found in the apartment, which was not the Defendant’s, and that the officers lied when they said that the drugs were found on the Defendant. The Defendant had several witnesses testify in support of his defense.

Tonyielle Brown (Brown), the Defendant’s girlfriend at the time, lived in apartment 1307. Her babysitter, Tranita Lewis (Lewis), was at the apartment on the evening in question while Brown was at work. According to Brown, the cocaine belonged to Corey Berry (Berry), who was the babysitter’s boyfriend. Although Brown testified that Berry said he left the cocaine in the apartment, Berry testified at trial that the contraband was already there when he visited Lewis that night at the apartment. Berry further testified that the cocaine was in nine pieces on the speaker and that there was marijuana on a plate behind the speaker. Berry denied that the cocaine belonged to him or to Lewis.

|BAccording to Berry, he arrived at the apartment around midnight. At some point, the Defendant knocked on the door, [593]*593but did not come inside. The Defendant and Berry walked downstairs and Berry went to talk to an acquaintance. Berry noticed the police driving by. He told the Defendant to go inside, because he knew the Defendant was on parole. Berry feared that the police might stop and “mess” with him. The police stopped, went up the stairs, and came down with the Defendant in handcuffs. According to Berry, the cocaine and marijuana were not in the apartment when the police left. Berry admitted that he was incarcerated for being a felon in possession of a firearm and that his underlying conviction was simple burglary.

Brown’s sister, Rose Brown, who lived in the apartment with her sister and the Defendant, testified that Berry removed cocaine from his pocket and placed it on an end table. Rose Brown stated that she was upset that he had brought contraband in the apartment, since there were children present. Rose Brown said that she was asleep when the Defendant was arrested that evening and that she did not hear any of the events that transpired.

Eighteen year old Lewis acknowledged that she was incarcerated in the Jetson Correctional Center for simple battery, unauthorized entry, and theft. She testified that she saw Berry put marijuana on a plate and “rocks” of cocaine on a table. However, Lewis said that she moved the cocaine to the speaker. According to Lewis, the Defendant knocked on the door and Berry left with the Defendant. A few minutes later, the Defendant ran back in the apartment with the police following. Although the police searched the Defendant, they found no contraband. However, when one of the officers found the marijuana and cocaine in the apartment, the other officer said that they would “charge” the Defendant because he had run from them.

| ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

The Defendant argues that the trial judge, Ronald Bodenheimer, should have recused himself because he was a “narcotics informant for the very law enforcement agency that built the case” against the Defendant. It was error to permit the Defendant to go to trial and be convicted by a judge who was actively engaged as a narcotics informant for the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office. The trial judge’s failure to recuse himself was reversible error.

The State responds that the record does not contain any evidence supporting the Defendant’s claims in this assignment of error. The State notes that the Defendant’s claims are more appropriate for post-conviction relief.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
871 So. 2d 590, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 1317, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 676, 2004 WL 626104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nichols-lactapp-2004.