State v. Pennison

763 So. 2d 671, 1999 WL 1318092
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 1999
Docket99 KA 0466
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 763 So. 2d 671 (State v. Pennison) 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. Pennison, 763 So. 2d 671, 1999 WL 1318092 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

763 So.2d 671 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Blaine PENNISON.

No. 99 KA 0466.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 28, 1999.

*673 Jay J. Luke, Asst. District Attorney, Houma, Counsel for State of Louisiana.

Gwendolyn K. Brown, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Blaine Pennison.

Before: CARTER, C.J., LeBLANC and PETTIGREW, JJ.

LeBLANC, J.

The defendant, Blaine Paul Pennison, was charged by bill of information with one count of distribution of cocaine in a drug-free zone (count I), and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in a drug-free zone (count II), violations of La. R.S. 40:981.3. He moved to quash the bill of information and to suppress certain evidence. The motions were denied, and he pled guilty pursuant to State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). On count I, he was sentenced to fifteen years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and was fined $50,000. On count II, he was sentenced to fifteen years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, to run concurrently with the sentence imposed on count I, and was fined $50,000. He now appeals, designating two assignments of error.

FACTS

No factual basis for the defendant's pleas was set forth at his Boykin hearing. However, the facts surrounding the defendant's arrest appear in the record in a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office Narcotics Division report concerning the defendant's arrest.

On January 21, 1998, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office Narcotics Agents (agents) were advised that a person with a California driver's license had checked into room 148 at the Plantation Inn Motel in Houma, Louisiana.[1] A telephone call was immediately made from the room to Donnie Hebert, a known local drug dealer arrested within the previous two years on drug charges and reportedly actively dealing *674 drugs.[2] Agents took up position in room 122 at the motel, directly across from room 148, and began surveillance of room 148. Using a video camera, agents documented several persons coming to room 148, staying a short while, and then leaving. Agents observed the defendant and three other white males in room 148. Agents also observed a white female enter room 148 and leave the door open. The white female handed the defendant some U.S. currency and the defendant counted the money and placed it into his left front pants' pocket. Thereafter, the white female, the defendant, and one of the other white males left the room.

Agents prepared two confidential informants (CIs), including CI # 4182, to go to room 148 to attempt a drug purchase. The CIs and their vehicles were searched for weapons, money, or contraband and none were found. Then, CI # 4182 was given $40 in marked money, fitted with an audio transmitting device, and placed under visual and audio surveillance.

At approximately 5:56 p.m., the CIs arrived at the rear parking lot of the motel. Agents observed the defendant approach the CIs' vehicle and make contact with CI # 4182. Thereafter, the defendant went inside room 148 for approximately 20 seconds before returning to CI # 4182 and conducting a transaction. After the drug transaction, CI # 4182 went directly to room 122 and turned over to agents a clear plastic bag containing .5 grams of a substance later identified as cocaine. CI # 4182 related that when the defendant approached him in the parking lot, the defendant asked him if he knew where to find some crack, and he answered he did not know. CI # 4182 then asked the defendant if he knew where he (CI # 4182) could get $40 worth of "powder[,]" and the defendant told him to wait while the defendant went to "tell the guy in the room." Thereafter, the defendant exchanged the cocaine for the marked money.

The drug transaction took place approximately 300 feet from Vandebilt Catholic School, where, within view of the transaction, a soccer game was in progress.

Subsequently, agents obtained a search warrant for room 148, and the defendant, six packets of cocaine (approximately 3 grams in total weight), drug paraphernalia, and two loaded handguns were recovered from the room. Additionally, the $40 marked currency and $613 additional currency were recovered from the pocket of the defendant's pants.

MOTION TO QUASH

In assignment of error number 1, the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash. He argues that the La. R.S. 40:981.3 exception for "private residences" should be applied to the portions of the bill of information charging violation of La. R.S. 40:981.3 which occurred entirely within "his" motel room where no person under the age of seventeen was present.

La. R.S. 40:981.3, in pertinent part, provides:

A. (1) Any person who violates a felony provision of R.S. 40:966 through R.S. 40:970 of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law while on any property used for school purposes by any school, within one thousand feet of any such property ... shall, upon conviction, be punished in accordance with Subsection E.
. . . . .
B. Lack of knowledge that the prohibited act occurred on or within one thousand feet of school ... property shall not be a defense.
C. For purposes of this Section:
*675 (1) "School" means any public or private elementary, secondary, vocational-technical school....
(2) "School property" means all property used for school purposes, including but not limited to school playgrounds....
. . . . .
D. A violation of this Section within one thousand feet of school property ... shall not include an act which occurs entirely within a private residence wherein no person seventeen years of age or under was present.

Initially, we note that the defendant committed count I outside of motel room 148, and thus, his argument applies only to count II.

It is well established that criminal statutes are to be strictly construed. Courts are not empowered to extend by analogy the terms of a criminal provision to cover conduct not included within the definition of a crime. Any doubt as to the extent of the coverage of a criminal statute must be decided in favor of the accused and against the State. See State v. Smith, 97-0782, p. 4 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/20/98), 708 So.2d 1166, 1168. However, in interpreting criminal statutes, Revised Statute 14:3 requires that the provisions thereof "be given a genuine construction, according to the fair import of their words, taken in their usual sense, in connection with the context, and with reference to the purpose of the provision ." State v. Crawford, 98-0585, p. 3 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/28/98), 727 So.2d 589, 590.

The term "private residence" is not defined in either La. R.S. 40:981.3, or in La. R.S. 40:961. However, jurisprudence provides some guidance on this issue In State v. Range, 93-1693, p. 8 (La. App. 1 Cir. 8/5/94), 642 So.2d 1318, 1322, a "private residence" was distinguished from a "public place." Similarly, in State v. Burge, 449 So.2d 196, 199 (La.App. 3 Cir.), writ denied, 452 So.2d 172 (1984), a "private residence" was distinguished from a "commercial establishment." Further, an illustrative listing in Village of Moreauville v. Boyer, 138 La. 1070, 1072, 71 So.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
763 So. 2d 671, 1999 WL 1318092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pennison-lactapp-1999.