State v. Richardson

811 So. 2d 154, 2002 WL 271833
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 27, 2002
Docket35,450-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 811 So. 2d 154 (State v. Richardson) 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. Richardson, 811 So. 2d 154, 2002 WL 271833 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

811 So.2d 154 (2002)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Sammie Jean RICHARDSON, Appellant.

No. 35,450-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 27, 2002.

*157 Ricky L. Candler, Ruston, Counsel for Appellant.

Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Walter E. May, Jr., District Attorney, Counsel for Appellee.

Before BROWN, WILLIAMS and GASKINS, JJ.

WILLIAMS, Judge.

The defendant, Sammie Jean Richardson, was tried by a jury and convicted as charged of distribution of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance (cocaine), a violation of LSA-R.S. 40:967(A). She was sentenced to serve five years at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The defendant appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

In September 1997, Ricky Bridges, a narcotics officer with the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Department, contacted Agent Evelyn Miller of the Magnolia Police Department and requested her assistance in undercover narcotics purchases in Bienville. When they met, Bridges provided Miller with money for the purchases. Miller was introduced to a confidential informant and proceeded with the informant to different locations to make narcotics purchases.

On September 7, 1997, Miller and the informant drove to the residence of the defendant, Sammie Jean Richardson, with Bridges following shortly behind them in his vehicle. The defendant's residence was located in Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana. While Bridges watched from some distance away, Miller and the informant approached the defendant's residence and encountered Rayfield McGee and the defendant. McGee was living in the defendant's residence because of his relationship with Sammy K., the defendant's daughter. Agent Miller told the defendant that she wanted to buy some crack cocaine. The defendant gave McGee her keys and instructed McGee to get the "dope" from her blue Cadillac. McGee returned from the car and gave the crack cocaine to Miller. Miller then gave McGee forty dollars, which he later gave to the defendant. McGee described his role in the transaction as that of a "middle man."

Immediately after the transaction, Officer Bridges and Agent Miller met again. Miller produced two off-white rocks and gave them to Bridges, which he immediately placed in an evidence envelope and sealed. Randall Robillard, a forensic chemist from the North Louisiana Crime Laboratory, later determined that these rocks were crack cocaine.

As a result of the information obtained from Miller, Bridges obtained arrest warrants for the defendant and Rayfield McGee. Both suspects were arrested approximately a month and a half later for distribution of cocaine. As a result of a plea bargain, and in exchange for his agreement to testify truthfully in proceedings against the defendant, McGee received a five-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation.

At trial, the defendant's daughter, Yolanda Tate, testified that she never saw the defendant with any cocaine. She also stated that the defendant had not owned a car in the last five years, and defendant did not have a driver's license. Tate could not recall the 1978 blue Cadillac that McGee testified was parked outside the defendant's home at the time of the crime. The state and the defense stipulated that the defendant had a driver's license, which expired on April 9, 1996.

On rebuttal, the state questioned Donald Byrd, an employee of the Department of *158 Motor Vehicles for the State of Louisiana. Byrd worked primarily in the driver's license division. Byrd identified computer generated documents, which showed, among other things, that ownership of a 1978 Cadillac El Dorado automobile was transferred from McGee to the defendant on October 1, 1996. The document also showed that the defendant was stopped on September 5, 1997 while driving this vehicle without insurance. Byrd testified that it is a common practice for people to transfer titles to vehicles back and forth within a household or among friends to avoid paying fines for insurance cancellations.

The defendant was convicted of distribution of cocaine. She was sentenced to serve five years imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals.

DISCUSSION

Assignment of Error No.1:

By this assignment of error, the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying her motion for a "judgment of acquittal." She argues that jurisdiction and venue in Bienville Parish was never proved by the state. She also contends that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction. In particular, she argues that the testimony given by Bridges and Miller was contradictory, and Miller's written report, which allegedly supported her testimony, was not produced by the state.

The state argues that the trial testimony established that the crime occurred at the defendant's residence located off of Hill Street in Arcadia, Bienville Parish. Moreover, the state contends that the trial court may take judicial notice that a recognizable location is inside a parish even though the parish is never specifically mentioned by name, citing State v. Adams, 394 So.2d 1204 (La.1981) and LSA-C.E. art. 201B.

The state further argues that Miller's testimony was sufficient to prove the defendant's guilt. It contends that Bridges never claimed to witness the transaction, and any alleged discrepancy between his testimony and Miller's testimony was inconsequential.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE:

LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 611 provides that all trials shall take place in the parish where the offense has been committed unless a change of venue is obtained. The Louisiana Supreme Court has held that in order for a conviction to stand, venue must be proved during the course of the trial. State v. Adams, supra; State v. Hollingsworth, 292 So.2d 516 (La.1974). However, because venue is a special question, the scope of appellate review on that question is limited to determining whether there was some evidence, no matter how little, submitted to the jury to establish venue. State v. Adams, supra; State v. Rheams, 352 So.2d 615 (La.1977); State v. West, 319 So.2d 901 (La.1975). To sustain this proof, a trial court may take judicial notice of a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court, or capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. In this case, the court could apply the judicial notice rule to find that geographical locations mentioned by witnesses are within a particular parish, even if the parish is never specifically mentioned in the testimony. LSA-C.E. art. 201; State v. Adams, supra; Rheams, supra; State v. Batiste, 327 So.2d 420 (La.1976).

The record does not support the defendant's contention that jurisdiction and venue were never proved by the state. Both *159 Bridges and Miller testified that Miller met Bridges in Arcadia and that Miller went to the defendant's residence on Hill Street in Arcadia to make the cocaine purchase. The trial court was able to take judicial notice that the defendant's residence at Hill Street in Arcadia was located in Bienville Parish. LSA-C.E. art. 201; State v. Adams, supra; Rheams, supra; State v. Batiste, supra. Therefore, this argument is without merit.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
811 So. 2d 154, 2002 WL 271833, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-richardson-lactapp-2002.