State v. Shivers

346 So. 2d 657
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 13, 1977
Docket59080
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 346 So. 2d 657 (State v. Shivers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Shivers, 346 So. 2d 657 (La. 1977).

Opinion

346 So.2d 657 (1977)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Henry C. SHIVERS.

No. 59080.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

May 16, 1977.
Concurring Opinion June 13, 1977.

*658 Daryl Gold, Simms & Gold, Leesville, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John A. Richardson, Dist. Atty., B. Woodrow Nesbitt, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

SANDERS, Chief Justice.

The State charged Henry Shivers with possession of heroin with the intent to distribute in violation of LSA-R.S. 40:966. After a trial, the jury found defendant guilty as charged. The court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment. He appeals his conviction and sentence, relying upon two assignments of error. Finding reversible error in his first assignment of error, it is unnecessary that we consider his second assignment.

In his first assignment of error, defendant correctly maintains that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the heroin. The facts surrounding the seizure of the evidence which is the basis of his motion are:

On December 10, 1975, at approximately noon, Agent Jack Miller met with a proven confidential informant and arranged for the informant to make a heroin purchase from Junior[1] Porter, a suspected marijuana and heroin dealer, at Porter's house located at 4108 Mayfield Street in Shreveport. Agent Miller requested Agent Sam Bolen's assistance in establishing surveillance of the informant's activities relative to the narcotics transaction.

At approximately 8:00 that evening, Agent Miller searched the informant and finding no narcotics on his person, gave him fifty dollars with which to make the purchase. Agents Miller and Bolen positioned themselves separately at locations near Mayfield Street and maintained radio contact. Agent Miller saw his confidential informant drive up in front of 4108 Mayfield, park his car, and exit his vehicle according to prearranged plans. Miller, however, could not see the informant enter 4108 Mayfield from his vantage point. A short time thereafter, Miller saw the informant return to his car and drive away. Agent Miller immediately drove to the prearranged meeting place and met with his informant, who told him that he had made the buy from Junior[2] Porter at 4108 Mayfield. Miller radioed Agent Bolen, who was still at his surveillance location and informed him that "a purchase had gone down at the third house west of Broadway on Mayfield." Agent Bolen was not located where he could witness the activities of the informant. Agent Miller ran a field test on the substance believed to be heroin which his informant had purchased from 4108 Mayfield in a one cent party balloon. The test proved the presence of heroin in the substance. When Agent Miller tried to radio Bolen that the substance purchased was indeed heroin, he was unable to make radio contact because Bolen was in the process of stopping a vehicle. Agent Bolen stopped the vehicle after witnessing the following occurrences:[3]

*659 With the knowledge that Agent Miller's informant had purchased a substance thought to be heroin from the third house west of Broadway on Mayfield, Bolen saw a black car stop in front of the third house from the corner. Two men exited the vehicle and entered the third house from the corner on the north side of Mayfield. They remained inside only a short time and then returned to their car. A brown car also pulled up and a man exited and entered the third house from the corner on the other side of Mayfield, directly across the street from the house which the other two men had entered and exited. The man quickly returned to his car and drove away in the direction of Agent Bolen, who was positioned inside a 1972 red Ford vehicle with three antenaes, a somewhat conspicuous, although unmarked, police unit. The brown car turned on its left turn signal indicator but did not make the left turn and instead turned off the blinker and proceeded directly ahead to a position approximately thirty feet from Bolen's vehicle and turned on its bright lights and slowed to a stop. It then immediately proceeded onward and turned at the next corner and returned to its previous location in front of 4108 Mayfield. The driver of the brown vehicle had a short conversation with the men in the black car and then both vehicles drove away. Agent Bolen radioed other police to stop the brown vehicle and radioed Agent Miller to assist him in stopping the black vehicle. Agent Bolen, through the use of siren and red flashing police lights, pulled the black car over. Miller drove to the scene as the black car was coming to a stop.

Bolen asked the men to get out of the car and come to the rear of the vehicle with their hands where he could see them. He stated that he had "reasonable grounds to believe the vehicle contained narcotics." Henry Shivers, the driver, and Claude King, his passenger in the front seat, exited the car in compliance with the officer's orders. Agent Bolen asked Miller to "take custody" and Miller "patted down" the two men. Once they exited the car and presented identification, Bolen recognized Shivers, by name, and Claude King, by sight, as persons suspected of being involved in narcotics.

Agent Bolen looked into the automobile and finding a thirteen-year-old boy in the back seat, ordered him out. Bolen then began a search of the car. He found a syringe and needle under the edge of the passenger's side of the front seat and a paper bag containing "one cent" balloons (the usual packaging for heroin in that area) on the front seat of the vehicle. After his find, Agent Bolen walked to the rear of the car and asked Agent Miller if he had searched the individuals. Miller told him that he had only patted them down for weapons. Bolen then began walking to the car to continue his search of the vehicle, when he stopped and reached into thirteen-year-old Anthony Shiver's left pocket. Finding nothing, he then reached into the boy's right pocket and found a tin foil packet containing a substance, which when tested proved to be heroin.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Article 1, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 also provides:

"Every person shall be secure in his person, property, communications, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures, or invasions of privacy. No warrant shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful purpose or reason for the search. Any person adversely affected by a search or seizure conducted in violation of this Section shall have *660 standing to raise its illegality in the appropriate court."

The right of law enforcement officers to stop, interrogate, and frisk one reasonably suspected of criminal conduct is recognized by LSA-Code of Criminal Procedure Article 215.1, which provides:

"A. A law enforcement officer may stop any person in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or a misdemeanor and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his actions.

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346 So. 2d 657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shivers-la-1977.