State v. Suggs

81 So. 3d 815, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 64, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1532, 2011 WL 6187115
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 13, 2011·No. No. 11-KA-64·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

MARION F. EDWARDS, Chief Judge.

| gDefendant/appellant, Terrell J. Suggs (“Suggs”), appeals his conviction of cocaine distribution within 1000 feet of a playground in violation of La. R.S. 40:981.3 and his adjudication as a third felony offender. Suggs also appeals his conviction on the multiple offender adjudication.

On May 20, 2009, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging Suggs with distribution of cocaine within 1000 feet of a playground. Suggs was arraigned on the charge and pled not guilty. On September 3, 2009, Suggs’ motion to suppress identification was denied after a hearing. Subsequently, Suggs filed a motion for psychiatric examination. A sanity hearing was held on December 16, 2009, after which the trial judge found Suggs competent to stand trial. On that [819] same date, the trial judge granted defendant’s pro se motion for speedy trial.

The case was tried before a twelve-person jury that found Suggs guilty as charged. In due course, the trial judge sentenced Suggs to imprisonment in the Department of Corrections for thirty years, with the first two years to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. On that same day, the State filed a multiple bill alleging that Suggs was a fourth felony offender, an | ¡¡allegation which Suggs denied. A multiple bill hearing was then held after which Suggs was adjudicated a third felony offender.

The trial judge vacated the original sentence and re-sentenced Suggs under the multiple bill statute to imprisonment in the Department of Corrections for forty years with the first two years of the sentence to be served without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and the remainder of the sentence to be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence. Suggs filed a timely appeal motion that was granted by the trial court.

FACTS

On March 13, 2009, Joseph Gueldner, an undercover agent with the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office (“JPSO”), went to the area of Starrett and Newton Streets near Jesse Owens Playground in Jefferson Parish, a high crime area, in an attempt to purchase narcotics. He was driving an unmarked vehicle that contained audio and video equipment to record any narcotics transactions that occurred, and his actions were monitored by other officers who established surveillance in the area. Agent Gueldner successfully purchased $80 worth of crack cocaine from an individual, later identified as Suggs, on Starrett Street within 1000 feet of a playground that was marked as a “drug-free zone.” He conducted a field test on the substance Suggs sold to him, and it was positive for cocaine. The transaction was captured on videotape and shown to the jury at trial.

After obtaining a general description of the suspect, Agent Lisa Calcagno and other surveillance agents drove around for approximately an hour looking for a subject fitting the description. They subsequently located Suggs, who fit the description of the suspect, right across the street from the purchase area. After speaking with Suggs, Agent Calcagno filled out a field interview card, which contained Suggs’ name, address, and physical description, and they photographed |4him. She also positively identified Suggs in court as the person she spoke to that day.

Agent Wally Davis subsequently prepared a photographic lineup and showed it to Agent Gueldner who positively identified Suggs as the individual who sold him narcotics on the day in question. Agent Gueldner also positively identified Suggs in court as the perpetrator. Raven Barrois, a JPSO forensic chemist who was accepted as an expert in the field of the analysis of controlled dangerous substances, testified that the substance in this case tested positive for cocaine.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Both Suggs and his appeals counsel have filed assigned errors and filed briefs in this matter. Suggs assigns four errors. He asserts the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction, and the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the identification. In other assignments, Suggs alleges prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and malicious prosecution.

Defense counsel asserts the sentence imposed was illegal and excessive, or in the alternative, trial counsel was ineffective. Defense counsel also requests that this [820] Court conduct a review for errors patent on the face of the record.

PRO SE ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

The evidence used to convict Terrell Suggs was insufficient.

| ¿DISCUSSION1

Suggs argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. He contends that the videotape of the transaction does not show the perpetrator’s face; there was no evidence that he intended to distribute cocaine; the State failed to exclude the possibility that he was misidentified because of his shirt; the State did not negate every reasonable possibility of mis-identification; and there was no money found on him from the transaction an hour after it occurred.

In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, an appellate court must determine that the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, or a mixture of both, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.2

In cases involving circumstantial evidence, the trial court must instruct the jury that “assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.”3 The reviewing court is not required to determine whether another possible hypothesis of innocence suggested by the defendant offers an exculpatory explanation of events. Rather, the reviewing court must determine whether the possible alternative hypothesis is sufficiently reasonable that a rational juror could not have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.4

| f,Suggs was convicted of distribution of cocaine within 1000 feet of a playground. At the time of the commission of the crime on March 13, 2009, La. R.S. 40:981.3(A)(1) provided that any person who violated a provision of R.S. 40:966 through 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, or while on a school bus, shall, upon conviction, be punished in accordance with Subsection E of this Section.5

[821] Distribution of cocaine is prohibited by La. R.S. 40:967(A)(1). “School property” means all property used for school purposes, including but not limited to school playgrounds, as well as any building or area owned by the state or by a political subdivision and used or operated as a playground or recreational facility and all parks and recreational areas administered by the office of state parks.6

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State v. Suggs, 81 So. 3d 815, 11 La.App. 5 Cir. 64, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1532, 2011 WL 6187115 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

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