State v. Thompson

58 So. 3d 994, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 241, 2011 WL 649149
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 23, 2011
DocketNo. 46,039-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 58 So. 3d 994 (State v. Thompson) 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. Thompson, 58 So. 3d 994, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 241, 2011 WL 649149 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

STEWART, J.

|2The defendant, Larry John Thompson, entered a Crosby1 plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance, namely cocaine, in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(A). He reserved his right to appeal the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. He was subsequently adjudicated a fourth-felony offender and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The court fined Thompson $3,000.00 plus court costs, in default of which defendant was sentenced to an additional 60 days in parish jail. The defendant now appeals, urging two assignments of error. Finding merit in one of the assignments raised, we reverse the denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress, vacate his conviction and sentence, and remand the matter to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTS

The defendant was charged by bill of information with one count of possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance. The charge arose out of the defendant’s arrest on May 29, 2008, at the Levingston Motel in Shreveport, Louisiana. Law enforcement encountered the defendant while executing a search warrant on rooms 31 and 37 of the motel.2 In the process of being interviewed by police, the defendant admitted to having narcotics in his truck and executed a consent form allowing law enforcement to search for them.

On October 8, 2008, the defendant filed a motion seeking to suppress the cocaine as having been obtained in violation of his constitutional right against unreasonable searches. The motion asserted that the defendant’s initial detention and pat-down was unlawful because he was not occupying either of the rooms which were the subject of the search warrant. Furthermore, the consent to search was obtained as a result of law enforcement’s continued detention of the defendant after the initial pat-down yielded no threat to officer safety.

|sThe motion to suppress was initially heard on April 1, 2009. The state relied solely on the testimony of Agent Shawn Parker. Agent Parker testified that on the date in question, members of the Shreveport Police Department’s Special Response Team (“SRT”) converged on the Levingston Motel in the Allendale neighborhood, a location regarded by law enforcement as one of “high crime” for narcotics and prostitution. The SRT was there to execute search warrants on Rooms 31 and 37. Agent Parker’s role was part of a secondary team which pro[997]*997vides for the entry team’s safety by dealing with individuals outside the rooms being entered by SRT members. Agent Parker testified that as he arrived, the door to Room 81 was open and two black males were standing outside. The defendant was in the doorway but had started to walk away from the room. As defendant was walking away, officers ordered everybody to get on the ground, where all three individuals were handcuffed for officer safety. All three detained individuals were then helped to their feet and read their Miranda rights.

The defendant was asked to produce his driver’s license and was patted down for weapons. The pat-down yielded no weapons. Agent Parker asked the defendant his reason for being in Room 31 and how he had arrived. The defendant said he was visiting a friend and pointed to his truck parked in front of the “apartments.” Agent Parker testified that the truck was located right next to a vehicle parked in front of Room 31. When the defendant was asked if he had anything illegal in the vehicle, the defendant admitted that he had a gun. Parker testified that the defendant’s handcuffs were removed at this point.

Agent Parker pulled the defendant aside to ask him more questions about the potential presence of a gun in his truck given the volatile situation. The defendant then allegedly admitted to the officer that he was a convicted felon and was not supposed to have a gun. When Agent Parker asked if he could retrieve the gun, the defendant stated he didn’t want to get in trouble and started to deny that there was a gun. Upon further questioning, however, the defendant also admitted that he had crack cocaine in the truck. Parker informed the defendant that because of his admissions, Parker could not “just walk away.” Parker again asked to search the vehicle and the defendant consented after Parker assured him that he did not intend to | ¿impound the vehicle. The defendant signed a consent to search form before the search took place and then opened the truck for Parker. The defendant then entered his truck and from the center armrest of the bench seat retrieved a clear plastic bag containing five individually packaged rocks of crack cocaine. The defendant was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute.

On cross-examination, Agent Parker explained that the defendant continued to be detained after the initial pat-down because it was not clear what connection, if any, the defendant had to the rooms on which the search warrants were being executed. Parker also testified that the defendant was not handcuffed at the time he retracted his admission about having a gun. However, Agent Parker asserted that the defendant was being detained and would not have been free to leave. In fact, Agent Parker testified that he did not return the defendant’s driver’s license until the defendant was signing the consent to search form. At the time the written consent form was signed, Agent Parker stated that the defendant’s handcuffs had been removed for approximately five to ten minutes.

The defendant called Agent Steve McKenna to testify about his participation as a member of the SRT on the date in question. McKenna testified that he was responsible for entering Room 31 and that as he did so, he observed the defendant coming “from the front door of the room” and traveling south. Agent McKenna ordered the defendant to “get on the ground,” which the defendant did. Agent McKenna then entered Room 31 and other members of the SRT were left to deal with the defendant.

[998]*998The defendant also called Robert Coll-eprn, a resident of the Levingston Motel, who testified that he was with the defendant and the defendant’s girlfriend in Room 29 just prior to the arrival of law enforcement. Colleprn had just completed, some television repairs in the room and was walking out behind the defendant. The defendant took a left as he exited the room and headed in the direction which would take him past Room 31. The police arrived shortly thereafter and due to a partition between Room 29 and the rooms to the left, Colleprn witnessed nothing further regarding the initial interaction between officers and the defendant. R Coll-eprn did see the defendant in handcuffs and later saw him without handcuffs.

The defendant testified that he had exited Room 29 just prior to his detention by officers. He stated that his girlfriend lived in Room 29, and he was heading toward the trash to search for DVDs which patrons of the motel discard from time to time. He had just passed Room 31 when officers came in contact with him. He stated that surveillance video would confirm his testimony regarding these facts. The defendant alleged that when he was reluctant to consent to a search of his vehicle, Agent Parker threatened to summon a K-9 unit and that if it detected anything, the vehicle would be impounded and the defendant’s apartment would be searched. He also claimed that his handcuffs were removed only so that he could sign the consent form.

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Related

State v. Thompson
135 So. 3d 663 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State v. Collins
101 So. 3d 557 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State of Louisiana v. Michael Wayne Collins
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012
State v. Thompson
93 So. 3d 553 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2012)
State v. Allen
79 So. 3d 1220 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State of Louisiana v. Brandon Dale Allen
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 So. 3d 994, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 241, 2011 WL 649149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thompson-lactapp-2011.