State v. Wallace

185 So. 3d 795, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2658, 2015 WL 9434771
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 2015
DocketNo. 2015 KA 1219
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 185 So. 3d 795 (State v. Wallace) 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. Wallace, 185 So. 3d 795, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2658, 2015 WL 9434771 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DRAKE, J.

1 ¡¿The State charged the defendant, Prentiss Arnold Wallace, by bill of information with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967(A)(1) (count l).1 The defendant pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, the jury became deadlocked and could not reach a verdict; accordingly, a mistrial was declared. The State tried the defendant a second time, again only on count 1. In his second jury trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of the responsive offense of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine. See La, R.S. 14:27(D)(3) and La. R.S. 40:979(A). The defendant filed a postverdict judgment of acquittal, which the trial court denied. The State filed a habitual offender bill of information, alleging the defendant had prior convictions for possession of cocaine and distribution of cocaine. A hearing was held on the matter, and the defendant was adjudicated a third-felony habitual offender. The defendant was sentenced to thirty-years imprisonment at hard labor. The defendant now appeals, designating two assignments of error. We affirm the conviction, habitual offender adjudication, and sentence.

FACTS

On September 5, 2013, Sergeant Dennis Bush, with the Slidell Police Department, received information that the defendant and Leo Charles were selling crack cocaine in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and the Pontchartrain Drive area in Slidell. Sergeant Bush also had information that the defendant and Charles were in a blue Nissan Xterra with an Alabama license plate. Sergeant Bush knew the defendant and Charles from previous investigations. Sergeant Bush’s partner, Detective John Cole, was in a separate vehicle patrolling the same area. A short time later, Sergeant Bush spotted the Xterra and followed it. Charles was driving Land the defendant was in the front passenger seat. The Xterra pulled over near Nassau Drive. An unknown female approached the driver’s side on foot, and the officers observed a quick hand-to-hand transaction between the female and driver. Suspecting he witnessed a drug transaction, Sergeant Bush followed the Xterra and radioed other officers in the area to assist with the mobile surveillance.

Sergeant Bush followed the Xterra to the Westchester neighborhood, where it pulled to the side of the road on Olive Drive. Sergeant Bush watched the defendant get out of the Xterra and walk to the driver’s side of a silver Saturn parked in a residence driveway. The defendant conducted what appeared to be a quick hand-to-hand transaction with the driver of the Saturn, later identified as Lindsay Rolston. The defendant got back in the Xterra and left. About forty-five seconds later, Rol-ston left, traveling in the same direction as the Xterra. Sergeant Bush and his captain followed Rolston, while other officers in the area were instructed to follow the Xterra.

A few miles down the road, Rolston pulled into an Exxon station parking lot, and Sergeant Bush effected a traffic stop. Sergeant Bush asked Rolston if she had drugs in the car and she replied that she did; he asked for permission to search her purse and she consented. Sergeant Bush found in Rolston’s purse seven Alprazolam [799]*799(Xanax) pills and a small plastic bag with cocaine residue on it. The bag, or portion of a baggie was small, and would have held no more than a gram qf. cocaine.

Detective Richard Walden, with the Sli-dell Police Department, was one of the officers asked to follow the Xterra. Detective Daniel Seuzeneau and Detective Michael Deckleman, both with the Slidell Police Department, also followed the Xterra. Detective Walden was in an' unmarked F-150 truck. Detectives Seuzeneau and Deckleiman were in an unmarked Charger, with Detective Seuzeneau driving. The officers were instructed to stop the Xterra. There were some other officers in 1 ¿pursuit, as well, including Detective Cole. On Old Spanish Trail, near the 1-10, several officers attempted to stop the Xterra. With lights activated by some marked units, the officers attemptéd to block the Xterra in the ’ front and in the back. Charles maneuvered around the vehicle in front of him and fled, setting off a high-speed chase.

Charles sped off of Old Spanish Trail onto the service road, traveling the wrong direction on. a one-way street. At this point, the defendant began throwing items out of the passenger-side window. Charles made his way onto the interstate (I — 10) and headed toward the 1-10 twin-span bridges (connecting Slidell and New Orleans). Charles barreled down the bridge, heading toward New Orleans, reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour. By this time, as many as a dozen officers were engaged in the pursuit. When Charles reached New Orleans East, he took the Michoud Boulevard exit. He took a left, which brought him back over the 1-10. Just as Charles cleared the overpass, he lost control ■ of the vehicle. ■ The Xterra jumped the curb and left the roadway. It continued to roll through the dirt and grass before coming to a stop near a clearing in the woods. The' defendant and Charles had jumped from' the. Xterra before it had stopped rolling and fled on foot. They were both ■ eventually apprehended. Detective Walden searched the Xterra and found, under the driver’s' seat, a piece of cellophane containing cocaine residue. The cellophane was likely the bottom portion of a cigarette pack. The defendant did not testify at trial.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In his first assignment of error, the defendant argues the evidence was insufficient to-support the conviction. Specifically, the defendant contends that, while he did possess cocaine, the State failed to prove that he was possessing the cocaine with the intent to distribute it.

|rA conviction based on insufficient evidence cannot stand as it violates Due Process. See U.S. Const, amend. XIV; La. Const, art. I, § 2. The Standard of review for the sufficiency of the evidence to uphold a conviction is whether or not, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979). See also La. C.Cr.P. art. 821(B); State v. Ordodi, 2006-0207 (La.11/29/06), 946 So.2d 654, 660; State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305, 1308-09 (La.1988). The Jackson standard of review, incorporated in Article 821, is an objective standard for testing the overall evidence, both direct and circumstantial, for reasonable doubt. When analyzing circumstantial evidence, La. R.S. 15:438 provides that the factfinder must be satisfied the overall evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. See State v. Patorno, 2001-2585 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/21/02), 822 So.2d 141, 144.

[800]*800Under La. R.S. 40:967(A)(1), it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess with intent to produce, manufacture, distribute,, or dispense, a controlled dangerous substance classified in Schedule II (cocaine, in this case). A defendant is guilty of.distribution when he transfers possession or control of a controlled dangerous substance to intended recipients. See La. R.S. 40:961(14); State v. Cummings, 95-1377 (La.2/28/96), 668 So.2d 1132, 1135. To support a conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, the State is required to prove both possession and specific intent to distribute it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 So. 3d 795, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 1219, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2658, 2015 WL 9434771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wallace-lactapp-2015.