Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Edward OGLETREE
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2017-01-23
Citations: 209 So. 3d 85
Docket Number: No. 2016-KK-2168
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Edward OGLETREE
Judges: GUIDRY, J., would grants.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 209
Pages: 85–86

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Edward OGLETREE
No. 2016-KK-2168
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
01/23/2017
GUIDRY, J., would grants.
CRICHTON, J., would grant and assigns reasons.

Opinion:
CRICHTON, J.,
would grant and assigns reasons:
pin my view, the ruling of the district court suppressing cocaine seized from defendant's pocket should be reversed. When the officers saw defendant holding a clear plastic bag containing what they believed to be cocaine, they had probable cause to arrest the defendant. They were therefore justified in retrieving the cocaine from defendant's pocket, where they watched him secrete it, before placing him under arrest. See generally Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 310, 87 S.Ct. 408, 417, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966) ("Law enforcement officers are under no constitutional duty to call a halt to a criminal investigation the moment they have the minimum evidence to establish probable cause, a quantum of evidence which may fall far short of the amount necessary to support a criminal conviction."); Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 111, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 2564, 65 L.Ed.2d 633 (1980) ("Where the formal arrest followed quickly on the heels of the challenged search of petitioner's person, we do not believe it particularly important that the search preceded the arrest rather than vice versa."). Therefore, in my opinion, the district court erred in granting the motion to suppress.