Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Ulysses SMITH, Appellant
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-07-01
Citations: 347 So. 2d 1127
Docket Number: No. 58975
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Ulysses SMITH, Appellant.
Judges: SUMMERS, J., dissents for the reasons assigned.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 347
Pages: 1127–1132

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Ulysses SMITH, Appellant.
No. 58975.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
July 1, 1977.
Patrick C. McGinity, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Con-nick, Dist. Atty., Brian G. Meissner, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
TATE, Justice.
The defendant was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it, La.R.S. 40:967, and sentenced to twenty-five years at hard labor. He appeals, relying upon a single assignment of error. By it, he complains of the denial of a motion to suppress evidence (the cocaine) as illegally seized.
The sole issue of this appeal concerns the legality of an initial stop of the accused by the police, which subsequently led to the finding of cocaine on his person.
(1)
A law enforcement officer is permitted by law to stop any person in a public place "whpm he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a felony or a misdemeanor La.C.Cr.P. art. 215.1. The prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures of the person by our state and federal constitutions likewise requires this, at the minimum, as a basis for a governmental agent to invade the privacy or person of individuals living under our constitutions. State v. Kinneman, 337 So.2d 441 (La.1976).
The right of the police to make an investigatory stop must be based upon reasonable cause sufficient to cause them to suspect the detainee of past, present, or imminent criminal conduct. State v. Weathers, 320 So.2d 892 (La.1975); State v. Winesberry, 256 La. 523, 237 So.2d 364 (1970). As these decisions note, the reasonable cause must be determined under the facts of each case, by whether the officers had sufficient knowledge of particular circumstances sufficient to permit them to infringe upon that individual's right to be left alone free of government interference with his liberty.
If, however, the officers do not have the right to make an investigatory stop, evidence seized or otherwise obtained as the result thereof cannot constitutionally be admitted into evidence against a criminally accused. State v. Truss, 317 So.2d 177 (La.1975); State v. Finklea, 313 So.2d 224 (La.1975); State v. Jones, 308 So.2d 790 (La.1975); State v. Saia, 302 So.2d 869 (La.1974). This inadmissibility extends to property dropped or abandoned in response to an illegal stop. State v. Lawson, 256 La. 471, 236 So.2d 804 (1970).
(2)
Two uniformed police officers were on routine patrol in the neighborhood of a housing project. They observed the accused walking across a courtyard in which they were driving. They did not know the accused, who lived in the project.
They called to the accused to stop and to come to their police car. As we read the officer's testimony, the sole reason for the stop was: "We stop everyone we don't know in the area — a high crime area, a lot of narcotics traffic, numerous subjects with weapons, and armed robberies on pedestrians and business in the area." Tr. 5, see also Tr. 25, of the hearing on the motion.
The stop was made at noon on December 18,1972. The accused was wearing a leather coat over two sweaters. The officers themselves did not remark upon the accused's clothing as any cause for their stop.
The officers descended from the car. One officer checked the accused's identification papers and found them to be in order. The other frisked (patted down) the accused from inside to out, starting with the pants pockets, the sweaters, and then the outside leather jacket. He felt something (soft) in the left outer pocket; when he grabbed it, the defendant ran. The officers tackled the accused and arrested him.
The soft object in the pocket was a plastic bag which (upon analysis) contained cocaine. Additional cocaine was found on the accused's person after he was taken to the hospital for treatment of lacerations received in the encounter.
The state argues in brief the particular causes supplying reasonable cause for this stop and frisk were "(1) the high crime rate of the area, (2) the fact that this man was unknown to the officers, and (3) that he was heavily clothed on this sunny day gave the officers reasonable cause to stop the defendant."
(3)
The evidence is devoid of any basis by which these law enforcement officers could reasonably suspect that the accused was committing or about to commit a crime, or that he had committed one. Police officers are not entitled to stop at will any person in a high-crime area just because that person is unknown to them, nor because he is wearing a leather jacket on a warm December day.
To repeat what we have consistently emphasized, under La.C.Cr.P. art. 215.1, the governmental officer must have reasonable cause to stop and question the particular individual detained. If based solely upon the officer's observation of that individual at that time, the stop must be based upon a reasonable belief, justified by some conduct on the individual's part, that he has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal conduct. State v. Cook, 332 So.2d 760 (La.1976). We find here no basis for any such reasonable suspicion of this individual walking in broad daylight in the courtyard of the housing project in which he lived.
Conclusion
For the reasons stated, the product of the illegal stop is not admissible in evidence, the motion to suppress was incorrectly denied and must be sustained, the conviction and sentence must be set aside, and this case must be remanded to the district court for a new trial in accordance with law.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL.
SUMMERS, J., dissents for the reasons assigned.
SANDERS, C. J., dissents for the reasons assigned by SUMMERS, J.
. Testimonv at the trial on the merits showed the day to be bright and sunshiny, with temperature in the low 60's.