Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Henry C. SHIVERS
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-05-16
Citations: 346 So. 2d 657
Docket Number: No. 59080
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Henry C. SHIVERS.
Judges: DIXON, J., concurs with reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 346
Pages: 657–663

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Henry C. SHIVERS.
No. 59080.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
May 16, 1977.
Concurring Opinion June 13, 1977.
Daryl Gold, Simms & Gold, Leesville, for defendant-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John A. Richardson, Dist. Atty., B. Woodrow Nesbitt, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Opinion:
SANDERS, Chief Justice.
The State charged Henry Shivers with possession of heroin with the intent to distribute in violation of LSA-R.S. 40:966. After a trial, the jury found defendant guilty as charged. The court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment. He appeals his conviction and sentence, relying upon two assignments of error. Finding reversible error in his first assignment of error, it is unnecessary that we consider his second assignment.
In his first assignment of error, defendant correctly maintains that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the heroin. The facts surrounding the seizure of the evidence which is the basis of his motion are:
On December 10, 1975, at approximately noon, Agent Jack Miller met with a proven confidential informant and arranged for the informant to make a heroin purchase from Junior Porter, a suspected marijuana and heroin dealer, at Porter's house located at 4108 Mayfield Street in Shreveport. Agent Miller requested Agent Sam Bolen's assistance in establishing surveillance of the informant's activities relative to the narcotics transaction.
At approximately 8:00 that evening, Agent Miller searched the informant and finding no narcotics on his person, gave him fifty dollars with which to make the purchase. Agents Miller and Bolen positioned themselves separately at locations near Mayfield Street and maintained radio contact. Agent Miller saw his confidential informant drive up in front of 4108 Mayfield, park his car, and exit his vehicle according to prearranged plans. Miller, however, could not see the informant enter 4108 Mayfield from his vantage point. A short time thereafter, Miller saw the informant return to his car and drive away. Agent Miller immediately drove to the prearranged meeting place and met with his informant, who told him that he had made the buy from Junior Porter at 4108 May-field. Miller radioed Agent Bolen, who was still at his surveillance location and informed him that "a purchase had gone down at the third house west of Broadway on Mayfield." Agent Bolen was not located where he could witness the activities of the informant. Agent Miller ran a field test on the substance believed to be heroin which his informant had purchased from 4108 Mayfield in a one cent party balloon. The test proved the presence of heroin in the substance. When Agent Miller tried to radio Bolen that the substance purchased was indeed heroin, he was unable to make radio contact because Bolen was in the process of stopping a vehicle. Agent Bolen stopped the vehicle after witnessing the following occurrences:
With the knowledge that Agent Miller's informant had purchased a substance thought to be heroin from the third house west of Broadway on Mayfield, Bolen saw a black car stop in front of the third house from the corner. Two men exited the vehicle and entered the third house from the corner on the north side of Mayfield. They remained inside only a short time and then returned to their car. A brown car also pulled up and a man exited and entered the third house from the corner on the other side of Mayfield, directly across the street from the house which the other two men had entered and exited. The man quickly returned to his car and drove away in the direction of Agent Bolen, who v/as positioned inside a 1972 red Ford vehicle with three antenaes, a somewhat conspicuous, although unmarked, police unit. The brown car turned on its left turn signal indicator but did not make the left turn and instead turned off the blinker and proceeded directly ahead to a position approximately thirty feet from Bolen's vehicle and turned on its bright lights and slowed to a stop. It then immediately proceeded onward and turned at the next corner and returned to its previous location in front of 4108 Mayfield. The driver of the brown vehicle had a short conversation with the men in the black car and then both vehicles drove away. Agent Bolen radioed other police to stop the brown vehicle and radioed Agent Miller to assist him in stopping the black vehicle. Agent Bolen, through the use of siren and red flashing police lights, pulled the black car over. Miller drove to the scene as the black car was coming to a stop.
Bolen asked the men to get out of the car and come to the rear of the vehicle with their hands where he could see them. He stated that he had "reasonable grounds to believe the vehicle contained narcotics." Henry Shivers, the driver, and Claude King, his passenger in the front seat, exited the car in compliance with the officer's orders. Agent Bolen asked Miller to "take custody" and Miller "patted down" the two men. Once they exited the car and presented identification, Bolen recognized Shivers, by name, and Claude King, by sight, as persons suspected of being involved in narcotics.
Agent Bolen looked into the automobile and finding a thirteen-year-old boy in the back seat, ordered him out. Bolen then began a search of the car. He found a syringe and needle under the edge of the passenger's side of the front seat and a paper bag containing "one cent" balloons (the usual packaging for heroin in that area) on the front seat of the vehicle. After his find, Agent Bolen walked to the rear of the car and asked Agent Miller if he had searched the individuals. Miller told him that he had only patted them down for weapons. Bolen then began walking to the car to continue his search of the vehicle, when he stopped and reached into thirteen-year-old Anthony Shiver's left pocket. Finding nothing, he then reached into the boy's right pocket and found a tin foil packet containing a substance, which when tested proved to be heroin.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Article 1, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 also provides:
"Every person shall be secure in his person, property, communications, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures, or invasions of privacy. No warrant shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful purpose or reason for the search. Any person adversely affected by a search or seizure conducted in violation of this Section shall have standing to raise its illegality in the appropriate court."
The right of law enforcement officers to stop, interrogate, and frisk one reasonably suspected of criminal conduct is recognized by LSA-Code of Criminal Procedure Article 215.1, which provides:
"A. A law enforcement officer may stop any person in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or a misdemeanor and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his actions.
"B. When a law enforcement officer has stopped a person for questioning pursuant to this Article, and reasonably suspects that he is in danger of life or limb, he may search the outer clothing of such person for a dangerous weapon or for any other thing the possession of which may constitute a crime.
"C. If the law enforcement officer finds a dangerous weapon or any other thing the possession of which may constitute a crime, he may take and keep it until the completion of the questioning, at which time he shall either return it, if lawfully possessed, or arrest such person."
The right to stop and frisk is equally well recognized in the jurisprudence, both federal and state. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. Dixon, La., 337 So.2d 1165 (1976); State v. Cook, La., 332 So.2d 760 (1976); State v. Perique, La., 340 So.2d 1369 (1976); State v. Rogers, La., 324 So.2d 403 (1975); State v. Jefferson, La., 284 So.2d 882 (1973).
The right to make an investigatory stop and question the individual detained must be based upon reasonable suspicion that he has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal conduct. State v. Cook, supra; State v. Winesberry, 256 La. 523, 237 So.2d 364 (1970). When such a stop is made, the officer may question the person concerning his identity and actions. If the officer reasonably suspects that he or another is in danger, he may also for protection conduct a limited search of the outer clothing of such person. The limited search is often referred to as a frisk. Normally, a frisk is a pat-down of the outer surfaces of a suspect's clothing. It represents a minimal intrusion upon personal privacy.
In the instant case, Agent Bolen, the officer who actually stopped defendant's vehicle by signalling the red police lights and siren, was acting upon the following information:
The Porter brothers, reputed narcotics dealers, were under surveillance. They resided on opposite sides of Mayfield Street from each other; both resided in the third house from the corner of Broadway. A confidential informant had made a buy of what the officers believed to be heroin from one of the two Porter residences. The two men in Shiver's black automobile had entered and exited quickly from one of the Porter residences, and had conversed with the driver of a brown car, who Agent Bolen believed had recognized him as an undercover narcotics officer.
With this knowledge Agent Bolen stopped the vehicle in which the two men were riding. He radioed other police to stop the other vehicle. After stopping Shiver's vehicle and being presented identification, Agent Bolen recognized Claude King, on sight, and Henry Shivers, by name, as persons involved in drug violations. He then searched the vehicle, wherein he found narcotics paraphernalia which motivated him to search the pockets of young Anthony Shivers for narcotics.
In our opinion, the totality of the circumstances was such as to give rise to a reasonable suspicion that the occupants of the vehicle were engaged in narcotics offenses. Hence, the officers had the right to stop the vehicle under Article 215.1 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure.
Under the stop and frisk statute, the officers were authorized to question the men about their presence at the known drug outlet, and if they reasonably suspected danger, to frisk the outer garments of the occupants. However, under the statute, the officers were not authorized to search the vehicle. There is no evidence that the syringe and needle found under the passenger side of the front seat, nor the bag of balloons found on the front seat were in plain view. Consequently, we conclude that the seizure of these items was unconstitutional.
After Agent Bolen found the materials in the car, he returned to the rear of the car and asked Agent Miller if he had searched the individuals. He answered that he had patted them down.
After the unproductive frisk, Agent Bolen was unauthorized to make a search of Anthony Shiver's person for narcotics and seize the packet of heroin in his pocket. Bolen testified that after finding the syringe and balloons, he was sure that the boy had the heroin because he was just "too quiet." As we have noted, however, the syringe and balloons were seized in an unconstitutional search. Hence, they cannot supply probable cause for a search of the person. Any evidence produced as a result of an illegal search and seizure is tainted and thus inadmissible under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963); Silverthorne v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319 (1920).
We conclude that although Agent Bolen was legally entitled to make the investigative stop of defendant, he exceeded his statutory and constitutional authority in searching defendant's vehicle, as a result of which he ultimately obtained the evidence which is the subject of defendant's motion to suppress. Therefore, we hold that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress.
For the reasons assigned, the conviction and sentence are reversed, and the case is remanded for a new trial.
DIXON, J., concurs with reasons.
CALOGERO, J., concurs and assigns reasons.
DENNIS, J., concurs and assigns reasons.
SUMMERS, J., dissents.
. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Agent Miller testified that the confidential informant made the heroin purchase at 4108 Mayfield, the home of Clyde Porter. At the trial on the merits, he testified that he was confused at the hearing on the motion to suppress and that the informant made the heroin purchase at Junior Porter's residence, 4108 Mayfield. See footnote 3.
. See footnote nos. 1 and 3.
.In determining whether the ruling on the motion to suppress was correct, we are not limited to the evidence adduced at the trial of the motion. We may consider all pertinent evidence given at the trial of the case. State v. Smith, 257 La. 1109, 245 So.2d 327 (1971); State v. Andrus, 250 La. 765, 199 So.2d 867 (1967); In accord: People v. Braden, 34 Ill.2d 516, 216 N.E.2d 808 (1966); Commonwealth v. Young, 349 Mass. 175, 206 N.E.2d 694 (1965).