Opinion ID: 1770580
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the forfeiture hearing

Text: At the forfeiture hearing, the state attempted to prove, among other things, that the illegal contraband seized from Spooner's vehicle either exceeded $500 in value or was intended for commercial sale. [5] The following evidence was presented regarding the nature and amount of the illegal items found in Spooner's vehicle. The state's first witness, Trooper Havens, recounted the events leading up to the search, as set forth in the first section of this opinion. He further testified that he searched the trunk of the vehicle, while Trooper Shields, the other officer who had arrived on the scene, searched the interior of the car. According to Havens, the trunk was filled with clothes and assorted items. He spotted a small black bag, similar to a shaving kit. Unzipping it, Havens observed a jar with a screw-on top and a plastic bottle, resembling those in which Tylenol is sold. Inside the jar Havens found one or two clear plastic baggies of white crystalline powder, numerous very small ziplock bags and two razor blades. Regarding the powder in the jar, Spooner told Havens, That ain't coke, man, that's cut. Recognizing cut as a term describing a substance used to dilute cocaine for resale, Havens advised Spooner of his Miranda rights and continued the search. Inside the Tylenol bottle, Havens found numerous assorted pills and capsules, some of which he recognized as Tylenol-3, a prescription drug. Shields identified other pills as being controlled substances. When asked if he had prescriptions for those pills, Spooner answered in the negative, explaining that the pills had come from street deals. Further search of the trunk turned up ledger books, two sets of scales, and additional items recognizable as drug paraphernalia (a screen, crusher and grinder). Trooper Havens completed his testimony by identifying the state's exhibits as those seized from Spooner's car at the time of the stop and arrest. The state's next witness was State Trooper Jerome Segur, who was qualified as an expert in narcotics investigation. As supervisor of general narcotics investigations in the six-parish Southwest District, Sgt. Segur described how the screen, crusher and grinder found with the scales could be used to reduce high-grade rock cocaine into powder. Once granulated, Segur explained, cocaine is diluted with cut, such as the Manitol powder found in Spooner's trunk, to reduce the purity of the drug for street transactions. Once granulated and diluted, the cocaine is weighed and placed in plastic baggies, ready for sale. It was Segur's opinion that ordinary buyers would have no need for scales and the paraphernalia, nor, in his view, would it be typical for a mere consumer to have the number of small plastic bags found in Spooner's car. Segur also testified as to the laboratory test results run on the substances found in Spooner's car. Cocaine residue was found on the scales. The Tylenol bottle contained a variety of barbiturates, including valium, marijuana and codeine. In Segur's view, it was entirely consistent for a dealer to have a variety of these downers on hand for customers to ingest prior to taking cocaine, which is an upper. With respect to the ledgers, Segur found them to contain a list of detailed expenditures, as well as names and telephone numbers next to drugs such as preludin and methadone, a heroin substitute. This also suggested to Segur that the officers had found a drug distributor rather than a mere consumer. Segur conceded that if each item were viewed in isolation, the paraphernalia and drugs could be explained away, or at least explained as contraband intended for personal consumption. However, when the totality of the circumstances was considered, it was Segur's opinion that Spooner was a cocaine dealer. Segur ended his direct testimony by saying there would be [n]o problem in selling the controlled substances, scales and paraphernalia for $500. Under cross-examination, Sgt. Segur admitted the items could sell for less than $500, [d]epending on the market and repeated that the cocaine residue was not a saleable quantity. The witness pointed out, however, that the scales alone could, under some circumstances, sell for two or three hundred dollars. Defense counsel elicited from Segur a street value for the 4½ pills of valium ($20 each), for the 5½ Tylenol-3 pills ($15 each), for the 6½ marijuana cigarettes found ($5-$7 each) and manitol cut ($60). At the conclusion of Sgt. Segur's testimony, the state rested. The defense called no witnesses, but a joint stipulation was entered to the effect that Norman Spooner, Sr., defendant's father, would have testified that he gave his son $1,500 two days prior to the date that defendant left New Orleans to go to California. According to the stipulation, which was accepted by the court, the money was collected from defendant's relatives in order for him [defendant] to go to California.