State v. Brumfield

Decision Date20 September 2006
Docket NumberNo. 2005 KA 2500.,2005 KA 2500.
Citation944 So.2d 588
PartiesSTATE of Louisiana v. Stanley J. BRUMFIELD.
CourtCourt of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Camille A. Morvant, II, District Attorney, Joseph S. Soignet, Assistant District Attorney, Thibodaux, for State of Louisiana.

Frank Sloan, Louisiana Appellate Project, Mandeville, for Defendant-Appellant Stanley J. Brumfield.

Before: PARRO, GUIDRY, and McCLENDON, JJ.

PARRO, J.

The defendant, Stanley J. Brumfield, was charged by bill of information with one count of possession of and/or carrying a weapon by a convicted felon (Count 1), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:95.1, and one count of aggravated battery (Count 2), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:34. The defendant, represented by counsel, pled not guilty to both counts. At a hearing on a motion to suppress, the defendant sought to suppress the admission into evidence of the handgun seized by Deputy Treverse Johnson. The motion was denied. The defendant objected to the trial court's ruling. Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty as charged on both counts. He was sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence on Count 1, and ten years of imprisonment at hard labor on Count 2. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The defendant now appeals, asserting in his sole assignment of error that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence. We affirm the convictions. We affirm the sentence as to Count 2, and vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing as to Count 1.

FACTS

On February 11, 2005, Daimar Gustave went to April Preston's house in Thibodaux to see if she wanted to come back to his cousin's house to record some rap music. Daimar had dated April in the past. When Daimar knocked on April's door, the defendant, April's boyfriend, opened the door and struck Daimar in the face with a handgun. Daimar was cut above his left eye. The defendant then pointed the handgun at Daimar and told him that if he came any closer, he was going to blow his head off. The defendant went back into the house, and Daimar left and called the police.

After the defendant struck Daimar, April and the defendant went across the street to a neighbor's house. They used the phone and left. While April and the defendant were standing outside, Daimar and his friends came back to the scene. When April and the defendant saw Daimar and heard police sirens, they ran to another neighbor's house, a trailer home owned by Tammy Carcisse. Apparently, Daimar saw the defendant go into the trailer.

Deputy Treverse Johnson of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office investigated the incident. Daimar told Deputy Johnson what happened and pointed out the trailer that the defendant had run into. Deputy Johnson approached the trailer and knocked on the door. Roland Carcisse, Jr., Tammy's fifteen-year-old son who lived there, told Deputy Johnson, after initially denying the defendant was there, that the defendant was inside and pointed out the bedroom he was in. Deputy Johnson entered the trailer and found the defendant and April hiding in the bedroom. He apprehended the defendant and searched him for weapons, but found none. He placed the defendant in the back of his police unit. He then went back into the trailer to search for the handgun that the defendant had used to strike Daimar. Deputy Johnson found a loaded .380 Lorcin pistol in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. The bathroom was adjacent to the bedroom where the defendant was found. The handgun was introduced into evidence at trial.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

In his sole assignment of error, the defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence. Specifically, the defendant contends that the investigating officer did not have consent to enter the premises to search for the defendant, and the officer had neither consent nor a warrant to search for the handgun.

It is well established that the Fourth Amendment protects people, not simply places, against unreasonable searches and seizures. The crucial question in cases such as this is whether or not there is a legitimate expectation of privacy. Both the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution protect only reasonable expectations of privacy. If it is determined that the accused had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area invaded, neither a warrant nor an exception to the warrant requirement is needed for the seized evidence to be admissible. The test by which a person's "expectation of privacy" is measured is twofold: first, the person must exhibit an actual subjective expectation of privacy and, second, the expectation must be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. State v. Paulson, 98-1854 (La.App. 1st Cir.5/18/99), 740 So.2d 698, 700-01.

The Carcisse trailer is the one in which the defendant and April were found hiding from the police. April lived across the street and knew Roland lived at that trailer. However, the defendant was not from the area. When April walked into the Carcisse trailer, the defendant simply followed her because he had nowhere else to go. At trial, the defendant testified on direct examination as follows:

Q. Y'all went to the trailer. What did y'all do once you got to the trailer?

A. Well, April knocked on the door. I was standing outside. April knocked on the door and she went in the trailer and then I went in right behind her.

Q. OK.

A. Because I wasn't from around there and I ain't had nowhere else to go, so I wasn't going to stand outside.

On cross-examination, the defendant testified as follows:

Q. Where did you go when you left the altercation?

A. Well, we went to the first trailer.

Q. Was that at Pam?

A. Yes, that's—went by Pam. We went to that trailer there. So, when his friends and all of them came, we were standing across the street, so we ain't knew that he had called the police, and then the police came and she broke out running, so I ran behind her, and then she went in the trailer. At first I wasn't going to go in the trailer. She went in the trailer. And then I just went in the trailer behind her because I ain't had nowhere else to go, you know, and I ain't going to be stuck out and let nobody jump on me.

It is clear from the testimony of the defendant that he had no connection or association with the Carcisse family or their trailer. He went to the trailer because he was following his girlfriend, who was from the area, and because he, being unfamiliar with the area, had nowhere else to go. Nothing in these facts indicates that the defendant had any expectation of privacy in a place new to him and where people unknown to him lived. Moreover, even if the defendant felt, from his own subjective perspective, that he was entitled to some privacy in the trailer, we find that society would not be prepared to recognize as reasonable an expectation of privacy in an unfamiliar place used solely for the unlawful purpose of hiding out from the police and discarding a weapon used in a crime.1

We conclude the defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the trailer where his handgun was seized. Thus, the protection of the Fourth Amendment does not apply. See Paulson, 740 So.2d at 701. However, the defendant has standing under Article I, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution to assert Tammy's loss of her privacy rights, as he has been adversely affected by the search of her home. See State v. Gant, 93-2895 (La.5/20/94), 637 So.2d 396, 397 (per curiam).

It is well settled that a search conducted without a warrant issued upon probable cause is per se unreasonable, subject to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions. One of the specifically established exceptions to the requirements of both a warrant and probable cause is a search conducted pursuant to consent. When the state seeks to rely upon consent to justify the lawfulness of a search, it has the burden of proving the consent was given freely and voluntarily. State v. Owen, 453 So.2d 1202, 1205-06 (La.1984). Consent is valid when it is freely and voluntarily given by a person who possesses common authority or other sufficient relationship to the premises sought to be inspected. State v. Aucoin, 613 So.2d 206, 208 (La.App. 1st Cir.1992). The determination of the voluntariness of the consent turns on the overall facts and circumstances of the particular case. The trial judge's factual determination on this issue is entitled to great weight on appellate review. State v. Franklin, 95-1876 (La.1/14/97), 686 So.2d 38, 41. In determining whether the ruling on the defendant's motion to suppress was correct, we are not limited to the evidence adduced at the hearing on the motion. We may consider all pertinent evidence given at the trial of the case. State v. Chopin, 372 So.2d 1222, 1223 n. 2 (La.1979).

Deputy Johnson testified at trial that, when he knocked on the door of the trailer in which the defendant was suspected to be, Roland answered the door. When Deputy Johnson asked Roland if the defendant and April were in there, Roland first told him that they were not. Deputy Johnson explained to Roland that he could get a search warrant and that, if the defendant was, in fact, found to be in the residence, Roland could be held accountable for aiding and abetting a fugitive. At this point, Roland informed Deputy Johnson that the defendant was there. When Deputy Johnson asked where the defendant was, Roland told him that he was in the bedroom. When Deputy Johnson entered the residence, Roland pointed out to him where the bedroom was.2

Deputy Johnson also testified at the motion to suppress. When asked on direct examination if Roland allowed him to enter the premises, Deputy Johnson responded, "...

To continue reading

Request your trial
24 cases
  • State v. Jarrell, No. 2007 KA 0412 (La. App. 9/19/2007)
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
    • 19 Septiembre 2007
    ... ... State v. Casey, 99-0023, p. 6 (La. 1/26/00), 775 So.2d 1022, 1029, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 840, 121 S.Ct. 104, 148 L.Ed.2d 62 (2000); see also State v. Brumfield, 2005-2500, p. 5 (La. App. 1st Cir. 9/20/06), 944 So.2d 588, 593 ...         As he has been adversely affected by the search of the home, the defendant has standing under Article I, § 5 of the Louisiana Constitution to assert the owner's loss of privacy rights. See State v. Gant, ... ...
  • State v. Magee
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
    • 27 Febrero 2018
    ...So.2d 1074, 1079 (La. 1982). This list is only illustrative and not exclusive. State v. Brumfield, 2005-2500 (La. App. 1st Cir. 9/20/06), 944 So.2d 588, 595, writ denied, 2007-0213 (La. 9/28/07), 964 So.2d 353. The United States Supreme Court in Illinois v. McArthur, 531 U.S. 326, 331, 121 ......
  • State v. St. Cyre
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
    • 19 Diciembre 2019
    ...circumstances gave him the right to search without a warrant or consent. See State v. Brumfield, 2005-2500 (La. App. 1st Cir. 9/20/06), 944 So.2d 588, 595-98, writ denied, 2007-0213 (La. 9/28/07), 964 So.2d 353.Additionally, the defendant's argument that Agent Everly could not search the ve......
  • State v. Clayton
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
    • 23 Diciembre 2014
    ...the defendant had shot her and on the existence of a bullet wound to her head); State v. Brumfield, 05-2500 (La. App. 1st Cir. 9/20/06), 944 So.2d 588, 594 n.3, writ denied, 07-0213 (La. 9/28/07), 964 So.2d 353. Furthermore, probable cause can rest upon the collective knowledge of the polic......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT