State v. Fields
| Decision Date | 08 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 2013–KA–1493.,2013–KA–1493. |
| Citation | 151 So.3d 756 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Harry L. FIELDS. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Leon A. Cannizzaro, Jr., District Attorney, Donald G. Cassels, III, Assistant District Attorney, Donna Andrieu, Assistant District Attorney, Parish of Orleans, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Appellee, State of Louisiana.
Sherry Watters, Louisiana Appellate Project, New Orleans, LA, Counsel for Appellant, Harry L. Fields.
(Court composed of Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU, Judge JOY COSSICH LOBRANO ).
The defendant, Harry Fields, was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and found guilty of the lesser included offense of possession of cocaine. Finding no patent errors or merit to any of his assignments of error, we affirm his conviction and sentence.
Mr. Fields was charged by bill of information on 10 August 2011 with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, a violation of La. R.S. 40:967 A. He entered a plea of not guilty at his 22 August 2011 arraignment. The trial court denied his motion to suppress the evidence on 4 October 2011. Mr. Fields was tried by a twelve-person jury on 15–16 October 2012 and found guilty of possession of cocaine. The trial court denied Mr. Fields' motion for new trial on 7 May 2013 and, after defense counsel waived delays and announced the defendant's readiness for sentencing, the court sentenced him to three years at hard labor and fined him $5,000.00. Mr. Fields was adjudicated a third-felony habitual offender on 31 July 2013 based upon a multiple bill of information, whereupon the trial court vacated his original sentence and resentenced him to four years at hard labor. The trial court denied Mr. Fields' motion for reconsideration of sentence that same date and granted his motion for appeal.
Former New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) Officer Demetrius Jackson testified that he was a NOPD narcotics officer on 5 August 2011. Officer Jackson stated that on that date he participated in an operation with Officers Damond Harris and David Barnes: surveillance at approximately 10:00 a.m. in the 2200 block of North Galvez Street, off Elysian Fields Avenue, in New Orleans. He confirmed that the area was known for drug activity, and that he previously had conducted narcotics investigations in that area. Approximately three minutes into the surveillance, he observed the defendant go into his sock, remove an object from it, and begin to display that object to females walking by and passing by in vehicles. Officer Jackson observed the defendant do this approximately four or five times, with no takers. He believed the defendant was soliciting to sell crack cocaine, and he notified Officers Harris and Barnes to stop the defendant. Officer Jackson identified Mr. Fields in court as the individual that he observed that day. Officer Jackson confirmed that after the defendant's arrest, Officer Harris gave him a piece of crack cocaine allegedly recovered from the defendant. Officer Jackson placed that item on the books in NOPD Central Evidence and Property.
Officer Jackson identified State Exhibit 1 as the first page of the police report written by him in the case, under item number H–07175–11. He also identified State Exhibits 2 and 3, respectively, as the Central Evidence and Property receipt under that item number and one rock of crack cocaine weighing 98 grams (which he opined was a lot of crack for one person to consume) given to him by Officer Harris.
On cross examination, Officer Jackson testified that Defense Exhibit 1 appeared to be a photograph of North Galvez Street, right off Elysian Fields Avenue, where the incident occurred. He confirmed that he never saw the defendant selling any drugs and never actually saw any drugs. He further testified that he could tell the object in the defendant's hand was white, and that, based on his experience, he believed it to be crack cocaine. Officer Jackson testified that his car windows were up and that he could not hear anything Mr. Fields said to anyone. However, he said he could hear the defendant if he whistled or tried to flag down someone, and he observed people stop as the defendant was saying something.
Officer Jackson did not see Mr. Fields taken into custody. He was driving off as the other two officers were pulling up. He admitted that he never saw Mr. Fields put the white object back into his sock, his pocket, or anywhere. He never saw the defendant throw it or put it in his mouth/swallow it. Nor did he see the defendant make any furtive movements. The officer confirmed that he did not put into his report that defendant tried to run at any point. Officer Jackson did not put in any of his reports that another man was at “the location” because no one was there while he was there. However, Officer Jackson admitted that he did mention while testifying at a motion hearing that another male was on the scene. Officer Jackson replied in the negative when asked whether he had ever told Officer Barnes or Officer Harris that he saw a bulge on Mr. Fields or believed that the defendant had a weapon.
On redirect examination, Officer Jackson stated that he did not see the second individual until he was pulling off and he did not see that second individual selling drugs, offering to sell drugs, or in fact doing anything. He confirmed that he did not see Mr. Fields take any money or sell any drugs.
Officer Damond Harris testified that on 5 August 2011, he and Officer Barnes were acting as the “take-down unit” for Officer Jackson, who was conducting the actual surveillance. They were parked in a vehicle on Elysian Fields Avenue. The officer testified that Officer Jackson alerted him about the defendant's activities and described the defendant by the clothing he was wearing. He and Officer Barnes drove up Elysian Fields Avenue and turned onto North Galvez Street, where they observed the individual described by Officer Jackson in front of a residence. The individual observed that they were police officers and walked onto the porch. Officer Harris stated that as they were pulling up, another individual rode up on a bicycle and walked to the left side of the double residence at that location.
The two officers approached, and Officer Barnes communicated with the individual who had come up on the bicycle, who was eventually permitted to go free. Officer Harris informed the defendant why he was being stopped, conducted a pat-down of the defendant's chest, waist area, pockets, and legs for weapons or contraband. He detected a “large lump” in the right side of one of the defendant's socks, at which time he advised Mr. Fields of his Miranda rights. He removed the object from the defendant's sock, finding it to be, based on his fifteen years of experience as a police officer, a rock of crack cocaine. Mr. Fields was then handcuffed. The defendant neither resisted arrest, nor made any statements. The officer stated that he gave the confiscated cocaine to Officer Jackson, who entered it on the books at Central Evidence and Property. Officer Harris identified Mr. Fields in court as the person he and Officer Barnes arrested.
Officer Harris admitted that he had not been advised prior to stopping the defendant that defendant was possibly carrying a weapon. The officer testified that he did not feel a weapon when he patted Mr. Fields down and did not observe him discard one. He acknowledged that Mr. Fields was on the sidewalk when they pulled up in their car. The individual on the bicycle had alighted, climbed up the stairs on the left side of the residence, and knocked on the door. Officer Jackson informed him that this individual had been riding up on his bicycle as they were en route to stop the defendant, so that individual was not patted down; he was not asked for his identification and his name was not checked. Officer Harris confirmed that he personally did not observe the defendant doing anything illegal, admitting that he was relayed information that the defendant had placed the white object back into his right sock.1
Officer Barnes' testimony essentially tracked that of Officer Harris. He identified Mr. Fields as the person he and Officer Harris arrested. He confirmed that he stopped the individual who rode up on the bicycle and did not get the individual's name or any identification from him; neither did he check the person to see if he was in possession of any drugs before telling him he could leave.
NOPD Crime Lab Criminalist Corey Hall was qualified by the court as an expert in the field of chemical analysis of narcotics. Mr. Hall tested the rock of cocaine introduced in evidence in the present case and found it to be positive for cocaine.
Harold Peters, testifying for the defense, admitted to prior convictions for possession of cocaine and heroin in 2001. He had been friends with Mr. Fields since he dated the defendant's sister some thirteen or fourteen years earlier. Mr. Peters remembered the day that the defendant was arrested. Mr. Peters said that he and his stepson were exiting a store with soft drinks at Elysian Fields Avenue and North Galvez Street, when they encountered the defendant standing in front of a residence on North Galvez. Mr. Peters stated that he and his stepson sat down on the steps, and Mr. Peters talked with Mr. Fields for ten to fifteen minutes.
Mr. Peters testified that a white police car pulled up; two officers jumped out, and one went to him, the other to Mr. Fields. He described one officer as a tall black male and the other as a shorter white male. The officers did not ask him for any identification. When asked whether he provided his name to them, Mr. Peters said he did not get a chance to say too much because the officer told him to get the “F” from around there. Mr. Peters said that during the time he was talking with the defendant, he was exchanging contacts from one cell phone to another. He replied in the negative when...
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