State v. Flowers

• Decision Date: 02 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-KA-2621,82-KA-2621
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. James FLOWERS.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 707

441 So.2d 707

STATE of Louisiana v. James FLOWERS.

No. 82-KA-2621.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Sept. 2, 1983.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., William Credo, Philip Boudousque, Louise S. Korns, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.

Martha E. Sassone, Staff Appeals Counsel, Gretna, for defendant-appellant.

DENNIS, Justice.

Defendant, James Flowers, was convicted by a jury of first degree murder and sentenced to death upon the jury's unanimous recommendation following a sentencing hearing. In this appeal defendant advances seven assignments of error challenging his conviction and sentence. After considering the oral and written arguments of the parties and the record evidence, we conclude that the defendant's conviction and sentence must be affirmed.

1. Facts

A seventy year old widow who lived alone was brutally murdered in her home at 1500 Jefferson Street in Gretna on October 23, 1981. The physical evidence indicated that she had been severely beaten, strangled and raped during a burglary. The assailant had broken in a window and ransacked the house. Whether any of her property had been taken could not be determined immediately, however.

The next day an anonymous tipster telephoned the Gretna Police Department and furnished information linking the defendant, James Flowers, with the murder. The unidentified caller asked for the police radio dispatcher by name but was told that he was on another call. Whereupon, the informant remarked that he didn't have time to wait and gave his information to another officer. According to the officer, the tip was to the effect that James Flowers, a black male, could be found in the area of Jefferson and Hamilton Streets driving a small white Chevette-type car containing one black male passenger and something taken from "that lady that was murdered on Jefferson Street yesterday". This message was given to the dispatcher who relayed it by radio to Officer Glen Michel, on patrol in the Jefferson Street area.

Officer Michel testified that he was advised by police radio to go to the 1500 block of Jefferson Street to look for a small white vehicle, possibly a Chevette or Mercury, driven by a Negro male by the name of James Flowers, who was suspected of having evidence taken during a burglary-murder which occurred the previous day at 1500 Jefferson. At this time, Michel was driving along Madison Street, parallel with Jefferson Street, one block from the murder scene. He was approaching the intersection of Madison and Cook Streets, and was about one third of a block from the corner. Ten seconds later a black male driving a white Mercury came off Jefferson Street, turned onto Cook Street, then turned onto Madison Street ahead of Michel and came to a stop in the next block in which Madison comes to a dead end. Michel pulled through the intersection and up behind the vehicle, activated his red bar light, walked up to the white Mercury and asked the driver for his operator's license. Upon looking in the window, however, the officer saw some hand rolled marijuana cigarettes in an ashtray by the driver's right leg. He asked the occupant to exit the vehicle and seized the cigarettes, along with four or five "dime bags" of marijuana and some costume jewelry on the floor. The officer ran a computer check on the defendant's driver's license and verified that he was James Flowers.

Although the record does not reflect that Flowers was formally advised that he was under arrest at the scene, it is clear that he effectively was arrested and taken into custody when the officer saw the marijuana and asked him to get out of the car. Following this arrest, Flowers was escorted to the Gretna Police Complex and searched by Officer Michel. The officer discovered a knife and charged the defendant, a convicted felon, with possession of a concealed weapon in violation of La.R.S. 14:95.1. The defendant and all of the seized items were then delivered to Detective Dunn, the officer in charge of the murder investigation.

Detective Dunn showed the jewelry seized by Officer Michel and a necklace which Dunn removed from around the defendant's neck to members of the victim's family. The jewelry was positively identified as property of the victim. The defendant was informed that he was under investigation for aggravated burglary and first degree murder and verbally advised of his constitutional rights. The defendant waived his rights and gave a verbal statement in which he implicated himself in the burglary but contended that a confederate had entered the house and committed the murder.

Approximately five hours later, the defendant was placed under arrest for aggravated burglary, first degree murder and receiving stolen property and was again advised of his rights. Flowers, a twenty year old with an eleventh grade education, then signed a standardized waiver-of-rights form and was interrogated by Detective Dunn. The detective typed out his questions and the defendant's responses thereto. Flowers stated that he never entered the victim's home and that his participation in the crime was limited to helping the sixteen year old codefendant gain entrance into the home. The victim's screams caused the two defendants to seek shelter along a nearby railroad track, where approximately eighty dollars was divided. Flowers told Detective Dunn that he and his confederate then parted company with Flowers returning to his home as the codefendant returned to the victim's house. Within thirty minutes the two were reunited along the railroad tracks and at this point, according to Flowers' statement, the jewelry which Officer Michel seized was given to Flowers for safe-keeping.

2. Investigatory Stop

Prior to trial defendant moved to suppress his inculpatory statements and the evidence seized from the automobile and his person, claiming that they were fruits of an illegal arrest made without probable cause. After an evidentiary hearing, the district court denied the motion to suppress without assigning reasons. The defendant reurges as an assignment of error the issues raised by the motion to suppress.

Probable cause for arrest did not exist at the time Officer Michel approached the defendant's car, but probable cause for arrest did exist once the officer sighted the marijuana cigarettes in Flowers' possession. Although the defendant argues briefly against the existence of probable cause at any time, we reject his contention because the officer testified without dispute that he immediately recognized the handrolls as marijuana cigarettes based on his experience of having made approximately 2000 arrests for possession of marijuana. The only genuine issue raised by defendant's assignment is whether the officer's actions preceding the arrest for possession of marijuana constituted a valid investigatory stop. If the pre-arrest detention was a valid investigatory stop, the officer was not guilty of making an unlawful intrusion before he sighted the marijuana in defendant's possession. Upon sighting the illegal drugs, he would have had probable cause to arrest the defendant and seize the evidence as an incident to a valid arrest untainted by any previous unlawful intrusion.

The Fourth Amendment applies to all seizures of the person, including seizures that involve only a brief detention short of traditional arrest. United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981); Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979); Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16-19, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1877-1878, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Stopping an automobile and detaining its occupants constitute a "seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, even though the purpose of the stop is limited and the resulting detention is quite brief. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). Whenever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his freedom to walk away, he has "seized" that person, Terry v. Ohio, supra 392 U.S. at 16, 88 S.Ct. at 1877, and the Fourth Amendment requires that the seizure be "reasonable." United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 878, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2578, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975). Because of the limited nature of seizures less intrusive than a traditional arrest, however, stops of this sort may be justified on facts that do not amount to the probable cause required for an arrest. Instead, the conduct involved must be tested by the Fourth Amendment's general proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. Terry v. Ohio, supra 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879; Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972); United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. at 880-882, 95 S.Ct. at 2579-2580.

In order to assess the reasonableness of such official conduct as a general proposition, it is necessary first to focus on the governmental interest which allegedly justifies official intrusion upon the constitutionally protected interest of the private citizen, for there is no ready test for determining reasonableness other than by balancing the need to search or seize against the invasion which the search or seizures entails. Terry v. Ohio, supra 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879; Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 534-535, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1733-1734, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). And in justifying the particular intrusion, the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts reasonably warrant that intrusion. United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra 422 U.S. at 884, 95 S.Ct. at 2581. The conduct of those charged with enforcing the laws is subject to the more detached, neutral scrutiny of a judge who must evaluate the reasonableness of a particular search or seizure in light of the particular circumstances. And...