State v. Hudgins
| Decision Date | 22 June 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-KA-2887,80-KA-2887 |
| Citation | 400 So.2d 889 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Mibon HUDGINS. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., John Craft, Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Attys., Beverly Zervigon, student practitioner, for plaintiff-appellee.
Michael Gallagher, John Standesh, Loyola Law School Clinic, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.
*
Defendant, Mibon Hudgins, was charged by bill of information with the theft of property valued at $160.86, a violation of La.R.S. 14:67. Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence on February 21, 1980. A hearing was held on February 25, 1980. The trial court denied defendant's motion on March 10, 1980. On March 13, 1980, after defendant waived trial by jury, he was found guilty of theft of property valued at $107.89. Defendant waived delays and was sentenced to serve six months in parish prison. Sentence was suspended and the accused was placed on active probation for one year. Defendant now weeks review of the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress before the court. The defendant appeals on the basis of two assignments of error.
The first assignment of error brings up the issue of whether the trial court erred by overruling defendant's motion to suppress the evidence. This assignment encompasses two issues.
The defendant first argues that there was not reasonable cause for his detention. The defendant further contends that the search of the shopping bag, which he carried, was illegal.
Evidence adduced at the hearing on the motion to suppress showed the following:
Horace J. Thomas was employed as a store detective 1 by Maison Blanche, Inc., at their Canal Street store in the city of New Orleans. The 72 year old defendant, Mibon Hudgins, was also employed by Maison Blanche as a security guard. Each Sunday at 9:00 A. M. Thomas would arrive at the closed store to relieve the defendant who worked the night shift. Thomas testified that he had been relieving the defendant each Sunday for approximately 9 years. The defendant customarily left the store carrying a shopping bag. The bag, each Sunday, appeared to be only partially filled and did not present any particular basis for concern by Thomas. For several Sundays, prior to the day in question, however, Thomas had noticed that defendant would leave with a full shopping bag or, on one occasion, a box which was closed and tied. Thomas informed his supervisor of defendant's recent activity but it was decided to wait and further observe the activities of the defendant.
On January 6, 1980, when Thomas arrived to relieve the defendant, the accused was again carrying a very full shopping bag with a napkin placed over the top which obstructed the view of the contents. Thomas asked to check the bag as the two stood in the store's doorway. The defendant replied that it contained his personal belongings and attempted to walk away, heading for the sidewalk. Thomas pulled him back into the store and relocked the door. He reminded defendant of the store's policy that an employee may be searched for packages upon demand. The defendant again refused to allow his bag to be checked. Thomas then went to a telephone and attempted to call his supervisor and, as he did, the defendant started to walk back into the store. Thomas approached the defendant and began wresting the bag from him. The bag fell to the floor and the merchandise (including aprons, bowls and a cookie maker) was exposed and could be seen by Thomas. The defendant was then handcuffed and held for the police.
La.C.Cr.P. art. 215 provides as follows:
This statute provides that a person may be detained if the detaining officer, merchant or employee has reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed a theft of goods held by a merchant.
Reasonable cause for an investigating detention is something less than probable cause. It requires, however, that the detaining officer have articulable knowledge of particular facts sufficiently reasonable to suspect the detained person of criminal activity. State v. Edsall, 385 So.2d 207 (La.1980).
The determination of whether a merchant, employee or officer had reasonable cause to detain a person suspected of shoplifting is a factual question to be decided by the trier of fact. The decision of the trial judge that reasonable cause to detain the defendant existed in this case will not be reversed in the absence of a manifest abuse of discretion. Under the facts and circumstances, as heretofore reiterated, the trial court's ruling, that defendant's detention was lawful, cannot be considered an abuse of discretion.
Having held the defendant's detention valid under art. 215, we next inquire into the legality of the search.
Article 215 allows the use of "reasonable force to detain a person for questioning on the merchant's premises, for a length of time not to exceed sixty minutes." Implicit in this provision for detention is the authority to search the person of the suspect, or articles in his possession. That search, of course, must be reasonably related to the investigatory purposes of the detention, and conducted in a reasonable manner. State v. Nelson, 354 So.2d 540 (La.1978).
In this case, Thomas physically prevented the accused from leaving the store once he refused to allow inspection of his shopping bag. The defendant was escorted back into the store where Thomas attempted to call his supervisor. Defendant again made an attempt to leave by going back into the store. Thomas' belief, that either the defendant might escape or that the evidence would be lost, destroyed or returned to its rightful places in the store, would justify Thomas' actions which consisted of wresting the bag from defendant, which bag fell to the floor, exposing the merchandise. The force used by Thomas in the face of defendant's attempt to avoid a detention and search was reasonable and legally justified under the facts presented. 2
This case is distinguishable from that presented in State v. Nelson, supra, where the suspect shoplifter was cuffed, strip-searched and, when it was believed that the stolen merchandise was in his mouth, grabbed around the neck and held until he spat blood. The unreasonable physical measures used in that case were not present here.
As the initial detention of defendant and subsequent search of his possessions were reasonable and valid under the circumstances, this assignment has no merit.
In this assignment, defendant complains that the trial court erred by allowing hearsay testimony to prove the identity of the merchandise and its value.
At defendant's trial, the state witness (and sole witness), Horace Thomas, the store detective who detained the accused, was asked to identify the shopping bag the defendant had attempted to remove from the store and the items that were found in it. Thomas was asked if he could identify the merchandise as having come from Maison Blanche. Defendant objected on the ground that the witness hadn't been qualified to make such an identification. The State then proceeded to qualify Thomas to make such identification.
In response to the prosecutor's questions, the witness testified that pursuant to his employment as a store detective at Maison Blanche he had been given authority to testify on behalf of...
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State v. Wilson
...in an indictment for theft. See La. C.Cr.P. art. 465(44). Value is an essential element of the offense of theft. See State v. Hudgins, 400 So. 2d 889, 893 n.3 (La. 1981) ("It is necessary for the State to establish the value of the property subject to a theft as La. R.S. 14:67 establishes s......
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State v. Wilson
...in an indictment for theft. SeeLa.C.Cr.P. art. 465(44). Value is an essential element of the offense of theft. See State v. Hudgins, 400 So.2d 889, 893 n. 3 (La.1981) (“It is necessary for the State to establish the value of the property subject to a theft as La. R.S. 14:67 establishes seve......
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State v. London
...of manifest abuse of discretion, we do not set aside a sentence as excessive. State v. Square, 433 So.2d 104 (La.1983); State v. Hudgins, 400 So.2d 889 (La.1981); State v. Madison, 535 So.2d 1024 (La.App. 2d Cir.1988). Although a sentence is within the statutory limits, it may still violate......
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West v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
...have articulable knowledge of particular facts sufficiently reasonable to suspect the detained person of criminal activity. State v. Hudgins, 400 So.2d 889 (La.1981); Wilson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 525 So.2d 111 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1988). In addition, the determination of whether there was r......