State v. Sharp
| Decision Date | 17 May 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-KA-2861,81-KA-2861 |
| Citation | 414 So.2d 752 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Louis Wayne SHARP. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Speedy O. Long, Dist. Atty., Dan B. Cornett, Norris Dale Jackson, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.
C. Daniel Street, Kostelka, Swearingen & Street, Monroe, for defendant-appellant.
*
Defendant, Louis Wayne Sharp, was charged with distribution of marijuana, R.S. 40:967. He was convicted as charged and sentenced to two years at hard labor and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. The defendant appeals on the basis of six assignments of error and he argues five of the assignments of error in his brief.
Narcotics Officers Jimmy Chevallier and Michael Beard were involved in an undercover narcotics operation in the Lasalle Parish area. On the evening of March 14, 1981 the narcotics officers were invited to a pig roast at the home of Orville Stringer. At the pig roast, Officer Chevallier met the defendant, Louis Wayne Sharp. During the course of a twenty minute conversation the defendant offered to sell and Officer Chevallier agreed to buy a bag of marijuana for forty dollars. After the agreement the defendant left Officer Chevallier for a few minutes and returned with a clear plastic bag of marijuana, which he gave to the officer in exchange for forty dollars. Officer Chevallier testified that, within five minutes of the completion of the transaction, the defendant began to discuss larger quantities of marijuana and cocaine. After the transaction, Officer Chevallier kept the marijuana on his person for approximately fifteen minutes and then locked it in the glove compartment of his truck until after leaving the party. The drug transaction was not witnessed by Officer Beard. Immediately after completion of the transaction, however, Officer Chevallier pointed out the defendant as the source of the marijuana.
The bag and its contents were later turned over to the Northwest Crime Lab, where it was analyzed and determined to be marijuana.
The defendant was arrested May 13, 1981 and charged with distribution of marijuana. At his trial, the defendant testified that he had neither smoked nor distributed marijuana at the party, but he had been offered some pills from Officer Chevallier and he refused them.
Assignments of Error Nos. 2 and 3.
The defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing into evidence inculpatory hearsay statements to provide larger quantities of marijuana and cocaine. The defendant further alleges that error was committed as defendant had not been given pretrial notice of the intent by the State to introduce such inculpatory evidence.
If a statement constitutes hearsay, but forms part of the res gestae, it is admissible into evidence. State v. Gibson 359 So.2d 147 (La.,1978), cert. den. 441 U.S. 926, 99 S.Ct. 2038, 60 L.Ed.2d 400, reh. den. 442 U.S. 935, 99 S.Ct. 2872, 61 L.Ed.2d 305. In Louisiana, the res gestae doctrine is broad and includes not only spontaneous utterances and declarations made before or after the commission of a crime, but also testimony of witnesses and police officers pertaining to what they heard or observed before, during or after the commission of the crime, provided the requirements for the introduction of such evidence have been met. R.S. 15:447, State v. Kimble, 407 So.2d 693 (La.1981); State v. Molinario, 383 So.2d 345 (La.,1980), cert. den. 449 U.S. 882, 101 S.Ct. 232, 66 L.Ed.2d 106; appeal after remand 400 So.2d 596 (La.,1981). In order to qualify as part of the res gestae, the circumstances and declarations must be necessary incidents of the criminal act or immediate concomitants of it, or form in conjunction with it one continuous transaction. R.S. 15:448. Therefore, a very close connexity is required between the charged offense and the evidence of other crimes. State v. Haarala, 398 So.2d 1093 (La.,1981). State v. Lawson, 393 So.2d 1260 (La.,1981). This close connexity in time and location is essential to the exception because no notice is required by the state of its intention to introduce evidence which forms part of the res gestae. R.S. 15:477; C.Cr.P.768, State v. Haarala, supra. State v. Brown, 352 So.2d 690 (La.,1977).
In this case, the undercover officer testified that within five minutes after he purchased the package of marijuana from the defendant, they began to discuss larger quantities of marijuana and cocaine. The statement was admitted into evidence over the objections of defense counsel. The spontaneous utterance took place in close proximity of time and location to the commission of the crime. It was an immediate concomitant of the criminal act. The statement, therefore, was properly admitted into evidence. Moreover, this evidence is probative of the defendant's criminal knowledge and intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances. Since the statement formed part of the res gestae, there was no intention to introduce this inculpatory statement.
Assignment of Error No. 4.
The defendant argues, in this assignment of error, that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial. The defendant contends, through his motion and this assignment, that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, because the proof did not establish every element of the offense charged, beyond a reasonable doubt.
In order for a conviction to stand, the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the prosecution, must be sufficient to convince a reasonable trier of fact of the guilt of the defendant, beyond a reasonable doubt, of every element of the crime. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). State v. Guillot, 389 So.2d 68 (La.,1980).
In this case the defendant was charged with knowingly and intentionally distributing a controlled dangerous substance, to-wit: marijuana. R.S. 40:964 Schedule II A(5) and 40:967(A).
Officers Chevallier and Beard, experienced undercover narcotics agents, testified at the defendant's trial. Officer Chevallier, the principal agent involved in the transaction, testified unequivocally that the defendant sold him a bag of marijuana for forty dollars. Officer Beard, although not a witness to the transaction, was a competent witness to corroborate certain factual details surrounding the transaction and to place the defendant at the scene of the crime.
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