State v. St. Cyre

• Decision Date: 19 December 2019
• Docket Number: NO. 2019 KA 0034,2019 KA 0034
• Citation: 292 So.3d 88
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Ronald ST. CYRE
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

292 So.3d 88

STATE of Louisiana

v.Ronald ST. CYRE

NO. 2019 KA 0034

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

Judgment Rendered: DECEMBER 19, 2019

Samuel H. Winston, New Orleans, LA, James E. Boren, Baton Rouge, LA, Attorneys for Defendant-Appellant, Ronald St. Cyre

Warren L. Montgomery, District Attorney, Matthew Caplan, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, LA, Attorneys for Appellee, State of Louisiana

BEFORE: HIGGINBOTHAM, PENZATO AND LANIER, JJ.

HIGGINBOTHAM, J.

The defendant, Ronald St. Cyre, was charged by bill of information with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a violation of La. R.S. 14:95.1. He pled not guilty and, following a jury trial, was found guilty as charged. The defendant filed a motion for postverdict judgment of acquittal and/or new trial, which was denied. The trial court sentenced the defendant to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The trial court also imposed a $1,000 fine. The State filed a habitual offender bill of information.¹ In exchange for a "double bill" and an agreed upon sentence, the defendant admitted to the prior convictions in the habitual offender bill of information. The trial court adjudicated the defendant a second-felony habitual offender. The trial court vacated the previous sentence and resentenced the defendant to thirty years imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals, designating seven assignments of error.

FACTS

In January 2018, the defendant was on parole for having previously committed the crime of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Agent Steve Everly, with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole, supervised the defendant's felony parole. On January 9, 2018, the defendant's wife, Chelsea, drove him to the office of Agent Everly on Columbia Street in Covington, Louisiana, in order to fill out paperwork to facilitate a relocation to Georgia to live with a relative. Chelsea drove the defendant's aunt's Honda Accord because his truck was in the shop being repaired. When the defendant arrived at Agent Everly's office, he was on crutches because he suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. The defendant told Agent Everly that his wife had driven him to the office.

In order to process the paperwork for the defendant's transfer to Georgia, the defendant was required to pay a fee. Therefore, the defendant left the parole office and went to the post office to obtain a $150.00 money order for the transfer fee. While the defendant was gone, Agent Everly obtained approval from his supervisor, Agent Lindy Lousteau, with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole, to search the vehicle in which the defendant had arrived (the Accord). When the defendant returned from the post office, Agent Everly told him he was going to search the vehicle. Agent Everly asked the defendant if there was anything in the vehicle that he should not have, and the defendant replied that there was not. The defendant then began texting on his phone. When Agent Everly observed the defendant texting, he took the defendant's phone. When Agent Everly looked at the phone screen, he saw that the defendant sent a text to Chelsea which said, "Get that gun from underwear rite [sic]," and that Chelsea responded, "Put it wear [sic]."

After reading the text messages, Agent Everly brought the defendant to Supervisor Lousteau's office. Agent Everly then enlisted the help of two other agents, including Agent Christopher Howell, with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole. The three agents went to the parking lot to search the vehicle. While they were in the parking lot, Chelsea called the defendant's phone, which was still in the possession of Agent Everly. Agent Everly answered the phone and asked Chelsea where she was located. Chelsea then directed the agents to her location. The agents approached the Accord, Agent Everly asked Chelsea where the gun was, and she told him that it was underneath the driver's seat. Agent Howell removed the gun from the car, a .40 caliber Glock handgun, and gave it to Agent Everly.

Agent Everly returned to Supervisor Lousteau's office. He Mirandized the defendant and asked him about the gun. The defendant told him that his aunt bought the gun and gave it to him "for safety, because he was in fear of his life." The defendant was subsequently arrested.

Chelsea testified at trial that the defendant did not know about the gun in the vehicle until they had arrived at the post office, and Chelsea had told him that she inadvertently discovered the gun under the seat. Priscilla Vaughn, the defendant's aunt whose Accord the defendant had borrowed, testified at trial that she bought the dock gun and kept it in her vehicle for her protection when going to work. She indicated that she did not give the gun to the defendant.

The defendant did not testify at trial.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In his first assignment of error, the defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence. Specifically, the defendant contends that there was no reasonable suspicion to search the vehicle; that the search was not of the defendant's vehicle; and that no consent was given to search the vehicle.

Trial courts are vested with great discretion when ruling on a motion to suppress. State v. Long, 2003-2592 (La. 9/9/04), 884 So.2d 1176, 1179, cert. denied, 544 U.S. 977, 125 S.Ct. 1860, 161 L.Ed.2d 728 (2005). When a trial court denies a motion to suppress, factual and credibility determinations should not be reversed in the absence of a clear abuse of the trial court's discretion, i.e., unless such ruling is not supported by the evidence. See State v. Green, 94-0887 (La. 5/22/95), 655 So.2d 272, 280-81. However, a trial court's legal findings are subject to a de novo standard of review. See State v. Hunt, 2009-1589 (La. 12/1/09), 25 So.3d 746, 751. In determining whether the ruling on 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. Brooks, 92-3331 (La. 1/17/95), 648 So.2d 366, 372.

At the motion to suppress hearing, Agent Everly established the following. The defendant arrived at his office on crutches. The defendant, who had been shot two months before, explained to Agent Everly that his wife, Chelsea, drove him to the office. Agent Everly ran a drug screen on the defendant, who tested positive for marijuana, benzodiazepine, and oxycodone . The defendant told Agent Everly that he had prescriptions for the benzodiazepine and oxycodone, but did not have those prescriptions with him. Agent Everly and the defendant filled out paperwork that would enable the defendant to transfer to a different jurisdiction, namely Atlanta, Georgia. Agent Everly then texted Supervisor Lousteau to see if he should search the vehicle in which the defendant had arrived Supervisor Lousteau approved the search of the vehicle. As Agent Everly walked out of his office to go to the vehicle, he noticed that the defendant stayed behind and was texting on his phone. Agent Everly took the defendant's phone and saw the following text: "Get that gun from underwear rite [sic]." The reply to this was, "Put it wear [sic]." With his own phone, Agent Everly took a screen shot of this text.

Agent Everly enlisted the help of two other agents to conduct the search. The agents went outside to find the vehicle in which defendant arrived. Agent Everly still had the defendant's phone. Chelsea called the defendant's phone, and Agent Everly answered the phone and asked Chelsea where she was located. Chelsea signaled her position, and the agents went to the vehicle. Agent Everly directed Chelsea to tell him where the gun was located. Chelsea told Agent Everly that the gun was under the driver's seat. Agent Howell removed the gun and gave it to Agent Everly, who unloaded the gun before going back inside. According to Agent Everly, the handgun was a .40 caliber Glock, fully loaded; that is, it had a full magazine with a round in the "pipe."

The defendant argues in brief that there was no reasonable suspicion to search the vehicle. According to the defendant, evidence of his gunshot wound and positive drug screen had no connection to the vehicle. Further, the defendant avers that there was no reasonable suspicion that evidence would be found in the vehicle because of the length of time that had passed. Specifically, the defendant pointed out that it had been 65 days since the gunshot wound occurred, and that marijuana can stay in your system for up to ten days after consumption.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 5, of the Louisiana Constitution protect people against unreasonable searches and seizures. Subject only to a few well-established exceptions, a search or seizure conducted without a warrant issued upon probable cause is constitutionally prohibited. Once a defendant makes an initial showing that a warrantless search or seizure occurred, the burden of proof shifts to the State to affirmatively show it was justified under one of the narrow exceptions to the rule requiring a search warrant. State v. Lowery, 2004-0802 (La. App. 1st Cir. 12/17/04), 890 So.2d 711, 717, writ denied, 2005-0447 (La. 5/13/05), 902 So.2d 1018. See La. Code Crim. P. art. 703(D) ; State v. Hood, 2012-0006 (La. App. 1st Cir. 6/8/12), 2012 WL 2061512 at *2 (unpublished), writ denied, 2012-1579 (La. 1/25/13), 105 So.3d 64.

A parolee has a reduced expectation of privacy, subjecting him to reasonable warrantless searches of his person and residence by his parole officer. See State v. Malone, 403 So.2d 1234, 1238 (La. 1981) ; State v. Hamilton, 2002-1344 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2/14/03), 845 So.2d...