Background

• State filed information charging Sander with possession of cocaine on Oct 14, 2009; arraignment occurred May 14, 2010 with a not guilty plea.
• A motion to suppress the cocaine evidence and a preliminary hearing were held on July 27, 2010; the court denied suppression.
• Sander pled guilty on Sept 20, 2010 under Crosby, preserving appellate review of the suppression ruling; sentence deferred, two years active probation and fines imposed.
• At issue on appeal was the trial court’s denial of the suppression motion and whether the stop/search violated the Fourth Amendment.
• Motion hearing established Officer Mitchell observed suspicious behavior in a high-crime area; a paper folded in a tobacco pouch later revealed crack-cocaine-like particles.
• Court held the stop, frisk, and subsequent handling of the tobacco pouch fell within permissible investigatory and plain-feel theories; suppression denied.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• State v. Fearheiley, 979 So. 2d 487 (La. 2008) (establishes totality-of-circumstances test for investigatory stops)
• State v. Pratt, 16 So. 3d 1163 (La. 2009) (hand gesture consistent with a drug transaction can justify stop)
• State v. Seltzer, 986 So. 2d 762 (La. App. 5th Cir. 2008) (high-crime-area context plus suspicious actions support reasonable suspicion)
• State v. Boyer, 967 So. 2d 458 (La. 2007) (plain feel and exigent circumstances in Terry-like searches)
• Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (U.S. 1993) (plain feel in Terry stops; immediate contraband identification)
• Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (U.S. 1983) (probable cause standard for searches)
• State v. Hunter, 375 So. 2d 99 (La. 1979) (frisk for weapons requires reasonable belief of danger; objective standard)
• State v. Sims, 851 So. 2d 1039 (La. 2003) (frisk must be based on reasonable belief of danger; test of reasonableness)