State v. AndrishokState v. Andrishok
Emerson E. Andrishok, Jr. was charged by separate informations with possession of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in violation of
Defendant‘s sole assignment of error is that the trial judge erred in denying his motion to suppress the physical evidence seized at the time of his arrest.
Evidence adduced at the suppression hearing reveals that on Saturday, February 28, 1981, at about 9:00 p.m., during the Mardi Gras celebration, defendant and two male companions were standing on the corner of the 300 block of Royal and Conti Streets in the French Quarter. The area was well lit. At the same time, five police officers in plainclothes who had been assigned to patrol the French Quarter were walking toward the river and observed defendant and his companions. As they crossed the intersection of Conti and Royal Streets, they saw defendant take a small wound up clear plastic bag containing a brown vegetable matter and pass it to one
The right of law enforcement officers to stop and interrogate one reasonably suspected of criminal conduct is recognized by
Where officers do not have the right to make an investigatory stop, property abandoned or otherwise disposed of as a result thereof cannot be legally seized by the police officers. If, however, property is abandoned without any prior unlawful intrusion into a citizen‘s right of freedom from governmental interference, then such property may be lawfully seized. In such cases, there is no expectation of privacy and thus no violation of a person‘s custodial rights. As we have previously held, “it is only when the citizen is actually stopped without reasonable cause or when that stop is imminent that the right to `be left alone’ is violated,” thereby rendering unlawful any resultant seizure of abandoned property. State v. Chopin, supra; State v. Ryan, 358 So.2d 1274 (La.1978).
When a lawful arrest is made on probable cause, a warrantless search incident thereto of the person and area in his immediate control is permissible. Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); State v. Robinson, 342 So.2d 183 (La.1977).
In the instant case, the officers did not detain defendant until they saw him pass the plastic bag containing a brown vegetable matter which they believed to be marijuana to one of his companions (Wade). This occurred within their immediate view. At this point, the officers had at least reasonable cause to believe that defendant was engaged in criminal conduct. Hence, they had the right to stop and question him. Since the marijuana was abandoned without any prior unlawful intrusion into defendant‘s right of freedom from governmental interference, the marijuana was lawfully seized. Furthermore, the suspicious manner in which Wade disposed of the plastic bag containing what the officers believed to be marijuana clearly gave the officers probable cause to arrest defendant for possession of marijuana. Hence, defendant‘s arrest was lawful and the officers had a right to search him incident thereto. Therefore, the seizure of the LSD as a result of the search of defendant‘s person was legal.
In sum, the trial judge did not err in denying defendant‘s motion to suppress the evidence seized at the time of his arrest.
DECREE
For the reasons assigned, defendant‘s convictions and sentences are affirmed.