State Of Louisiana v. Mark Houston Anglin, Jr. ( 2020 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST CIRCUIT
2019 KA 1207
STATE OF LOUISIANA
VERSUS
MARK HOUSTON ANGLIN, JR.
Judgment Rendered MAY 1 12020
On Appeal from the 22nd Judicial District Court
In and for the Parish of St. Tammany
State of Louisiana
Trial Court No. 608584
Honorable Scott Gardner, Judge Presiding
Warren L. Montgomery Attorneys for Appellee,
District Attorney State of Louisiana
J. Bryant Clark, Jr.
Assistant District Attorney
Covington, Louisiana
Bertha M. Hillman Attorney for Defendant/Appellant,
Covington, Louisiana Mark Houston Anglin, Jr.
BEFORE: HIGGINBOTHAM, PENZATO, AND LANIER, JJ.
PENZATO, I
The defendant, Mark Houston Anglin, Jr., was charged by bill of information
with possession of heroin, a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance, less than
two grams, in violation of La. R.S. 40: 966( C)( 4)( a).' The defendant initially pled
not guilty. After a hearing, the trial court denied the defendant' s motion to
suppress an in court identification, evidence, and statements. The defendant
subsequently withdrew his not guilty plea and entered a Crosby plea of guilty as
charged, reserving the right to appeal the trial court' s ruling on his motion to
suppress. See State a Crosby, 338 So. 2d 584 ( La. 1976). The defendant admitted
to the allegations of a habitual offender bill of information filed by the State, was
adjudicated a fourth felony habitual offender, and was sentenced to thirty years
imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of probation or suspension of
sentence. The defendant now appeals, assigning error to the trial court' s denial of
his motion to suppress evidence. For the following reasons, we affirm the
conviction and sentence.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
As the defendant pled guilty to the instant offense, the facts were not fully
developed. At the time of the guilty plea, the parties stipulated that pretrial
discussions and discovery formed the factual basis for the guilty plea. The
following facts are based on the testimony presented at the hearing on the motion
to suppress, prior to the defendant' s guilty plea. On August 17, 2018, Deputy Don
Powers of the St. Tammany Parish Sherriff' s Office was assigned to criminal patrol
in the Pearl River area. At approximately 8: 20 p.m., he observed a white Nissan,
with a Mississippi license plate, pull into the parking lot of a gas station. At the
time, Deputy Powers was eating in his marked unit while parked across the street
The defendant was also charged with armed robbery, a violation of La. R.S. 14: 64, along with
codefendant, Brandie Marie Williams. However, the armed robbery charges were subsequently
severed, and the defendant pled guilty to the instant offense only.
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from the gas station. Deputy Powers became suspicious when he observed the
driver of the Nissan, a white male, repeatedly enter and exit the gas station.
Specifically, the driver got back into his vehicle, appeared as though he was going
to pull off, but remained in the parking lot for five minutes before again exiting his
vehicle and briefly reentering the gas station. As the driver proceeded to exit the
parking lot, Deputy Powers observed that one of the headlights on the driver' s
vehicle was out and conducted a traffic stop.
After Deputy Powers informed the occupants, the driver and a female
passenger,
of the reason for the traffic stop, they produced Louisiana state
identification cards. The driver was identified as the defendant, and the female
passenger, who appeared to Deputy Powers to be nervous at the time, was
identified as Brandie Williams. After the defendant and Williams provided their
identification, Deputy Powers waited for a back-up officer to arrive, and then went
to his unit and conducted an NCIC query on both occupants. The central dispatch
reported arrest warrants for the defendant and Williams for armed robbery as well
as a probation violation warrant for the defendant. Deputy Powers immediately
ordered the defendant and Williams to exit their vehicle and arrested both of them.
Upon a search incident to the defendant' s arrest, Deputy Powers discovered
suspected heroin in the defendant' s right pocket. Deputy Powers removed and
seized the substance. After being advised of his Miranda' rights, the defendant
admitted that the suspected heroin belonged to him and subsequently provided a
written statement confessing the same. The substance was tested with a NIK test
and was found presumptive positive for heroin.
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 444, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed. 2d 694 ( 1966).
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MOTION TO SUPPRESS THE EVIDENCE
In the sole assignment of error, the defendant argues that the trial court erred
in denying his motion to suppress. He contends that the evidence and statements
obtained were the direct result of a defective warrant for his arrest on the armed
robbery charge. He specifically argues that the warrant for his arrest for armed
robbery is defective because it indicates that a confidential informant " revealed the
male subject was Mark Houston Anglin." The defendant contends that the
affidavit contains no information to establish that the informant was reliable and
fails to state how the informant knew or was able to identify the defendant. He
argues that because the arrest warrant is based on a defective affidavit, his
subsequent arrest is unlawful and any evidence obtained pursuant to his arrest is
inadmissible fruit of an unlawful arrest. The defendant contends that because the
affidavit is " not constitutionally sound," a remand is necessary. He contends that
because the officer who obtained the arrest warrant did not have firsthand
knowledge of the robbery, the statements in the affidavit are hearsay. Finally, the
defendant notes that there was no indication as to whether any additional
information was relayed to the judge who signed the warrant for the arrest of the
defendant and Williams.
A trial court' s ruling on a motion to suppress the evidence is entitled to great
weight, because the court had the opportunity to observe the witnesses and weigh
the credibility of their testimony. Correspondingly, 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. State a Pounds, 2014- 1063 ( La. App. 1st Cir.
3/ 9/ 15), 166 So. 3d 1037, 1040, writ denied, 2015- 0696 ( La. 2/ 19/ 16), 186 So. 3d
1173. However, a trial court' s legal findings are subject to a de novo standard of
review. See State a Hunt, 2009- 1589 ( La. 12/ 1/ 09), 25 So. 3d 746, 751.
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The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 5
of the Louisiana Constitution protect people against unreasonable searches and
seizures. It is well settled that a search and seizure conducted without a warrant
issued on probable cause is per se unreasonable unless the warrantless search and
seizure can be justified by one of the narrowly drawn exceptions to the warrant
requirement. A recognized warrantless search exception is a search incident to a
lawful arrest. State a Conway, 2007- 2009 ( La. App. 1 st Cir. 6/ 6/ 08), 992 So. 2d
494, 496. After making an arrest, an officer has the right to thoroughly search a
defendant and his wingspan, or lunge space, for weapons or evidence incident to a
valid) arrest. Id.'
We note that the defendant has not challenged below or on appeal the
validity of the arrest warrant for a probation violation, which was also relied on by
Detective Powers to arrest the defendant. As the outstanding arrest warrant for a
probation violation, alone, supplied sufficient probable cause for the defendant' s
arrest, see State a Hill, 97- 2551 ( La. 11/ 6/ 98), 725 So. 2d 1282, 1285, we find no
error or abuse of discretion in the trial court' s ruling on the defendant' s motion to
suppress. The assignment of error is without merit.
CONVICTION AND SENTENCE AFFIRMED.
3 As previously mentioned, after Deputy Powers discovered and seized the suspected heroin
incident to the arrest of the defendant, the defendant signed a written confession admitting that
the heroin belonged to him. It is well settled that for a confession or inculpatory statement to be
admissible into evidence, the State must affirmatively show that it was freely and voluntarily
given without influence of fear, duress, intimidation, menaces, threats, inducements, or promises.
La. R.S. 15: 451. Additionally, the State must show that an accused that makes a statement or
confession during custodial interrogation was first advised of his Miranda rights. State v.
Caples, 2005- 2517 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 6/ 9/ 06), 938 So. 2d 147, 153, writ denied, 2006- 2466 ( La.
4/ 27/ 07), 955 So. 2d 684. In the instant case, the defendant does not challenge the legality of the
traffic stop or the voluntariness of his statements.
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