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Supreme Court of Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE #064 FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

The Opinions handed down on the 20th day of October, 2009, are as follows:

PER CURIAM:

2009-KK-0638

STATE OF LOUISIANA v. RODNEY RICHARDSON (Parish of Orleans) Judge Benjamin Jones, of the Fourth Judicial District Court, assigned as Justice Pro Tempore, participating in the decision. The ruling of the trial court granting defendant's motion to suppress is therefore reversed and this case is remanded to the court for further proceedings consistent with the views expressed herein. JUDGMENT OF THE TRIAL COURT GRANTING THE MOTION TO SUPPRESS REVERSED; CASE REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.

10/20/09

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 09-KK-0638 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. RODNEY RICHARDSON On Writ of Certiorari to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal PER CURIAM:1 The state has charged defendant with possession of cocaine in violation of La.R.S. 40:967(C)(2). Defendant moved to suppress the evidence and after a hearing conducted on January 13, 2009, the trial court found no probable cause for defendant's arrest and granted the motion. The Fourth Circuit found no abuse of discretion by the trial court and denied the state's application for review. State v. Richardson, 09-K-0105 (La. App. 4th Cir. 3/2/09). However, we granted the state's writ to review the decisions below and now reverse because testimony at the suppression hearing shows clearly that the police acquired probable cause to arrest defendant when he abandoned a crack cocaine pipe before, not after, the officers asked him to stop to discuss a complaint that he had been begging in violation of a city ordinance. At the hearing conducted on January 13, 2009, the state called a single witness, New Orleans Police Officer Nicholas Williams, assigned to the Fifth District Task Force. The officer related that on the night of January 6, 2008, he and his partner had just turned their patrol unit into a gas station located at Canal and North Galvez in New Orleans when they were approached by an individual
Judge Benjamin Jones, of the Fourth Judicial District Court, assigned as Justice Pro Tempore, participating in the decision.
1

who complained that a black male riding a bicycle had been repeatedly asking him for money. The man had told the bicyclist to stop harassing him and, even as he spoke to the officers, he pointed them in the direction of defendant, who was riding a bicycle across from them on the opposite side of Canal Street. The officers decided to give defendant a warning about begging people for money in the neighborhood and turned on Canal to approach him. According to Williams, Canal Street "is a fairly [well] lit street," and he had his headlights on, but when he pulled within 30 feet of defendant, the officer activated his unit's spotlight "as another tool to have a clearer vision of what's going on." Officer Williams observed defendant turn his head as he pedaled and look at him with a startled expression. The officer then observed defendant drop from his right hand a silver object as he continued riding along Canal Street close to the curb. Williams pulled along side the bicycle and his partner, taking advantage of the open window in the patrol car, asked defendant to stop. Defendant complied and while his partner asked him some questions, Williams walked back and retrieved the silver object. He immediately identified it as a crack pipe "because it had wire mesh at one end, and it was burned. . . . it looked like it still had some residue in it." The officer placed defendant under arrest and in an incident search retrieved a single rock of crack cocaine from the breast pocket of his shirt. Officer Williams testified that he had no intent to arrest defendant for any violation of the city ordinance prohibiting public begging because he did not believe at the time that he had observed a crime and that he "was just going to approach Mr. Richardson and just let him know that it was a city law towards begging, and I needed to advise him to stop doing that, give him a warning." See New Orleans, La., Code

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