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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

No. 95-KA-2226 STATE OF LOUISIANA VERSUS EDMOND J. SANDIFER

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH CIRCUIT, PARISH OF ORLEANS, STATE OF LOUISIANA

WHIPPLE, J.* We granted the State of Louisiana's writ of certiorari to determine whether La. R.S. 14:95(E), as applied to the facts of this case, (1) violates the Double Jeopardy Clause, and (2) is unconstitutionally vague. The trial court quashed the bill of information filed under La. R.S. 14:95(E), finding that the bill of information charging defendant with a violation of La. R.S. 14:95(E) violated the Double Jeopardy Clause and that La. R.S. 14:95(E) is unconstitutionally vague. Because we conclude that no double jeopardy violation exists and that La. R.S. 14:95(E) is constitutional as applied to the facts of this case, we reverse the trial court's ruling quashing the bill of information. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On September 25, 1994, law enforcement officers responded to a complaint regarding a "suspicious person" sitting in a white Lincoln Mark VII with dark tinted windows in the 3100 block of Gentilly Boulevard for over an hour. The officers approached the car and saw the defendant sitting alone in the driver's seat, sleeping.
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*Chief Justice Calogero recused. Judge Vanessa Guidry-Whipple, Court of Appeal, First Circuit, sitting Ad Hoc.

The officers noticed a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol on the passenger seat and a .380 caliber automatic pistol on the floor. They also observed three marijuana cigarettes and a small glass bottle containing a white powdery residue later determined to be cocaine on the car's dashboard.1 The officers seized the weapons and contraband, advised the defendant of his rights, and placed the defendant under arrest. As a result of the events of September 25, 1994, the defendant was charged with three offenses by three separate bills of information. He was charged with: (1) possession of marijuana, in violation of La. R.S. 40:966(D)(1); (2) possession of cocaine, in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(C)(2); and (3) possession of a firearm while in the possession of a controlled dangerous substance, in violation of La. R.S. 14:95(E). The bill of information charging the violation of La. R.S. 14:95(E) specifically noted that the defendant violated that statute by possessing firearms, "to wit: a COBRA .9mm SEMI AUTOMATIC MACHINE PISTOL and a LORCIN .380 CALIBER SEMI AUTOMATIC PISTOL" on September 25, 1994, "while in possession of a controlled and dangerous substance, to wit: MARIJUANA & COCAINE." On February 24, 1995, the defendant appeared in the Criminal District Court of Orleans Parish and entered a plea of guilty to the misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. He received a six-month sentence to parish prison, which was suspended, with one year of inactive probation and a $300 fine. The defendant then filed a motion to quash the bill of information filed under La. R.S. 14:95(E). His arguments to the trial court in support of the motion to quash were that the bill of information in question constituted a double jeopardy violation insofar as he had already pled guilty to an

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A green ski mask was also discovered in the defendant's car.

underlying offense and that the bill had been filed under a statute which was unconstitutionally vague. The statute at issue, La. R.S. 14:95, criminalizes the "[i]llegal carrying of weapons," and at the time of the offense, provided in Section (E) as follows: E. If the offender uses, possesses, or has under his immediate control any firearm, or other instrumentality customarily used or intended for probable use as a dangerous weapon, while committing or attempting to commit a crime of violence or while in the possession of or during the sale or distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, the offender shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned at hard labor for not less than five nor more than ten years. Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the offender shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than twenty years nor more than thirty years. La. R.S. 14:95(E)(prior to amendment by Acts 1995, No. 930,

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