State Of Louisiana v. Jeremy Cooper

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COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 2023 KW 0813

VERSUS

JEREMY D. COOPER OCTOBER 17, 2023

In Re: State of Louisiana, applying for supervisory writs,

20th Judicial District Court, Parish of East

Feliciana, Nos. 23 - CR - 298/ 301/ 303/ 339.

BEFORE: McCLENDON, HESTER, AND MILLER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. At the time the defendant was stopped, he

was suspected of being involved in the sale of illegal narcotics
at his residence. Under the totality of the circumstances, the

officers had reasonable suspicion to effect the investigatory
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 88
stop and to detain the defendant.
S. Ct. 1868, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889 ( 1968) ; State v. Kalie, 96- 2650 ( La.

9/ 19/ 97) , 699 So. 2d 879, 881 ( per curiam) . See also State v.

Bozeman, 2008- 1077 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 2/ 13/ 09), 6 So. 3d 899,

writ denied, 2009- 0629 ( La. 11/ 25/ 09), 22 So. 3d 170.
Furthermore, even if a traffic violation has not been committed,
an officer stop a vehicle for investigatory purposes if he
may
has a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. See United

States v. Zavala, 541 F. 3d 562, 574 ( 5th Cir. 2008) Moreover,

the initial warrantless search of the vehicle was reasonable

under the plain view exception to the search warrant. State v.

Miguel, 2018- 0711 ( La. 1/ 30/ 19), 263 So. 3d 873, 874 ( per

curiam). Accordingly, the district court' s ruling granting
defendant' s motion to suppress is reversed and this matter is

remanded for further proceedings.

PMC
SMM

Hester, J., dissents and would deny the writ.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT