State of Louisiana v. Richie A. Norris

Summary

The Louisiana Second Circuit affirmed the trial court’s denial of Richie A. Norris’s motions to suppress and upheld his convictions and sentences entered pursuant to a plea agreement. The court held that the evidence challenged by Norris was unrelated to the charges to which he pleaded guilty and therefore could not properly be reviewed through his Crosby plea, and further concluded that his jail calls were not subject to suppression on the asserted grounds.

Holdings

1. A guilty plea may preserve identified pre-plea errors for appellate review when accepted as a Crosby plea, but the preserved issue must concern a pre-plea ruling that could prejudice the conviction resulting from the plea.
2. The court could not review Norris's suppression challenge to evidence recovered from the vehicle because that evidence related only to a firearm-possession charge that was dismissed pursuant to the plea agreement, and Norris had not been convicted or sentenced on that charge.
3. Norris's jail calls and video chats were not suppressible as fruits of the allegedly improper arrest or searches because they were not the result of law-enforcement actions and were too attenuated to present a constitutional suppression issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Norris's Crosby guilty plea preserved appellate review of suppression issues involving evidence unrelated to the convictions and sentences imposed under the plea agreement.
2. Whether the suppression challenge concerning the firearm and ammunition recovered from the vehicle could be reviewed when that evidence related only to a separate firearm-possession charge that was dismissed and on which Norris was neither convicted nor sentenced.
3. Whether Norris's jail calls and video chats were suppressible as fruits of an allegedly unlawful arrest or search.

Disposition

affirmed