by Tiffany Yeh
Defendant Jesse Lucas is charged with six counts that include drug possession with intent to sell, transporting a loaded firearm, and possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
Deputy District Attorney Deanna Hays presented more witnesses today. First, Deputy Public Defender Teal Dixon cross-examined El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Almos.
Deputy Almos testified about the contents of the vehicle that Mr. Lucas and his two friends had been in. Lucas was arrested for possession for sale on January 25, 2015. When the vehicle was pulled over in South Lake Tahoe, Mr. Lucas had been driving. There were two backpacks inside the vehicle that containing a variety of drugs and paraphernalia.
A black backpack found on the backseat of the car contained a syringe with some clear fluid, methamphetamine, and some alcohol swabs and a rubber band. The amount of meth in the syringe was in an amount consistent with personal use.
In addition, there was an outer package of cardboard around a bag of crystallized meth and a bag of black tar heroin. This type of heroin is sticky and tar-like. DPD Dixon questioned Almos on whether he had smelled a vinegary smell consistent with black tar heroin, whereupon he replied no. A glass jar/dish with a sales amount of marijuana was found. A wallet was also found in this backpack, but with no ID in it.
In the other backpack, found in the trunk of the vehicle, there were three individual bags of white crystallized substance, tested and found out to be meth in amounts of 1.2, 2.5, and 3.3 grams, which include the weights of each’s plastic bag. Two small baggies of heroin, in amounts of 3.2 grams and 3.0 grams were found, along with extra packaging and bag. Five syringes and another glass jar of marijuana were also there. A glass pipe was also found in this backpack.
All the drugs were tested with a field NIK® test, which indicates whether narcotics may be present based on color changes when the chemicals are exposed to the substance. All tested positive for the substances which they were presumed to be.
Fifteen hundred dollars, in $5, $10, and $20 bills, was found, along with a gun and ammunition. No identifying driver’s license, phone bill, or key linked to Mr. Lucas was found in the two backpacks. However, as Ms. Dixon mentioned in her line of questioning, no scales were found in the backpacks.
Next to testify for the prosecution was Deputy Stephen Coburn, also from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. He has field experience and has received training in controlled substances and how people under the influence of controlled substances look and act.
On October 11, 2014, Deputy Coburn did a probation search of a single-story house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. First, a protective sweep of the house had been done to ensure officer safety. He encountered a locked and dead-bolted door.
After announcing that he was from the sheriff’s department and knocking four or five times, he walked to the outside of the house and saw that the window to a room was open. He again said he was from the sheriff’s department and then took off the window screen.
After entering the door he saw Mr. Lucas. However, a non-probationers’ room(s) is off limits to a probation search, so Mr. Lucas’ room was not searched initially.
Deputy Coburn noticed the mailbox of the house and saw the flag was up. He looked inside the mailbox to see six small manila envelopes. They were addressed to places in the U.S. and to a place in Canada. The return address was labeled as the house’s address, naming an “Adam Richards.”
He described the envelopes as being a little bit padded. He opened the contents of one of the envelopes and found 0.27g. of heroin, 2.8g of concentrated cannabis, and 0.13g. of heroin, each in its separate envelope. Another envelope had 0.5g of meth and 0.19g of heroin, while another envelope had 0.17g of heroin, 0.31g of meth, and another 0.17g of heroin.
A search warrant was then obtained to search Mr. Lucas’ room. Manila envelopes which were heat sealed, some plastic, a heat sealer, a box addressed to “Adam Richards,” some pay/owe sheets, eight or nine Green Dot and similar pre-loaded money cards, two or three jars of marijuana, a computer, and a cell phone were found in Mr. Lucas’ room.
One test had been performed for each bag of drugs. Ms. Dixon questioned the above two witnesses about their knowledge of whether the drugs were tested again after the presumptive field chemical test. She implied that the DA could send the drugs to the Department of Justice’s lab for a more rigorous test after the initial NIK® test. Deputy Coburn answered that, as far as he knew, the accuracy of the test was 100%. She also questioned the rate of false positives of the test.
There was a stipulated piece of evidence from an Officer Gaines. At 6:50pm on a certain day, Mr. Lucas was arrested, and in the back of the patrol car, he gave himself 10 hits of Ecstasy, then expressed not feeling well. Officer Gaines then contacted American Medical Response and the fire department. Next, Mr. Lucas was brought to the hospital to be treated for the drug overdose.
The prosecution’s last witness of the morning was a CHP Officer/YONET agent. He is a CHP officer who also works for YONET, Yolo Narcotic Enforcement Team/task force. He has been working there since October of 2014. Some of his work involves working with case agents, going undercover, and assisting with such operations.
He sometimes seeks to buy substances as part of the operation or to get in contact with drug dealers. To do so, he is familiar with the price, dosage amounts, and lingo pertaining controlled substances.
DDA Hays had this agent testify about his opinion of this case, primarily about the heroin possession. He stated that he felt it was a possession for sale because of his training in narcotics, drugs and alcohol, and because of his field experience involving a large range of drugs such as MDMA (the chemical abbreviation for Ecstasy), prescription pills, mushrooms, heroin, meth, etc., as well as because of the evidence in the case.
On February 6, 2015, Mr. Lucas was arrested and taken to the Yolo County Jail. His vehicle was searched. After looking at Officer Stephen Coburn’s police report about the contents of the vehicle, the YONET agent explained the reasoning behind his opinion about the intent to sell, citing that 7.8 grams of heroin, a value of approx. $300-$500, were found in that vehicle.
An ounce of heroin costs approximately $1000 or $1200. A single dose of heroin is usually 0.1 or 0.2 grams, so 7.8 grams is a large amount of heroin, approximately equivalent to 78 doses.
Asked about the ways to consume heroin, the agent explained that you can inhale heroin so that your brain instantly feels the effects. You can “snort” or ingest it, and it would take about 15 to 20 minutes for the effect to kick in. A “high” for heroin per dose usually lasts for four to six hours.
He described people who use heroin as “medicine” because they are addicted to heroin and want to avoid feeling sick and weak (withdrawal symptoms) if they do not use heroin. These people would typically use heroin four to five times a day.
The YONET agent then stated that 7.8 grams is not consistent with personal use and is most likely a for-sale amount.
DPD Dixon asked him about his experience involving heroin cases, and his answer was that he was a case agent in four heroin cases and was around for eight to ten heroin cases (including those for which he was a case agent, interviewing drug users/sellers).
The amount of money found in the vehicle, in five-, ten-, and twenty-dollar bills, was also consistent with possession for sale, the YONET agent stated. About Officer Gaines’ information about Mr. Lucas’ use of 10 hits of Ecstasy, the YONET agent stated that Ecstasy is usually a party drug. The onset of Ecstasy generally occurs about 30-45 minutes after ingesting. People usually only have one or two hits on them at a time. Mr. Lucas had 10 on him on the day of Officer Gaines’ report.
