DNA test leads to cocaine conviction

A Slidell man's saliva was used to convict him of cocaine possession last week, and because of his extensive criminal history, he faces a sentence of as much as 20 years in prison.

Herbert Pichon, 34, was found guilty Thursday, according to the St. Tammany Parish district attorney's office. A six-person jury took just over an hour to reach the verdict at the 22nd Judicial District Court in Covington.

Pichon was arrested Nov. 4, 2004, after leading police on a foot chase, according to Rick Wood, a spokesman for the district attorney's office.

Officers had seen Pichon take something from his pocket and put it in his mouth; as they were chasing him, he spit something out. Police recovered a plastic bag of crack cocaine; DNA tests proved the saliva on the bag was Pichon's.

Wood said police had been on patrol outside Slidell when they saw suspicious activity around a vehicle in the Shady Lane area, which is known for high crime. The officers stopped and asked to search the vehicle in which Pichon was a passenger in the front seat.

The three occupants agreed to the search, and police found a crack pipe inside. Officers interviewed the three, and their stories contradicted each other. After Pichon took something from his pocket and put it in his mouth, he ran.

When he was arrested, Pichon was on probation for a conviction for distribution of cocaine. He had been sentenced to five years on two counts in 2001.

His prior convictions also include cocaine possession in 1992, for which he received a suspended sentence of five months in jail, and cocaine possession in 1994 in New Orleans, for which he got a suspended three-year sentence.

Court records indicate he also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, aggravated battery and resisting arrest in September 2001.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Oubre presented the state's case against Pichon last week, and state District Judge Martin Coady presided over the trial. He is scheduled to sentence Pichon on Oct. 13.