Garner v. State

131 S.W.3d 734, 355 Ark. 82, 2003 Ark. LEXIS 618
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 20, 2003
DocketCR 03-764
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 131 S.W.3d 734 (Garner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garner v. State, 131 S.W.3d 734, 355 Ark. 82, 2003 Ark. LEXIS 618 (Ark. 2003).

Opinion

Annabelle Clinton Imber, Justice.

Appellant John Garner was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, and fleeing in a motor vehicle. He appealed his convictions to the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Sitting en banc, the court of appeals affirmed all three convictions in a 5-4 decision. The four dissenting judges would have reversed the convictions of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. This court granted Mr. Garner’s petition for review. When we grant a petition for review following a decision by the court of appeals, we review the case as though it had been filed here originally. McCoy v. State, 347 Ark. 913, 69 S.W.3d 430 (2002).

On appeal, Mr. Garner raises five points of error. Because we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to support the convictions for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia, we reverse and dismiss those convictions. Thus, it is not necessary to address the point on appeal relating to the definition of constructive possession in the Arkansas Model Jury Instructions 2d. — Criminal. As to all other points on appeal, including the challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction of fleeing, we affirm.

At about midnight on June 3, 2001, Shirley Spencer called the Greene County Sheriffs Department to report suspicious activity near her residence on County Road 632. Ms. Spencer reported that a truck had slowly driven up and down the county road, and then pulled over to the wrong side of the road and stopped. She saw a man get out of the truck and look through the bushes and shrubs in the ditch on the side of the road. Although Ms. Spencer was unable to identify the man, she was able to make out the type of truck and its color because it was parked under a street light. She reported that the truck was a light colored, two-toned Chevrolet or GMC. According to Ms. Spencer, the man went to the north edge of the ditch and appeared to either be picking something up or putting something down.

At the time Ms. Spencer called the sheriffs department to report the suspicious activity, Deputy Nate Hergett had been patrolling Greene County Road 632. Before Ms. Spencer’s report reached Deputy Hergett, he had seen a blue Chevy truck travel the same north bound route on County Road 632, not once but twice within a fifteen-minute interval. Upon seeing the truck for the second time, Deputy Hergett turned around and followed it. Ms. Spencer witnessed the deputy turn around and follow the truck she had just seen leave her property. As soon as a dispatcher relayed the report of a suspicious vehicle on Country Road 632 to Deputy Hergett, he realized that the truck he was following matched the description given by Ms. Spencer and initiated a traffic stop to investigate the matter.

When Mr. Garner stopped and got out of his truck, Deputy Hergett advised him that there had been a report of a suspicious vehicle on County Road 632 that matched Mr. Garner’s truck. Shortly thereafter, while Deputy Hergett conducted a routine driver’s license check, another deputy arrived on the scene. The two officers requested and received Mr. Garner’s consent to search the truck and his person. They found nothing illegal, but they did notice a set of Bushnell extra-wide binoculars in the front seat and a weed eater in the bed of the truck.

Mr. Garner told the officers he had been “weed-eating” on some land he owned that was located five miles from County Road 632. In the meantime, a third officer, Deputy Matt Ring, had arrived on the scene. Because the officers had not found anything illegal or suspicious, they released Mr. Garner and headed back down County Road 632 to the area where Mr. Garner’s truck had been seen earlier. The deputies searched the east side of the road and found nothing. Then, they made contact with Ms. Spencer, who told them she had seen the man looking in the bushes on the west side of the road. Following that lead, the deputies found nothing in the area where the man had been seen, but upon searching an area about fifty feet north of the area identified by Ms. Spencer, they found a Bushnell extra-wide binoculars case that contained approximately eighty grams ofmethamphetamine, various drug paraphernalia, and a letter from James Garner to Chris Garner, who are John Garner’s two brothers. The letter made a passing reference to John Garner.

Approximately three hours later, after failing to locate Mr. Garner, the deputies noticed a motorcycle approach the intersection of County Road 632 and Sunset Avenue, which was approximately one-half mile north of the location where the contraband had been found. The driver of the motorcycle ran a stop sign and, upon seeing the deputies, began to flee. The deputies pursued the motorcycle until it crashed, throwing the passenger, Max Burrow, from the rear seat. The driver of the motorcycle fled on foot into the neighboring woods and was never apprehended. Mr. Burrow, on the other hand, was immediately taken into custody. Deputy Ring positively identified the driver of the motorcycle as John Garner. 1 He also recovered a flashlight with the initials “J.G.” engraved on it from the accident site. Mr. Burrow later stated that the driver of the motorcycle was Charles Chamberlain, not John Garner.

Two days later, Mr. Garner was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, and fleeing in a motor vehicle. After a four-day jury trial, Mr. Garner was convicted on all charges. He was sentenced to forty years’ imprisonment for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, ten years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia, and six years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine for fleeing in a motor vehicle. The prison terms and fines were to run concurrently.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first and fifth points on appeal, Mr. Garner challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. Specifically, he first argues that the trial court erred in refusing to direct a verdict in connection with the charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. This court treats a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Mills v. State, 351 Ark. 523, 95 S.W.3d 796 (2003). Mr. Garner also argues in his fifth point on appeal that there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction of fleeing in a motor vehicle. The preservation of Mr Garner’s right against double jeopardy requires that we consider all of his challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence before we consider alleged trial error. Grillot v. State, 353 Ark. 294, 107 S.W.3d 136 (2003).

In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we determine whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Polk v. State, 348 Ark. 446, 73 S.W.3d 609 (2002).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 S.W.3d 734, 355 Ark. 82, 2003 Ark. LEXIS 618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garner-v-state-ark-2003.