Gilbert v. State

283 S.E.2d 361, 159 Ga. App. 326, 1981 Ga. App. LEXIS 2592
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 16, 1981
Docket61646
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 283 S.E.2d 361 (Gilbert v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilbert v. State, 283 S.E.2d 361, 159 Ga. App. 326, 1981 Ga. App. LEXIS 2592 (Ga. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Pope, Judge.

James Arthur Gilbert, III was convicted of possessing cocaine in violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. He brings this appeal following the trial court’s denial of his motion for new trial.

The evidence at trial showed that at approximately six o’clock in the evening on Saturday, May 12, 1979, Officer Weldon of the Chamblee Police Department was giving flight instructions at the Peachtree-DeKalb Airport (located in the City of Chamblee, DeKalb County) when he heard a call for help over the radio in his airplane. The distress call emanated from the pilot of an airplane about 150 yards away. Officer Weldon immediately approached the airplane on foot and saw a Thunderbird automobile blocking the progress of the airplane on the taxiway; the airplane was stopped in a cater-cornered position across the ramp where airplanes are tied down.

Standing on the runway in front of the airplane was a man who immediately called to Officer Weldon to get help. He stated that drugs were being transported on the airplane and that his ex-wife was on board. Officer Weldon instructed the man to get back in his car and walked to the airplane to talk with its occupants, a male pilot and a female passenger. Officer Weldon identified himself to the occupants of the airplane as a Chamblee police officer and asked the male pilot to give him the keys to the airplane. The pilot was later identified by Officer Weldon as the appellant Gilbert. The female passenger was later identified as Carole Ethridge Mattei.

Meanwhile, the airport security officer, Officer Bennett, arrived on the scene. Officer Weldon used the radio in Officer Bennett’s patrol vehicle to call for additional help from the Chamblee Police Department. Before leaving the occupants of the airplane, Officer Weldon instructed Officer Bennett to watch the situation while he radioed for assistance. When Officer Weldon returned to the scene, he was handed a small glass vial containing a white, powdery substance by Officer Bennett.

Two other Chamblee police officers, Westbrooks and Rose, arrived on the scene in two patrol cars. Since Sgt. Westbrooks was the senior officer, Officer Weldon turned over the investigation and the glass vial to him. Gilbert and Ms. Mattei were placed in the back of Sgt. Westbrooks’ patrol car. While the officers were continuing their investigation, Ms. Mattei’s ex-husband shouted, “They are making a switch.” Sgt. Westbrooks turned and observed Ms. Mattei attempting to stuff a large plastic bag, filled with packets containing a white, powdery substance into the waistband of her tightly fitting blue jeans. Sgt. Westbrooks had not seen the bulge in Ms. Mattei’s *327 pants when he had placed both subjects in his patrol car a few minutes earlier. He removed Gilbert and Ms. Mattei from his vehicle, searched them, and asked her to raise her blouse above her waistline while he removed the large, plastic bag from the waistband of her pants. Sgt. Westbrooks handcuffed Gilbert and Ms. Mattei and placed them in separate patrol cars. The content of the bag was shown to be cocaine.

1. In his first enumeration of error Gilbert contends that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to suppress the illegal drugs found on Ms. Mattei. Although the search was conducted on the person of Ms. Mattei, Gilbert contends that he had automatic standing to challenge the legality thereof because possession was an essential element of the offense with which he had been charged. In support of this contention, Gilbert cites Jones v. United States, 362 U. S. 257 (80 SC 725, 4 LE2d 697) (1960). However, Jones v. United States, supra, has been expressly overruled by the Supreme Court in the recent case of United States v. Salvucci, 448 U. S. 83 (100 SC—65 LE2d 619) (1980), which held that persons “charged with crimes of possession may only claim the benefits of the exclusionary rule if their own Fourth Amendment rights have in fact been violated.” Id. at 85. The Supreme Court affirmed its holding in Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U. S. 128 (99 SC 421, 58 LE2d 387) (1978), that “an illegal search only violates the rights of those who have ‘a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place.’ ” United States v. Salvucci, supra at 91. Clearly, Gilbert had no legitimate expectation of privacy in Ms. Mattei’s clothing. Accordingly, he had no standing to challenge the seizure of the cocaine from her blue jeans. Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U. S. 98 (100 SC—, 65 LE2d 633) (1980). Accord, Marshall v. State, 153 Ga. App. 198 (1) (264 SE2d 718) (1980).

2. Ms. Mattei testified at trial that she had never been employed as a model. Gilbert attempted to impeach her testimony by offering into evidence several photographs from the August, 1978 edition of “Gallery” magazine. The photographs depict Ms. Mattei and another cavorting about the seashore au naturel. In his second enumeration Gilbert argues that the trial court erred in excluding the photographs from evidence.

“A witness may be impeached by disproving the facts testified toby him.” Code Ann. § 38-1802. However, while a witness may be impeached on a collateral issue which is indirectly material to the issue in the case (Glo-Ann Plastic Industries, Inc. v. Peak Textiles, Inc., 134 Ga. App. 924 (4) (216 SE2d 715)), a witness may not be impeached because of a discrepancy as to a wholly immaterial matter. Mann v. State, 124 Ga. 760 (4) (53 SE 324) (1905). Ms. Mattei’s modeling career was wholly immaterial to the issue of Gilbert’s guilt *328 of the crime charged. See, e.g., Smith v. State, 235 Ga. 327 (2a) (219 SE2d 440) (1975); Johnson v. State, 144 Ga. App. 406 (1) (240 SE2d 919) (1977); Johnson v. Johnson, 96 Ga. App. 84 (3a) (99 SE2d 352) (1957). Accordingly, this enumeration has no merit.

3. Both Gilbert and Ms. Mattei were indicted for violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act by possessing cocaine. Ms. Mattei entered a plea of guilty and testified against Gilbert at trial. Gilbert contends that the testimony given by Ms. Mattei at trial, as that of an accomplice, was not corroborated as required by Code Ann. § 38-121. We disagree.

Ms. Mattei testified that she had known Gilbert for about five years. She stated that he had contacted her and asked her to contact some mutual friends in Miami, Florida for the purpose of purchasing cocaine. She went to visit Gilbert at his house, heard him call the bank and arrange to withdraw money. He told her he was withdrawing the money to purchase cocaine. Upon his return from the bank, she saw the money — eleven stacks of $1000 each. They immediately left for the Peachtree-DeKalb Airport in her automobile, a Thunderbird, and the defendant flew his Piper Cherokee airplane to Miami. They checked into a Holiday Inn where he purchased the subject cocaine from two men. The cocaine was packaged in two plastic bags inside a larger plastic bag, all of which was identified by Ms. Mattei at trial.

The next morning Gilbert and Ms.

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283 S.E.2d 361, 159 Ga. App. 326, 1981 Ga. App. LEXIS 2592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-state-gactapp-1981.