Johnson v. State

638 S.W.2d 686, 6 Ark. App. 78
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 29, 1982
DocketCA CR 82-64
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 638 S.W.2d 686 (Johnson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. State, 638 S.W.2d 686, 6 Ark. App. 78 (Ark. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

George K. Cracraft, Judge.

David Honor Johnson, Jr. appeals his conviction of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and theft of property having a value of less than $100, contending that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the convictions. We do not agree.

He first contends that the State failed to prove that Meperidine, which he was charged with possessing, was a controlled substance. As originally enacted the Controlled Substances Act listed and scheduled the specific drugs which were prohibited and delegated authority to the “Coordinator” to add, delete or reschedule any drugs listed in the original enactment if he found them to meet the statutory criteria. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 82-2602 (Repl. 1976). By 1979 amendments, codified as Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 82-2601 (x) and 82-2602 (a) the responsibility originally vested in the Coordinator became vested in the “Commissioner,” i.e. the Director of the Arkansas Department of Health. Revisions of the schedules are required to be made in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. Appellant argues that since Meperidine is not listed in the original act and the State did not introduce a revised schedule prepared by the Department of Health at the trial, he could not be convicted of possession. At the trial of the case the question of whether Meperidine was a controlled substance was never raised. Both parties tried the case on the theory that it was a controlled substance and the jury was so instructed. The question has been raised here for the first time on appeal.

Appellant contends, however, that failure of the State to show at trial that Meperidine was listed in the Controlled Substances Act is a jurisdictional matter that can be raised at any time. White v. State, 260 Ark. 561, 538 S.W.2d 550 (1976). White does so hold. However, White was decided when the statute itself scheduled prohibited substances. In White the Supreme Court found from the statute itself that the substance for which the defendant had been convicted of possessing was not listed as a prohibited substance and reversed his conviction. In the case at bar, although the State did not furnish the trial court copies of the Board of Health schedule, it has attached to its brief a copy of a “Revised Schedule of Controlled Substances” promulgated by the Department of Health pursuant to Ark. Stat. Ann. § 82-2614.3 (Supp. 1981) and effective March 1, 1980. That schedule is on file in the office of the Secretary of State and bears the certification of the Director of the Arkansas Department of Health attesting that it was promulgated pursuant to the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act. It specifically lists Meperidine as a controlled substance under Schedule II, as alleged in the information on which appellant was tried, convicted and sentenced.

Appellant contends that as this regulation was not tendered for judicial notice or otherwise proved in the trial court we are required to reverse his conviction on jurisdictional grounds. It is not necessary to introduce evidence of statutes in this state. The court judicially knows them. Blythe v. Byrd, 251 Ark. 363, 472 S.W.2d 717 (1971). Nor is it necessary to introduce evidence of regulations of the State Health Department promulgated pursuant to statutory authorization. Courts take judicial notice of such rules and regulations of boards and agencies which are adopted pursuant to law. State v. Martin and Lipe, 134 Ark. 420, 204 S.W. 622 (1918). Seubold v. Ft. Smith Special School District, 218 Ark. 560, 237 S.W.2d 884 (1951). As the regulation listing Meperidine as a Schedule II controlled substance was a matter within the judicial knowledge of the trial court it was not error for him to exercise the jurisdiction conferred by the regulation. On appellate review this court takes similar note of such regulations. Seubold, supra. We find no merit in this contention.

The appellant next contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the findings that he possessed the controlled substance or that he intended to deliver it in exchange for value. We do not agree. On appellate review of a criminal conviction this court must view the evidence presented in the light most favorable to the State and will affirm a jury verdict if there is any substantial evidence to support it. A recital of those facts most favorable to the State leads us to the conclusion that there was more than substantial evidence to support the verdict of the jury.

On February 16, 1981 Mary Ellen Lamb, Assistant Director of Pharmacy Service at St. Vincent Infirmary, discovered that there were 100 units of Meperidine missing from a shipment received from Wyeth Laboratories. She stated that Meperidine is a Schedule II controlled substance and the the missing drugs had a value of $450. No objection was made to either statement. Officer James Step of the State Drug Enforcement Unit testified that as a result of Ms. Lamb’s call he maintained a surveillance and first saw appellant when he came out of St. Vincent Infirmary during the noon hour. Appellant got in his automobile, drove to the back door of St. Vincent Infirmary and re-entered the building. He then returned to his car. The officers followed him to the McDermott Elementary School parking lot where Carolyn Brown got into appellant’s car with him. A short time later she left it carrying a brown garbage sack which she put into her car which was parked nearby. She had not carried the sack when she entered appellant’s car but had it when she exited.

The officers followed Ms. Brown to a parking lot at the Doctors Building, confronted her and seized the bag, which contained ten boxes of Meperidine from Wyeth Laboratories in a plastic outer wrapper. The State laboratory technician confirmed that the contents of the garbage bag was Meperi-dine. An expert testified that he found appellant’s fingerprints on one of the plastic wrappers. Ms. Brown testified that when she met appellant at the school he asked her to keep the package for him. He had the bag in his car when he arrived at the school and did not tell her what the contents were but asked her to bring it to him later at the home of a mutual friend. After they picked up Ms. Brown and the bag the police directed her to call the appellant at the friend’s home and tell him that she would deliver the package to him at a specified street corner. When appellant arrived at the designated corner he was taken into custody.

Appellant testified that he was a shipping clerk at St. Vincent Infirmary and received merchandise as it arrived on trucks and routed it to the proper departments in the hospital. He was not permitted to handle narcotics unless their cartons were damaged. He admitted that he gave the garbage bag to Ms. Brown but said that it contained two dozen lemons which he had placed in his car when he left the hospital. He said he was not a Meperidine user and never had been. The officers testified that the bag contained 100 doses of Meperidine, the same amount found missing at the hospital. There was nothing to suggest that the bag that the appellant carried to his car and gave to Ms. Brown was not the same bag seized by the officers later that afternoon.

The appellant argues that Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
638 S.W.2d 686, 6 Ark. App. 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-state-arkctapp-1982.