McCall v. State

1975 OK CR 29, 539 P.2d 418
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 14, 1975
DocketF-74-646
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 1975 OK CR 29 (McCall v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCall v. State, 1975 OK CR 29, 539 P.2d 418 (Okla. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Appellant, Mike McCall, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, Lincoln County, Case No. CRF-73-128, for the offense of Unlawful Delivery of Marihuana, in violation of 63 O.S.1971, § 2-401(A). The jury fixed his punishment at two (2) years’ imprisonment and a fine of Ten ($10.00) dollars and from this judgment and sentence, a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

The State’s first witness at trial was Gregory Scott Butler. He testified that on the 10th day of December, 1973, he was employed as an undercover police officer by the Stroud, Oklahoma, Police Department. He stated that on the evening of the 9th day of December and in the early morning hours of the 10th day of December, 1973, he had an occasion to meet the defendant, Mike McCall. At this time he made an in court identification of the defendant. He further testified that he had known who the defendant was for approximately two weeks prior to that day, but that he had only met him on one or two occasions previously. He further stated that in the early morning hours of December 10, 1973, he, Jerry Nance and Randy Nicolet went to an apartment in Stroud, Oklahoma, occupied by Terry Sallee and Sammy Barela. He said that upon arriving at the apartment the Sallee girl was there along with the defendant and Allen McCall. He testified that while in the apartment he overheard the defendant offer to sell a lid of marihuana to Nance and Nicolet, which offer they rejected. He further testified that later when Allen McCall and defendant got up to leave the apartment, he, Butler, engaged the defendant in a conversation. He further stated that at that time he asked the defendant if he could buy the lid of marihuana from him, to which the defendant agreed. He testified that the meeting was arranged for 6:30 p. m. of that day on Main Street in Stroud. He further stated that at approximately 6:15 p. m. of that day he flagged the defendant down and then followed him out of town some two or three miles on a dirt road where the defendant stopped his car. He testified that then the defendant went to his trunk, opened it and pulled out a plastic baggie containing a green, leafy substance and handed it to him. He stated that he gave the defendant a ten dollar bill in return. He further testified that he kept the marihuana in his coat pocket until approximately 11:20 p. m. the same evening when he met with Chief Keys of the Stroud Police Department at which time the lid of marihuana was properly sealed and marked in a Crime Bureau evidence bag and given to Chief Keys. On cross-examination he testified that he had worked over a period of three and a half years for various police departments in the role of an undercover police officer. He stated that during most investigations, in order to effect the role of an undercover officer, he had to smoke marihuana. He further stated that his law enforcement work in the role of an undercover officer had led to several criminal convictions, both felony and misdemeanor. He further testified that subsequent to the purchase from the defendant of marihuana on the 10th day of December, he had further contact with him on one occasion and that the defendant told him that marihuana could be purchased from a person who worked on the rock crusher at Cushing. He further testified that he pursued this lead and was effective in making a purchase of marihuana from said individual. He further stated that neither before nor after the one pur *420 chase from the defendant on December 10, had he ever heard anything of the defendant’s involvement with drugs. He lastly testified that there were approximately six cases filed as a result of his undercover work in Stroud, Oklahoma.

Claude Keys testified that he was employed by the City of Stroud as Chief of Police and had been for about one year. He further stated that on or about the 2nd day of November, 1973, he hired Gregory Butler for the purpose of working as an undercover police officer in the narcotics area. He testified that on the evening of December 10, 1973, he received a call from Officer Butler and that at approximately 11:30 p. m. on that evening he met with Butler on a country road outside of Stroud. He further testified that at that time Butler turned over to him what had been marked as State’s Exhibit No. 1 at trial, an envelope containing a green, leafy substance. He testified that he initialed the envelope, sealed it and took it to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for analysis.

William J. Caveny testified that he was employed by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma City as a forensic chemist and had been for approximately four years. At this point the qualifications as an expert chemist were stipulated to by both parties. The witness was then shown State Exhibit No. 1 and he testified that he received the same on or about the 18th day of December, 1973, and that thereafter he performed a chemical analysis on the contents of the envelope, and that it was his expert opinion that it contained marihuana.

The State then rested.

The first witness for the defense was Robert Sands. After giving his name and address, he invoked his privilege to remain silent under Fifth Amendment.

The defendant then called three character witnesses, Everett Lee Webb, Jack Cook and Mildred Bickrey, all of whom testified that the defendant’s reputation for truth and honesty in the community was good.

Archaleen McCall Harrington testified that she had been married to Harvey McCall, now deceased, and that he was the father of the McCall children. She further testified that Mike McCall was born in Stroud and had lived there all his life.

The defense then rested.

Defendant’s first proposition asserts that as a matter of law, the defendant was entrapped by undercover Officer Butler and that the trial court should have sustained his demurrer to the State’s evidence. This Court clearly expressed what is or what is not entrapment in the case of In Re Patton, Okl.Cr., 382 P.2d 28 (1963), wherein this Court stated in quoting from 22 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 45(2), p. 138:

“One who is instigated, induced, or lured by an officer of the law or other person, for the purpose of prosecution, into the commission of a crime which he had otherwise no intention of committing may avail himself of the defense of ‘entrapment.’ Such defense is not available, however, where the officer or other person acted in good faith for the purpose of discovering or detecting a crime and merely furnished the opportunity for the commission thereof by one who had the requisite criminal intent.”

See also, Riddle v. State, Okl.Cr., 374 P.2d 634 (1962) and Bradley v. State, Okl.Cr., 485 P.2d 767 (1971).

In the instant case, the evidence shows that the crime originated in the mind of the defendant as illustrated in the record wherein the undercover Officer Butler’s testimony is that he personally heard the defendant offer to sell marihuana to Nicolet and Nance and that thereafter only then did he ask the defendant if he could purchase a lid of marihuana. *421 Thus, we find the defendant had the intent to commit the offense and the officer only furnished the opportunity for the commission thereof. Under these facts entrapment clearly is not present. See, Welling v.

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1976 OK CR 270 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1975 OK CR 29, 539 P.2d 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccall-v-state-oklacrimapp-1975.