Rowe v. State

352 S.E.2d 813, 181 Ga. App. 492, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2543
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 9, 1987
Docket73013
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 352 S.E.2d 813 (Rowe 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
Rowe v. State, 352 S.E.2d 813, 181 Ga. App. 492, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2543 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

Beasley, Judge.

In pre-dawn darkness and acting on information, customs agents and members of the Metro Drug Squad observed a vessel registered to appellant as master and his wife as owner enter a Savannah River inlet, turn off running lights and tie up at a commercial dock. Shortly, several persons, including one who resembled appellant, boarded for a brief time and then departed. The officials, fearing the boat’s departure before they could board if they waited to obtain a warrant, conducted a warrantless search and found nearly 22,000 lbs. of marijuana. In the early morning several persons, including appellant, returned and were arrested by waiting officers. Appellant and others were indicted on a charge of possession of more than one ounce of marijuana with intent to distribute.

In a bench trial appellant was found guilty not of the crime charged in the indictment but of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute. This court reversed the conviction on the grounds that Georgia law regards conspiracy as a lesser included offense only if the substantive crime is not completed, and that, because the evidence did not support a conviction of conspiracy, the conviction could not stand. Rowe v. State, 166 Ga. App. 836 (305 SE2d 624) (1983). Not addressed was the second enumeration of error dealing with the denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained during the allegedly illegal search of the boat.

Appellant then pleaded former jeopardy, which plea was overruled, and the case was tried before a jury on the same indictment. Appellant was found guilty of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and was sentenced. The appeal follows an unsuccessful motion for new trial and enumerates as error the denial of the motion to suppress and of the plea of former jeopardy.

1. The search of the vessel and seizure of the contraband substance were made pursuant to 19 USCA § 1581 (a), which authorizes customs officers to board a vessel or vehicle and inspect and search the vessel (or vehicle) as well as any persons and containers found aboard. United States v. Villamonte-Marquez, 462 U. S. 579 (103 SC [493]*4932573, 77 LE2d 22) (1983), held that customs officers, accompanied by state law enforcement officers, properly boarded a boat for inspection and, upon smelling marijuana and observing burlap-wrapped bales, properly searched the boat and found the contraband substance, so the latter was admissible as evidence. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, following Villamonte-Marquez in United States v. Albano, 722 F2d 690 (11th Cir. 1984), held that customs officials may properly board a vessel in coastal waters and inspect its documents even if that activity is a pretext to look for signs of contraband. United States v. Bain, 736 F2d 1480 (11th Cir. 1984), held that evidence in plain view (“view” including smell) may constitute probable cause which, in the exigent circumstances created by the boat’s capacity to slip away quickly to open sea, authorizes a warrantless search. Further, customs officers at a border or its “functional equivalent, . . . including the point where a ship first docks in this country after entering our territorial waters,” may conduct a full-scale search on the basis of reasonable suspicion, without the necessity of meeting probable cause and warrant requirements. See also United States v. Sarda-Villa, 760 F2d 1232 (11th Cir. 1985); United States v. Moreno, 778 F2d 719 (11th Cir. 1985). The so-called “silver platter doctrine” invoked by appellant, which forbids officials of one sovereign to turn over to another sovereign evidence inadmissible in the former’s courts, is inapplicable. That theory developed out of a fact situation in which the search which produced the evidence was invalid from its inception, whereas the search here was made in full compliance with applicable law. See Elkins v. United States, 364 U. S. 206 (80 SC 1437, 4 LE2d 1669) (1960). The search was proper, the resulting evidence admissible, and the trial court properly denied the motion.

2. The second question is whether the trial court erred in denying the plea of former jeopardy.1

In the first place, after the first conviction of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute (OCGA § 16-13-33, not OCGA § 16-4-8 as stated in Rowe v. State, 166 Ga. App. 836, supra), defendant sought a new trial. One of the grounds was that the crime was not an included offense in the one he was charged with committing. This court agreed and reversed the conviction. It did not direct a judgment of acquittal. It ruled that “his conviction must be set aside.” It cited Ray v. State, 165 Ga. App. 89, 93 (3) (299 SE2d 584) (1983), which held, at the referenced division: “Where the evidence shows that the crime was complete a verdict of guilty of conspiring to commit the crime is not authorized and must be set aside.” Defend[494]*494ant was then afforded the new trial he had moved for.

Jackson v. State, 154 Ga. App. 367, 368 (1) (268 SE2d 418) (1980) states the long-standing construction of the Georgia constitutional provision regarding double jeopardy: “ ‘The true intent and meaning ... is that one who, after conviction upon an indictment, voluntarily seeks and obtains a new trial thereon, becomes subject to another trial generally for the offense therein charged.’ Waller v. State, 104 Ga. 505 (1) (30 SE 835) (1898).” The wording of Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XVIII, in effect when Rowe made his plea, is somewhat different from that in the constitution cited in Waller and Jackson, but the meaning is still apparently the same in this respect, for the statute has not been changed.

McCrary v. State, 254 Ga. 382 (1) (329 SE2d 473) (1985), applied the Georgia statute regarding former prosecution double jeopardy and found the plea meritless. OCGA § 16-1-8 (d) does not bar the prosecution if the conviction was set aside, “unless the accused was thereby adjudged not guilty or unless there was a finding that the evidence did not authorize the verdict.” Here we find no basis for a conclusion that defendant was impliedly found not guilty of the charge, nor was there a finding that the evidence would not authorize a verdict on the charge.

As to the latter exception, as a matter of fact, the Court of Appeals wrote: “The evidence in the instant case established clearly that the offense of possession with intent to distribute more than one ounce of marijuana had been committed.” Rowe, supra at 838.

The case of Patterson v. State, 162 Ga. App.

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Rowe v. State
352 S.E.2d 813 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
352 S.E.2d 813, 181 Ga. App. 492, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 2543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rowe-v-state-gactapp-1987.