Shipman v. State

282 So. 2d 696, 51 Ala. App. 80, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1117
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 20, 1973
Docket4 Div. 140
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 282 So. 2d 696 (Shipman v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shipman v. State, 282 So. 2d 696, 51 Ala. App. 80, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1117 (Ala. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Appellants were jointly indicted in Houston County for unlawfully possessing heroin or discetylmorphine or salt thereof. They were tried jointly before a jury and convicted of possession, an alternative averment in the indictment. The trial court, after proper allocution in the presence of defendants’ counsel, sentenced each to eight years imprisonment in the penitentiary. Separate judgments were rendered. The appeals to this Court are embraced in one record. The defendants were represented in the trial court by employed counsel and here by different employed counsel.

The manager of Danley Furniture Company in Dothan, Alabama, came in contact with the defendants in the furniture store between 8:30 and 9:00 A.M., July 7, 1970, at which time they came into the store through an open door located in the rear of the store. Other employees were in the store at the time. Danley Furniture Company had a disputed account with Brown. The other two defendants came with Brown, but not on business.

The manager of the furniture company was very hazy and indefinite in his testimony as to what occurred. The trial court sustained numerous objections to the manager’s testimony in his efforts to tell what happened. Brown in some way aroused the ire of the manager who told the three to get out of the store or he would call the police. The manager testified that one of the defendants, he would not say which, said to go ahead and call the police, that “they would take care of them, too.” Someone in the store did call the police.

Lieutenant Jack Smith, a Dothan police officer, responded to the call after being directed to do so by the desk sergeant. He got to the scene immediately after the defendants left the store and while they were in their automobile in an alley which led to the street. Being assured by someone in the store that the three in the automobile were the persons who had been in the store, the officer caught up with the retreating vehicle bearing the defendants and ordered them to pull over, which they did. The officer did not have a warrant for their arrest nor did he have a search warrant. He knew of the oral complaint that the manager made to the police office. The store manager later took out a city warrant for the arrest of the defendants, but not at the time the defendants were stopped and detained by the police officers, including Officer Halstead, who was patrolling on a motorcycle when Officer Smith beckoned him to the stopped automobile.

Lieutenant Smith testified that when he first saw the defendants, they were coming [83]*83from an alley into the street. He testified that he did not know “exactly” who they were and that he had never seem them before; that he did not have a warrant for their arrest; that they had not committed any misdemeanor in his presence; neither had they committed a felony at that time. He and Officer Halstead escorted them to the police station, but not, so Officer Smith testified, under arrest. The officers directed the defendant to follow them; one police vehicle was ahead and the other behind the automobile in which the defendants were riding.

It appears from Officer Smith’s testimony on voir dire examination by defendants that he requested Brown, who was driving the automobile bearing the defendants, to show him his driver’s license. Brown obeyed. Witness further testified that he saw Shipman shift some cellophane packages from one of his hands to the other and' then conceal them in his boot top. TKe witness responded to questions as follows :

“Q. All right. Had you searched the defendants before you took them to the police station?
“A. No, sir.
“A. The question was did I search them?
“Q. Yes?
“A. No sir.
“Q. Did anyone search them in your presence?
“A. Only to the extent that Officer Halstead reached into the boottop of Thearon Shipman and removed a package, cellophane wrappers, containing a white substance, which were held together with a rubber band.
“Q. All right. You say he reached into their boottops ?
“A. Yes, sir. I asked him to.
“Q. And to do that, did he have to raise his trouser legs ? He made a search of him, did he not?
“A. Yes, sir. The powder was concealed, but I saw him conceal it. I knew they were there.
“Q. Did you know what was in the package ?
“A. No, sir, I didn’t.
“Q. What side of the car were you standing on?
“A. The driver’s side.
“Q. All right.
“A. I had asked the driver for his driver’s license.
“Q. At that time, did you place him under arrest ?
“A. No, sir.
“Q. Did you place him under arrest before Mr. Halstead made the search?
“A. No, sir.
“Q. Did he have a search warrant?
“A. No, sir.”

On voir dire by the State the following occurred:

“Q. Could you tell what was in the cellophane papers that he had' — what did it appear to be to you ?
“A. Well, it appeared to be some white substance, and I had reason to believe it wasn’t headache powder.”

The powders were delivered to a state toxicologist who reported that they were heroin; also the toxicologist appeared in court at trial and gave like testimony. Following the report, Officer Smith took out a felony warrant for the defendants who were subsequently removed [84]*84by him from the city jail to the county jail for confinement. The witness testified that he never did arrest the defendants until the following day when he took out a felony warrant for them. That was after the toxicologist’s report was received.

There is no evidence in the record that either of the defendants, Brown or Davis, as distinguished from Shipman, had actual or constructive possession of the powders which the officers seized; nor is there evidence from which a lawful inference could be drawn that the two defendants, or either of them, had such possession. Nor does it appear that either aided or abetted such possession. Neither made an incriminating statement and neither attempted to flee or leave the scene. We think our pronouncement in Parks v. State, 46 Ala.App. 722, 248 So.2d 761(7), has application here. The defendant was convicted for unlawful possession of narcotics being transported in an automobile in which defendant was a passenger. We observed as follows:

“The proof introduced by the state showed that the accused was a passenger sitting on the right side of the front seat of an automobile being driven by another. The police testified they stopped the automobile because, ‘The vehicle was driving all over the road.’ The driver was placed under arrest for driving while intoxicated. There was no evidence of any incriminating statement by the accused, nor evidence of attempted flight after the detectives determined that the automobile contained narcotics.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hodges v. State
667 So. 2d 145 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1995)
McElroy v. State
469 So. 2d 1337 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1985)
Crafts v. State
439 So. 2d 1323 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1983)
German v. State
429 So. 2d 1138 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)
Murray v. State
396 So. 2d 125 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1980)
Foy v. State
387 So. 2d 321 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1980)
Nikolic v. State
384 So. 2d 1141 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1979)
People v. Pace
92 Cal. App. 3d 199 (California Court of Appeal, 1979)
Thomas v. State
353 So. 2d 54 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1977)
Knight v. State
346 So. 2d 478 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1977)
Shipman v. State
282 So. 2d 700 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
282 So. 2d 696, 51 Ala. App. 80, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shipman-v-state-alacrimapp-1973.