State v. Alcorn

741 S.W.2d 135, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2692, 1987 WL 21198
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 4, 1987
DocketNo. 01-86-0699-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 741 S.W.2d 135 (State v. Alcorn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Alcorn, 741 S.W.2d 135, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2692, 1987 WL 21198 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

BYERS, Judge.

The four defendants were tried by a jury on charges of conspiracy to sell or deliver, and possession with intent to sell or deliver, 30 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine. Upon conviction, the trial court imposed sentences in accordance with the Class X felony provisions of the Drug Control Act.

On appeal the defendants say the Class X provision is constitutionally defective in various ways, and say the trial court should have instructed the jury on lesser included offenses. In addition, appellant Clibum says his trial should have been severed; appellant Patterson says the jury was tainted by publicity about the drug related death of a prominent athlete; and appellant O’Quendo says the evidence is insufficient to support his conspiracy conviction.

The judgments are affirmed.

The prosecution of this case resulted from an undercover operation initiated by a paid government informant. The state’s proof was presented through the testimony of the informant, tape recorded conversations with defendants Patterson and Cli-bum, and the testimony of surveillance and arresting officers.

The transaction was initiated when the informant contacted Patterson in an effort to find a mutual acquaintance known to have access to cocaine. When this man could not be located, Patterson offered to arrange a deal through his cousin. After several aborted attempts the three met at an auto dealership in Nashville, where Patterson and his cousin, Clibum, worked. A number of other officers waited, and listened, nearby. According to the informant, Clibum made several phone calls to set-up the transaction, although these calls were not recorded.

Shortly, the three left in separate cars, with the informant following the others. After a drive of some distance, and with surveillance cars following, the men arrived at defendant Alcorn’s apartment and Patterson and Clibum entered. Alcom emerged and drove away in a small silver colored car, but returned within a short time. Patterson and Clibum reported that he was to meet a man in a Corvette, and later reported the supplier had called to say he did not recognize Alcorn’s car. Alcom returned empty-handed, and after a delay he left again, this time in Clibum’s vehicle. Officers saw the car, with headlights out, turn a comer out of their view. When the car emerged again, backing into the street and returning to the apartment parking area, it was followed closely by a Corvette driven by defendant O’Quendo. O’Quendo parked briefly, sounded his hom, then drove back to the street and parked.

Meanwhile, the informant and Patterson entered Alcorn’s car and examined the cocaine. When the informant returned to his own car for the purchase funds, officers moved in and made the arrests. A bag of white powder was found on the driver’s side of Alcorn’s car. A small quantity of white powder was found on O’Quendo’s person.

Test results, which were not disputed, showed the total weight of the substance in the bag to be 82.2 grams and the cocaine content to be 32.1 per cent. The amount of pure cocaine was calculated at 26.39 grams.

Patterson presented an entrapment defense. He testified that he had assisted in finding a cocaine source, but claimed he was threatened and harassed by the informant.

O’Quendo testified he was merely an innocent bystander, waiting in an out-of-the-way place to meet his girl friend. He admitted he knew Alcom, but denied any knowledge of the drug sale. The woman, who lived in Harriman at the time, corroborated his testimony. O’Quendo further admitted that several months before these events he had left his job as a restaurant manager and was not employed, and that he had purchased the Corvette in Harriman the day before the arrest, and had bought a small quantity of cocaine in Oak Ridge for personal use.

[138]*138Alcorn presented no defense. Cliburn did not testify, but elicited testimony from Patterson that he, Cliburn, acted only to help his cousin out and that he had no monetary, or other, interest in the transaction. His theory of defense was that, at most, the proof showed he introduced co-defendants Patterson and Alcorn and was motivated solely by concern for his cousin’s welfare. He further argued that because he remained in the apartment during the actual delivery of the cocaine, he was in no position to aid and abet.

The principal issues on appeal concern the validity of the statute that imposes significantly greater punishment for large scale dealing in cocaine, a Schedule II substance. T.C.A. § 39-6-417(a)(l)(B) prohibits possession with intent to sell “[a] controlled substance classified in schedule II” and provides for a prison term between four and ten years and a fine up to fifteen thousand dollars. The statute makes no reference to the weight of the substance.

T.C.A. § 39-6-417(c)(l)(E) (Supp.1986) is worded differently and makes it a Class X felony to possess with intent to sell, or to conspire to do so, “[t]hirty grams or more of any substance containing cocaine.” A violation of this section is punishable by a term between ten years and life and a fine up to two hundred thousand dollars. T.C. A. § 39-6-417(c)(2).

The defendants were indicted under the Class X provision. When discovery disclosed the amount of pure cocaine seized was less than thirty grams, they moved to dismiss the Class X portion of the charge. The motion relied on an unpublished opinion of this Court in State v. Larry Holley, No. 6 (Tenn.Cr.App., Jackson, March 24, 1983).

The Holley case involved a catchall provision that dealt with “[t]wo hundred (200) grams or more of any controlled substance classified in schedules I or II” and not otherwise included in the Class X list. The substance at issue was seized in pill form, and the state failed to prove, by quantitative analysis or other means, the amount of pure scheduled substance within the pills. We held that “any controlled substance” referred to the pure form of the drug itself and reduced the sentence.

Shortly after the Holley decision, the Legislature revised subsection (c) and changed the wording of the catchall provision to conform to the language of the other Class X prohibitions. It now refers to “any substance containing [an unlisted substance],” as does the provision governing the possession of cocaine in this case. Compare T.C.A. § 39-6-417(c)(l)(L) (Supp. 1986) with T.C.A. § 52-1432(c)(l)(H) (Supp. 1982).

The trial court found, as do we, a clear Legislative intent to avoid the result in the Holley case and to include the weight of the cutting agent or medium along with the weight of the scheduled substance. This construction is consistent with common usage also. The word “contain” may mean “include,” “comprise,” or “consist of wholly or in part.” See The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1973); Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1976).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
741 S.W.2d 135, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2692, 1987 WL 21198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alcorn-tenncrimapp-1987.