State v. Briner

831 P.2d 1365, 253 Mont. 158, 49 State Rptr. 402, 1992 Mont. LEXIS 119
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 5, 1992
Docket91-091
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 831 P.2d 1365 (State v. Briner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Briner, 831 P.2d 1365, 253 Mont. 158, 49 State Rptr. 402, 1992 Mont. LEXIS 119 (Mo. 1992).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE TURNAGE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Donald Briner appeals his conviction on two counts of felony sale of dangerous drugs after a jury trial in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court, Yellowstone County. We affirm.

The issues are:

1. Did the District Court err in refusing to allow the defense to inspect Turner’s statement to the police at the pretrial hearing?

2. Did the court err in denying Briner’s request for a continuance when witness Turner was granted immunity?

*160 3. Were the two packets of methamphetamine improperly admitted into evidence because there was no proof of chain of custody?

4. Did the court err in instructing the jury on the mental states of “knowingly” and “purposely”?

5. Does outrageous government misconduct bar this conviction?

6. Was the methamphetamine here involved properly designated a Schedule II dangerous drug?

In December 1988, Hal Turner, who described himself as having previously led a “life of crime” and who had been on parole since 1987, offered to become a confidential informant for law enforcement in Yellowstone County, Montana. Turner became an informant because he “wanted to change [his] life and [he] figured that was the best way to do it, doing something good finally.”

Turner began working as an informant for Yellowstone County law enforcement in January 1989 and continued through September or October 1989. He also began working for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration at approximately the same time. The major drug bust operation in which Turner was involved was dubbed “Operation Snowball.” Approximately seventy drug cases were involved in Operation Snowball, and Turner was involved in as many as forty to fifty of them. He was considered an extremely reliable informant.

Prior to working as an informant, Turner made a statement to the Drug Enforcement Division of Yellowstone County describing his acquaintances, the people from whom he had purchased drugs, and the people from whom he could purchase drugs in the future. Donald Briner was mentioned in this statement.

On July 28,1989, the police initiated a drug purchase from Donald Briner. Two Yellowstone County deputy sheriffs met informant Turner at a parking lot in Billings. They searched Turner and his car for contraband, put a transmitter on him, and gave him some silver coins with which to make the purchase.

Turner was instructed to go to a local bar to attempt to make contact with Briner. He went to the bar but did not find Briner there. He then left the bar and drove by the deputy sheriffs, who told him to go to Briner’s residence, a trailer located at the Big Sky Campground.

Turner went to Briner’s trailer, knocked on the door, and entered the trailer. Inside, Briner sold Turner three and one-half grams of “crank,” or methamphetamine. These activities were monitored by the deputies, who were listening to the transmitter about 300 yards *161 from the trailer. Turner left the Briner residence, met the deputies at a prearranged location, and turned over the methamphetamine. The deputies then searched Turner and his vehicle again. A field test of the substance Turner purchased from Briner confirmed that it was methamphetamine. Testing at the State Crime Lab also showed that the substance was methamphetamine.

On July 31, 1989, a similar transaction took place. Two deputy sheriffs met Turner, searched him and his car, wired him with a transmitter, and gave him some silver. While being monitored, Turner went to Briner’s trailer and purchased from Briner about two grams of a substance later identified both in a field test and by the State Crime Lab as methamphetamine. After leaving Briner’s trailer, Turner went directly to a predesignated location where he gave the deputies the methamphetamine and where both he and his car were searched again.

Based upon the above evidence, the jury found Briner guilty of two counts of sale of dangerous drugs.

I

Did the District Court err in refusing to allow the defense to inspect Turner’s statement to the police at the pretrial hearing?

The District Court held a pretrial hearing to consider a number of motions then before it. These included defense motions to dismiss the charges against Briner on grounds of entrapment and prosecutorial misconduct and to allow the defense access to a seventy-page statement Turner had given to the police. The principal ground argued for several of the motions was Turner’s criminal activities during the time he was acting as an informant. Turner admitted to drug use, theft, trading drugs for sex, and violations of the terms of his parole, among other crimes, during the months he was acting as an informant for federal and state authorities.

The day before he testified at the pretrial hearing, Turner refreshed his memory by reading the seventy-page statement he had previously made to authorities. During his testimony he acknowledged that he had so used the statement. The defense requested that the statement be produced. After eliciting Turner’s testimony that he had never before reviewed or signed the seventy-page statement, the court denied the motion to produce.

Briner’s argument is based on Rule 612, M.R.Evid., which provides in part:

*162 If a witness uses a writing to refresh memory for the purpose of testifying, either
(1) while testifying, or
(2) before testifying, if the Court in its discretion determines it is necessary in the interests of justice, an adverse party is entitled to have the writing produced at the hearing, to inspect it, to cross-examine the witness thereon, and to introduce into evidence those portions which relate to the testimony of the witness ...
Briner claims that, in order to properly cross-examine Turner for purposes of the pretrial motions, he should have been allowed to examine Turner’s seventy-page statement.

At the pretrial hearing, one issue before the court was whether the defense should be given access to Turner’s statement. It would have been nonsensical to allow the defense access to the statement at the same hearing at which defense access to the statement was an issue before the court.

Under Rule 612, M.R.Evid., it is within the discretion of the district court whether, in the interest of justice, an adverse party should have access to a statement used by a witness to refresh memory. Briner has not specified anything in Turner’s statement which would have aided his already extensive cross-examination of Turner at the pretrial hearing. Also, as a result of the pretrial hearing, the court granted Briner’s motion for discovery of the seventy-page statement by Turner. After the hearing, and well before the trial in this matter, the defense was provided with a copy of the statement.

We hold that the District Court did not err in refusing to allow Briner’s counsel to inspect Turner’s statement at the pretrial hearing.

II

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
831 P.2d 1365, 253 Mont. 158, 49 State Rptr. 402, 1992 Mont. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-briner-mont-1992.