State v. Franco

289 P. 100, 76 Utah 202, 1930 Utah LEXIS 56
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 1930
DocketNo. 4981.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 289 P. 100 (State v. Franco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah 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. Franco, 289 P. 100, 76 Utah 202, 1930 Utah LEXIS 56 (Utah 1930).

Opinion

*204 FOLLAND, J.

Defendant was charged and convicted of the crime of unlawful possession of marijuana. The evidence shows that two regular police officers of Salt Lake City, a special officer of the city, and an undercover man went to the place of business of defendant, a restaurant operated by him on West Second South street, of Salt Lake City. The officers took the numbers of three $5 bills which were handed to the undercover man, who then went into the restaurant, and obtained a package containing three cans of what was testified to be marijuana. The officers were stationed across the street, and from that place watched the transaction. The defendant, after the undercover man first spoke to him, went in the direction of a stairway leading to the basement. No witness could testify that he went into the basement, but he was gone for a period of a minute or two, and then returned with the package which he delivered to the undercover man and received two $5 bills which he put in his cash register and gave $4 change. The officers immediately entered the restaurant, served a search and seizure warrant, and made a search of the place. In the basement they found bottles of intoxicating liquor in suitcases, and also a sack containing several pounds of marijuana. The sacks obtained from the basement, the cans purchased by the undercover man, and the two $5 bills from the cash register were introduced in evidence.

Numerous alleged errors are assigned. We shall discuss the more important of them.

Defendant requested the following instruction to be given to the jury. This was refused, and the refusal is assigned as error.

“You are further instructed that if the police officers, as they testified, paid a naan to go down to the defendant’s place of business and induce or procure the defendant to commit a crime which he would not have committed had this undercover man not persuaded or induced him to do so, then your verdict should be not guilty.”

*205 Defendant cites State v. McCornish, 59 Utah 58, 201 P. 687.

The facts of the McCornish Case are quite different from those present in this case. Here there was no evidence that either the officers or the undercover man induced or procured the defendant to commit a crime. It is true defendant testified that the undercover man came to his place of business in the morning and asked him to procure some medicinal herbs such as he, the defendant, had used for his wife for rheumatism which defendant said was called mariola. The record, however, is entirely silent that either the police or the undercover man had ever requested the defendant to obtain possession of marijuana. The evidence satisfactorily shows that it was marijuana which the defendant handed to the undercover man, and that it was marijuana which was found in the basement. It has been settled in this state that, where officers merely go to a place of business and ask for a product which may not lawfully be sold, and which is produced and delivered in the ordinary course of business, such is not an inducement or procurement of another to commit a crime. Salt Lake City v. Robinson, 40 Utah 448, 125 P. 657. The request does not accurately reflect the evidence. There is no evidence that the police officers paid the undercover man to “induce or procure” the defendant to commit a crime.

Assignment of error No. 4 raises the question whether defendant was entitled to have his request on the subject of circumstantial evidence given in the exact language requested. The request is as follows:

“You are further instructed that when the state relies upon circumstantial evidence for conviction it is incumbent upon the state to produce such facts and circumstances as are incompatible upon any reasonable hypothesis with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon any reasonable hypothesis other than defendant’s guilt.”

The request was refused but the court gave the following:

“You are further instructed that when the state relies upon circumstantial evidence for a conviction the chain of circumstances must *206 be such as to exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of defendant’s guilt of the offense charged. That every circumstance constituting a necessary link in the chain of evidence must be consistent with the defendant’s guilt and inconsistent with his innocence.”

The instruction given correctly states the law on this subject. State v. Crawford, 59 Utah 39, 201 P. 1030; State v. Merritt, 67 Utah 325, 247 P. 497. An instruction need not be given in the exact form requested. It is sufficient if it substantially and accurately states the law.

Error is assigned because of the court’s refusal to grant defendant’s request for a directed verdict. Under this assignment it is argued that there is no competent evidence that defendant ever rented the basement in which the sack of marijuana was found. The question whether or not defendant had unlawful possession of marijuana does not depend solely upon the rental of the basement by him. The basement was under the restaurant, and accessible only through the restaurant. No one could go into the basement without first going through some part of the restaurant premises. The door from the restaurant to the basement was kept unlocked. The landlord testified the basement had been rented to defendant with the restaurant. This was denied by defendant, and the landlord, on cross-examination, said there was no conversation had about the basement at the time of the rental of the premises. The officers testified that, when the undercover man first spoke to defendant, the defendant was behind the counter, and that he then went directly to the head of the basement stairs, and was gone for a minute or two. The building was so constructed that they could not see from where they stood whether the defendant went into the basement or not. When he returned, defendant had in his hands the package which he delivered to the undercover man, and which was found to contain marijuana. The officers went into the basement, and, after some little searching, found the sack of marijuana behind a cement wall and between certain of the joists. The *207 ceiling of the basement was covered with cobwebs except at the place where the marijuana was found. We think all of the circumstances sufficient to connect the defendant with the marijuana found in the basement. State v. Brown (Utah) 266 P. 716.

It is further objected that one of the officers said the cans of marijuana handed to the undercover man were wrapped in a newspaper, while another officer said they were in a little paper sack. This discrepancy in the evidence with regard to the manner in which the cans were wrapped does not destroy the evidence, but merely goes to the weight to be given it by the jury.

Objections were made to the testimony of the officers that the stuff contained in the sack and in the cans was marijuana on the ground that the witnesses were not qualified to state what the substance was. The rulings on these objections are assigned as error.

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Related

State v. Swain
520 P.2d 950 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1974)
Sims v. State
499 S.W.2d 54 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1973)
State v. Navaro
26 P.2d 955 (Utah Supreme Court, 1933)
O'BRIEN v. United States
51 F.2d 674 (Seventh Circuit, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 P. 100, 76 Utah 202, 1930 Utah LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-franco-utah-1930.