State v. Johnson

728 S.W.2d 675, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 3921
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided April 9, 1987·No. 14262·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

DOUGLAS E. LONG, Jr., Special Judge.

Appellant George W. Johnson was convicted of selling methamphetamine after a jury trial and sentenced to serve a term of twenty years. Appellant raises two points on this appeal.

Jack Merritt, a Corporal with the Missouri State Highway Patrol was working an undercover operation in Seymour, Missouri. A confidential informant introduced Merritt to one Carl Milligan who said he knew someone who would sell Merritt some “crank” or “crystal”, slang terminology for methamphetamine. Merritt went with his informant and Milligan to the apartment of appellant, who was there discussing a large quantity of marijuana he said he could truck in from out-of-state. The conversation turned to methamphetamine and appellant produced a vial of white substance which he said was a sample of the quality he could acquire. Merritt pretended to use the substance to determine its property and worth. Price was discussed and appellant left with Milligan, agreeing to meet with Merritt and the informant later again that night. Appellant rejoined Merritt and the informant at the Seymour Inn and asked if they would be interested in a smaller measure of crystal or crank. Merritt agreed to purchase three grams, whereupon appellant said he would need an advance of $100 before he could “go buy it”, and $200 more when he returned with the substance. When appellant came back the second time he gave Merritt three vials of a white powdery substance and phone numbers to set up future transactions. Merritt paid the additional $200 and drove off with the evidence. He returned to appellant’s abode with the Sheriffs Department to serve the warrant for appellant’s arrest. Subsequent laboratory testing indicated that the white powdery substance was methamphetamine.

In his first point presented for our review the appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling a motion in limine and then in permitting evidence of test results to be considered by the jury when the state failed to lay an evidentiary foundation.

In State v. Williamson, 595 S.W.2d 4 (Mo.App.1979), the State’s witness had been employed by the St. Louis Police Department for 9½ years. He was well qualified by training and experience to conduct chemical analysis and present his reports to the court. The defendant challenged both his credentials and his drug analysis. The court said, “Mr. Stevens related in substantial detail the type of tests conducted in preparing the analysis report on the item suspected of being a controlled substance.” He testified that he conducted tests which revealed the nature of the drug to be phen-metrazine. The analysis was admitted in evidence for the purpose of showing the nature of the drug. Although Stevens did not exactly remember “doing each of the specific tests” he was steadfast in his assertion that all analytical tests which he enumerated and described were invariably performed where phenmetrazine was suspected. He was also unequivocal in stating that the tests revealed the presence of phenmetrazine. The reviewing court affirmed the trial court’s decision to accept his credentials and found his testimony sufficient to establish the presence of phenme-trazine.

Five tests were performed on the substance taken from appellant. Afton Ware, a chemist employed by the Highway Patrol for 22 years, testified that to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty in his opinion the substance was methamphetamine. He was qualified by education and experience to offer his expert opinion to the jury and his credentials were unchallenged. He conducted five separate tests to confirm that the suspect powder was methamphetamine and based his opinion upon all of the tests. He did not equivocate in spite of the defense attorney’s efforts on cross-examination to maneuver him into saying that he based his findings on the spectrophotometer alone, and that this apparatus had not been adequately checked before the final test. On the con *677 trary, the witness steadfastly maintained that the report was based on all five tests and that as far as he knew, the machine had been checked. This testimony was sufficient to establish that the white powdery substance sold to Officer Merritt by appellant was methamphetamine.

Appellant complains that this evidence lacked foundation because there was no evidence that the device used for the infrared spectrophotometry test was checked. He cites us to State v. Deimeke, 500 S.W.2d 257 (Mo.App.1973) and State v. Young, 525 S.W.2d 440 (Mo.App.1975). In Deimeke evidence came in over a continuing objection that the test was conducted on a machine which was inaccurate and not functioning properly. In Young, the State’s evidence conclusively showed that the reading of the breathalyzer machine was inaccurate. In the instant case there was no evidence that the infrared spectrophotometer of which appellant complains, was not operating properly.

In State v. Means, 628 S.W.2d 426 (Mo.App.1982), the appellant argued that the State should first have shown that the instruments used by a criminalist were working properly, but the Eastern District Court of Appeals found that situation wholly dissimilar from radar cases. In a radar case the officer can only testify to what the meter indicates, but with neutron activation analysis the criminalist would use her own knowledge of science in determining what elements would be present in a glass sample.

This same rationale was used again by the reviewing court when the appellant complained of the method of conducting blood tests. Defendant contended that a proper foundation had not been laid for the admission of the tests but the court found this argument to be without merit. These contentions go not to the admissibility of the evidence but to its weight, and the weight to be accorded evidence is for the jury to determine. State v. Edwards, 641 S.W.2d 826 (Mo.App.1982).

Appellant also cites us to City of Ballwin v. Collins, 534 S.W.2d 280 (Mo.App.1976), but unconvincingly. In that case the court considered the accuracy of a radar gun used to determine the defendant’s speed. The appellate court reversed because the radar device had not been previously tested. We are not persuaded that radar tests for speeding automobiles are analogous to laboratory analysis where the accuracy of the test result is dependent not solely upon the accuracy of a single testing device, but relies upon five separate tests and the professional expertise of the chemist. In radar cases the operator can testify only to what speed the meter indicates whereas the criminalist uses his own knowledge of science to reach a conclusion as to the nature of an unknown substance. State v. Cannady, 660 S.W.2d 33 (Mo.App. 1983). But even if we allowed that the situations were sufficiently similar, all of the evidence in the case at bar was consistent with the proper functioning of the machine.

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State v. Johnson, 728 S.W.2d 675, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 3921 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).

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