State v. Johnson

371 S.E.2d 340, 179 W. Va. 619, 1988 W. Va. LEXIS 88
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1988
Docket17530
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 371 S.E.2d 340 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia 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. Johnson, 371 S.E.2d 340, 179 W. Va. 619, 1988 W. Va. LEXIS 88 (W. Va. 1988).

Opinion

MILLER, Justice:

In this appeal from four felony convictions in the Circuit Court of Pendleton County, the defendant, Tim Johnson, contends the trial court committed instructional and evidentiary errors requiring the reversal of his convictions. The defendant further contends that his multiple convictions violate established double jeopardy principles. With the exception of one conspiracy count, we affirm his convictions.

I.

It is undisputed that during the early morning hours of December 24, 1985, Sarah Pope Barger, a codefendant, entered the Center Food Market in Brandywine, Pen-dleton County, West Virginia, and took several hundred dollars from the cash register. She then returned home where she gave all the stolen money to her husband, Marc Barger. This store was owned by Mrs. Barger’s parents.

The defendant, who was alleged to have participated in the breaking and entering of the store, was charged in separate counts with breaking and entering, grand larceny, conspiracy to commit breaking and entering, and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. The State introduced evidence at trial to show the motive for the breaking and entering and larceny was to obtain money to buy illegal controlled substances.

The State’s first witness was Trooper D.I. Pyle of the West Virginia Department of Public Safety who testified that his investigation had revealed a forced entry into the store. He subsequently questioned Mrs. Barger who had admitted to the use of illegal drugs, and obtained two confessions from her, the second of which implicated the defendant.

On cross-examination, Trooper Pyle disclosed that Mrs. Barger had also been charged with a subsequent breaking and entering of her parents’ home which occurred in January, 1986. It was after her *623 arrest on that charge that she made two confessions concerning the breaking and entering of the store. In her initial confession, she implicated her husband, stating that they had a fight on the evening of December 23, 1985, concerning the fact that they did not have enough money to buy Christmas presents for everyone. After her husband questioned her about whether she could obtain access to her parents’ store, she broke into the store and gave him the four to five hundred dollars she had taken. No mention was made in this confession of the defendant’s participation. Trooper Pyle also stated on cross-examination that Mrs. Barger had admitted her use of illegal drugs.

Mr. and Mrs. Pope, the owners of the store, were then called as witnesses. Mr. Pope testified that he had reluctantly filed criminal charges against his daughter in connection with the robbery of the store and expressed the belief that she had broken into the store because she was “hooked” on drugs. Mrs. Pope stated that her daughter on numerous occasions had taken money and merchandise from the store during the year preceding the robbery because of her drug dependency.

The State then called Anita Bowers, who testified that she and her boyfriend, “B.B.” Harris, had lived in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at the time the store was robbed, and that they were friends with Mrs. Barger and her husband, Marc. Over a general objection, she was permitted to testify that she had “partied” with the defendant and the Bargers, an apparent reference to the recreational use of drugs. She then testified, over an objection that her testimony related to a collateral crime, that at around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. on December 24, 1985, Marc Barger and the defendant had visited her residence in Virginia for the purpose of buying drugs from her boyfriend.

The trial court at the conclusion of Ms. Bowers’ direct testimony instructed the jury that whatever had happened in Virginia was only admissible for the purpose of showing the defendant’s motive, if any, for participating in the acts alleged and could not be considered for any other purpose.

On cross-examination, Ms. Bowers admitted that her boyfriend had been selling a number of illegal drugs and had supplied Mrs. Barger with methamphetamines. In order to impeach her credibility, she was questioned at length concerning her drug use in general and whether she had been using drugs the morning when the defendant and Mr. Barger had allegedly sought to purchase drugs from her boyfriend. Defense counsel also questioned her about the fact that no criminal charges had ever been brought against her.

Sarah Pope Barger, the State’s final witness, testified that she and her husband had an argument during the evening hours of December 23, 1985, about not having enough money for Christmas presents. Her husband had left in anger at about 10:30 p.m. and returned around midnight with the defendant. After a few minutes, the defendant had asked, obviously referring to her parents’ store: “Could we go and rob the big bank tonight?” Fearing she would be caught, she initially refused to commit the robbery, but was eventually persuaded by her husband to do it.

After about an hour and a half of discussion, she and the defendant set out to rob the store. After some surveillance of the store and her parents’ home which was located nearby, they returned home and she told her husband she was going to attempt the robbery. The defendant then drove her to the store and waited in the car while she broke in and took the money. Upon returning home she gave all the money to her husband who, along with the defendant, left indicating they planned to drive to Virginia to buy drugs. She admitted that part of the reason for the commission of the crime was to obtain money to purchase drugs.

On cross-examination, defense counsel questioned Mrs. Barger concerning the fact that she had not mentioned the defendant in any way in her initial written confession. His cross-examination revealed that it was not until several days later, after she had been arrested, placed in jail, and been appointed counsel, that she first implicated the defendant. Defense counsel also high *624 lighted the inconsistencies between her trial testimony and her statements to the police. She acknowledged that the defendant did not receive any of the stolen money, and that when her husband had returned home on the afternoon of December 24, 1985, he still had nearly all the money and had not purchased any drugs. She also admitted that she had robbed her parents on a number of occasions and that some of the stolen property had been used to pay off drug debts she and her husband had incurred.

The defendant presented six witnesses and testified on his own behalf in support of an alibi defense. He explained that he and Marc Barger had gone to Harrison-burg to do some Christmas shopping on December 23, 1985, and he returned home by 8:00 p.m. At about 10:00 p.m., Mr. Barger stopped by his residence and within half an hour they had decided to go to Mr. Barger’s house to drink some imported beer.

After they arrived Mr. Barger and his wife became engaged in an argument about her allegedly having an affair with “B.B.” Harris. The defendant eventually grew weary of the argument and after drinking some beer asked for a ride home. Mr. Barger told his wife to drive him home. They left at about 2:15 a.m. and she let him drive their new car. Shortly after their departure, she told him to drive her by her parents’ store so she could get something to drink. She entered the store and came out with two Pepsis and then insisted that he drive her home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
371 S.E.2d 340, 179 W. Va. 619, 1988 W. Va. LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-wva-1988.