State v. Kittrell

678 A.2d 209, 145 N.J. 112, 1996 N.J. LEXIS 891
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJuly 3, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 678 A.2d 209 (State v. Kittrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Kittrell, 678 A.2d 209, 145 N.J. 112, 1996 N.J. LEXIS 891 (N.J. 1996).

Opinions

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

[116]*116GARIBALDI, J.

This appeal concerns the application of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-4, entitled, “Maintaining or operating a controlled dangerous substance production facility” and requires the Court to determine whether cutting and repackaging crack cocaine inside the apartment of another is sufficient to sustain a conviction under that statute.

I

For over a year, and usually at night, Detective Robert Wright of the Hackensack Police Department, Narcotics Division, observed defendant, Harry Kittrell, standing outside an apartment complex located at 69 Railroad Avenue in Hackensack, notwithstanding the fact that his last known address was on Pine Street (located at the opposite side of the city). Detective Wright also frequently observed defendant in the hallways of the building on 69 Railroad Avenue or entering apartment A-l on the first floor. Albertina Brown lived in Apt. A-l.

The apartment complex located at 69 Railroad Avenue is a three story walk-up with six apartments on each floor. The only entrance to the building is located approximately 15-20 feet from the street and is well illuminated by street lights. The area surrounding and including 69 Railroad Avenue is located in a high drug distribution area and the Hackensack Narcotics Division has made hundreds of drug arrests there. Based upon confidential information from informants and his own observations of defendant, Detective Wright sought and obtained a search warrant for Apt. A-l on September 13,1991.

At trial, Detective Wright testified that at approximately 11:30 p.m. on September 13, 1991, he, along with at least five other officers, began surveillance of 69 Railroad Avenue. Detective Wright was stationed with Detective Sergeant Albert Gutierrez in a van parked about fifty feet from the entrance of 69 Railroad Avenue. The officers were equipped with binoculars to conduct the surveillance.

[117]*117Near midnight, a brown car driven by a female, who was later identified as Makeba Drayton, and with defendant in the passenger seat, arrived and parked in front of the building. The officers in the van stated that defendant exited the car and entered the buildihg, emerging a few minutes later. The officers testified that defendant placed an object on a ledge under an air conditioner in a window to Albertina Brown’s apartment before returning to the car.

Officer Gutierrez testified that an unidentified male approached the passenger side of Drayton’s car approximately ten minutes after defendant exited the building and re-entered the car. After a brief conversation between defendant and the male, defendant exited the car, went to the air conditioner, removed an object from underneath it, walked back to the other man, and exchanged whatever he had removed from under the air conditionér • for “what appeared to be money.” Defendant then rejoined Drayton in the car.

Officer Wright testified that he observed a similar transaction around 12:20 a.m. The detective testified that at about 12:20 a.m. on what was then September 14, 1991, a second unknown man, wearing a yellow shirt, walked up to the passenger side of Drayton’s car and spoke to defendant. Again, after a brief conversation, defendant exited the car, walked to the air conditioner and removed something. After observing this, Detective Wright radioed to other police units for assistance in executing the warrant.

Two officers and a detective responded to Wright’s call. One officer detained defendant, and Detective Wright removed four small blue bags of what appeared to be cocaine from underneath the air conditioner. The officers arrested defendant after a cursory search uncovered $15 and a pager.

Following defendant’s arrest, the police conducted a search of Albertina Brown’s apartment. The police discovered Albertina Brown, Robert Clark (defendant’s cousin) and a small child inside apartment A-l. These individuals were detained in the living room [118]*118while the officers conducted a search of the apartment. Officer Kevin O’Boyle conducted a search of Brown’s bathroom and found a brown eyeglass holder on the top of the medicine cabinet. He discovered a number of small plastic bags containing what appeared to be cocaine inside the holder. No other contraband was found in the apartment.

A laboratory certificate described the substances seized from the eyeglass holder as: (1) 22 blue topped vials, containing a total of 1.53 grams of cocaine; (2) 16 yellow plastic bags, totalling 1.2 grams of cocaine; (3) 50 blue plastic bags totalling 1.08 grams of cocaine; and (4) a bag of marijuana certified to contain .53 grams. The four blue bags retrieved from under the air conditioner were certified to contain a total of .10 grams of cocaine. The total amount of cocaine retrieved from the apartment and from underneath the air conditioner was 3.83 grams.

Albertina Brown was arrested and brought to police headquarters. Robert Clark was released. At the police headquarters, Brown gave the following statement to the police:

I was in my apartment and you guys came in. You guys found some crack in my bathroom. The crack was not mine. It was Harry’s. He just left the apartment. I’m not going to take the weight this time for Harry. He was in my apartment tonight and was in my bathroom. I let him use my apartment to cut up his crack but none of the crack you found is mine. I used to sell crack for Harry but I got caught and am doing probation. I am not going to take the weight for Harry again. He makes all the money and I go to jail. The crack you found is Harry’s. He buys it in New York and cuts it up in my apartment. I do not sell crack anymore. He likes to keep his stash in my apartment. He keeps a small supply on him, or in my mailbox, or under the air conditioner. If he gets caught he would only be caught with possession instead of distribution. He has people selling for him all around town. He likes to threaten everyone in the projects. But I’m not afraid. I’m not going to take his weight. Everyone that sells for Harry is afraid to testify against him because of his size and he has guns. I ain’t afraid to testify. No way am I going to take his weight again.

On December 5, 1991, the Grand Jury indicted defendant, Harry Kittrell, and co-defendant, Albertina Brown. The indictment charged defendant with maintaining or operating a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) facility, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-4 (count one); possession of a CDS, cocaine, contrary to

[119]*119N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10a(l) (counts three and five); and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5a(l) and 5b(3) (counts two and four).

Co-defendant Brown pled guilty to reduced charges and was a witness for the state. However, when Brown was called to testify, she repudiated the statement she had given at police headquarters and contended that Wright, after reading her rights tc her, had her sign a blank piece of paper. She understood that if she signed the paper she could leave the headquarters. She denied telling Wright that defendant left crack in her apartment on the night of the arrest. Brown did testify, however, that defendant was in her apartment earlier in the day, but did not remember whether he had used the bathroom where the narcotics were found.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
678 A.2d 209, 145 N.J. 112, 1996 N.J. LEXIS 891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kittrell-nj-1996.