State v. Ness

635 P.2d 1025, 54 Or. App. 530, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3571
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 2, 1981
Docket10-79-04277, CA 17831
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 635 P.2d 1025 (State v. Ness) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Ness, 635 P.2d 1025, 54 Or. App. 530, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3571 (Or. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

*532 VAN HOOMISSEN, J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction on seven counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and two counts of unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance. ORS. 475.992. 1 He contends the trial court erred: (D in denying his motion to suppress, (2) in giving jury instructions prior to closing arguments, (3) in instructing the jury, (4) in sentencing him on each of the separate counts of manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance, (5) in imposing a fine of $4,000, and (6) in imposing an excessive sentence.

FACTS

At 1:30 a.m. on April 11, 1979, police executed a search warrant at defendant’s residence in Creswell. No sounds, lights or other evidence of activity emanated from the house. The occupants of the house were asleep. The warrant authorized a search for marijuana and "evidence of its use and possession.” During the search, police seized contraband and $2,900 in cash. Defendant subsequently was charged with two counts of manufacturing and seven counts of possession of controlled substances. After his motion to suppress was denied, a jury found him guilty on all nine counts.

The trial court sentenced defendant to imprisonment not to exceed five years on each of the two manufacturing counts, the sentences to run concurrently, and not to exceed five years on each of the seven possession counts, those sentences to run concurrently, but consecutive to the manufacturing sentences. The court set a three-year minimum term before parole. ORS 144.110(1). The prosecutor recommended that the seized $2,900 be forfeited as money gained through the commission of a felony and that, in *533 addition, a fine of $1,100 be imposed. ORS 161.625. 2 The court thereupon assessed a fine of $4,000 "as recommended by the State.”

MOTION TO SUPPRESS

Defendant contends that his motion to suppress should have been allowed on three grounds. First, he argues that the language of the warrant allowing for a search for marijuana or "evidence of its use or possession” was overbroad and thus in violation of the particularity requirement of both our state and federal constitutions. 3 There is no merit to this contention. State v. Olson, 15 Or App 393, 515 P2d 1342 (1973). 4

*534 Second, he argues that the endorsement on the warrant for a nighttime search was improperly made by the issuing judge. In State v. Brock, 53 Or App 785, 633 P2d 805 (1981), we held that ORS 133.565(3) allows a judge to issue a warrant allowing nighttime execution only on the basis of circumstances presented during the application process showing the necessity for a nighttime search. However, in Brock we also held that objects seized during execution of a warrant issued in violation of that rule need not always be suppressed. Execution of a search warrant at night never has been held to be unconstitutional per se, and the record here discloses no aggravating circumstances showing any basis for suppression. State v. Brock, supra.

Third, he argues that the police lacked probable cause to make a warrantless seizure of any drugs other than marijuana. We find otherwise. The warrant authorized a search for marijuana. Mescaline, peyote, cocaine, psilocybin and LSD were also seized. Defendant contends that the searching officers lacked probable cause to seize those drugs, in that they were not readily identifiable as contraband. Probable cause may arise from the synthesis of what experienced police officers know and observe. State v. Elkins, 245 Or 279, 422 P2d 250 (1966); State v. Ronniger, 7 Or App 447, 492 P2d 298 (1971). Here, the seizing officers had extensive training and experience in the identification of the drugs seized. Police may rely upon the totality of the circumstances in deciding whether or not to seize suspected items, and a "pattern of illegality” may be considered. State v. Callaghan, 33 Or App 49, 55, 576 P2d 14, rev den 284 Or 1 (1978). The easily-identified marijuana found throughout the premises added weight to the police’s suspicions that the other items seized were also controlled substances. "[P]olice are entitled to use common sense in dealing with seizable articles which lawfully come to their attention.” State v. Johnson, 232 Or 118, 122, 374 P2d 481 (1962). The pills and powders seized were not packaged in standard prescription-type containers. Other identifiable illicit drugs were found on the premises. The police were familiar with the type of drugs seized. The officers’ beliefs about what they found were sufficiently *535 well-founded to give them probable cause to seize the drugs used as evidence in these cases.

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

Defendant next claims as error the giving of jury instructions prior to counsels’ closing arguments. 5 Defendant argues that "allowing the prosecutor’s argument to be the last thing heard by the jury before their deliberations” was prejudicial, but makes no affirmative showing of any prejudice. The practice of instructing jurors before closing arguments is favored by some Oregon lawyers and judges. Under ORCP 58B, made applicable to criminal trials by ORS 136.330, either the prosecutor or the defendant may make the last argument if "the court for good and sufficient reason” so directs. Here, the trial judge, a regular circuit court judge from another district sitting in Lane County, advised the jury:

"* * * I’m going to do something a little different than some of the local judges do. I’m going to instruct you first before we have arguments because I think it makes more sense for you to know what the law is as counsel is arguing to you rather than the other way around.”

Included in the instructions that followed was the standard instruction that the arguments and statements of counsel were not evidence in the case but could be used to assist the jurors in evaluating the evidence presented at trial. The trial court felt the jurors would be less likely to be confused or misled by counsel’s arguments if they knew *536 what the law was before hearing those arguments. Defendant has demonstrated no prejudice as a result of the trial court’s exercise of its discretion. Oregon Constitution Art VII (Amended), § 3; ORS 19.125(2).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
635 P.2d 1025, 54 Or. App. 530, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ness-orctapp-1981.