State v. Pierce

283 N.W.2d 6, 204 Neb. 433, 1979 Neb. LEXIS 1146
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 21, 1979
Docket42462
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 283 N.W.2d 6 (State v. Pierce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska 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. Pierce, 283 N.W.2d 6, 204 Neb. 433, 1979 Neb. LEXIS 1146 (Neb. 1979).

Opinions

Per Curiam.

This is an appeal from a jury conviction of unlawfully delivering a controlled substance, amphetamines, under section 28-4,125, R. R. S. 1943; a finding that defendant was an habitual criminal under the provisions of section 29-2221, R. R. S. 1943; a sentence of 12 years imprisonment in the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex; and an overruling of defendant’s amended motion for new trial.

Defendant was charged in an amended information, count I, that on or about June 7, 1978, he unlawfully assaulted Kirk Cross with intent to inflict great bodily injury contrary to section 28-413, R. R. S. 1943, and count II, that on the same date he unlawfully and knowingly delivered to Kirk Cross a controlled substance, amphetamines. In addition, each count recited that the defendant, on July 14, 1976, had been convicted of the crime of burglary and sentenced to a term of 18 months, and on the same date had been convicted of the crime of grand larceny and sentenced to a concurrent prison term of 1 year, and [435]*435that by reason of such convictions the defendant is deemed to be an habitual criminal.

As indicated, the case was tried to a jury and the State’s principal witness was Kirk Cross. He testified he himself had been charged with one or more felony counts relating to controlled substances, and was told by the state patrol that if he were able to set up some drug buys leading to prosecution his felony charges would be dropped. He was wired with a miniature “bugging device” and given $65 to make the purchase.

Cross originally talked to Rick Fisher about 5:30 p.m., on June 7 at a time when Fisher and the defendant were together. Later on in the evening, in the presence of the defendant, Fisher told Cross that the defendant would obtain the drugs. Fisher, Cross, the defendant, and the defendant’s younger brother Monty drove around the vicinity of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for several hours that evening, drinking beer, and at one point, approximately 10:30 p.m., they parked outside Gustav’s Stable Club where Cross and Monty Pierce remained in the car and Fisher and the defendant went inside for approximately 1 hour. When the latter two returned to the car, according to the testimony of Cross, defendant handed Cross a package which turned out to be amphetamines. Cross said he had earlier in the evening paid the $65 to the defendant for the drugs. All four of the parties then went to an address within the city where defendant was helping Fisher cut amphetamines contained in a second package. During the course of the evening the radio transmitter was found on the person of Cross and a scuffle ensued involving Fisher, the defendant, and defendant’s brother Monty, which was the cause of the filing of the assault charge.

Although the bugging device had not been successfully monitored by law enforcement officers during the negotiations and actual purchase and transfer of [436]*436the drugs, nevertheless they were able to hear the fight which was developing and thereupon immediately entered on the premises where all parties were arrested.

Another witness for the State, patrol investigator Jack Robinson, testified, simply corroborating the fact that he had made the promise to Cross to try to get the felony charges dropped against him in return for the drug buy; that he had furnished the money and the radio device. The other State’s witness was Janie Strotheide, a chemist, who identified the controlled substance. The State’s evidence also disclosed that the packet of amphetamines was found on the person of Cross at the time of his arrest, and that only a small amount of money and marijuana residue was found on the person of the defendant.

Following the conclusion of the State’s case a motion for dismissal or a directed verdict on the grounds of insufficient evidence was overruled.

The defendant’s case consisted only of the testimony of the defendant himself who denied all involvement in the drug transaction and testified that whatever activities he engaged in in connection with the fight amounted only to self-defensive measures. He also testified to several alleged facts which amounted to a direct attack on the truthfulness of Cross. Defendant admitted he had been convicted of two prior felonies not, however, involving drugs.

On rebuttal the State called defendant’s brother, Monty Pierce, who corroborated the State’s case to the extent that he recalled he and defendant were driving uptown early that evening and defendant was looking for a guy by the name of Kirk Cross. Although denying he saw any drugs change hands when defendant got back into the car after having been in the Stable Club, Monty did say that later in the evening, at the place where the arrests were made, he heard Cross ask defendant how many drugs he had gotten that evening, and Monty testi[437]*437fied, “He [defendant] said something to the effect, ‘Yes, I got one for you and one for Fisher,’ or something to that effect.”

Defendant’s motion for a dismissal or in the alternative for a directed verdict made at the close of all the evidence was again overruled and the case was submitted to the jury on both counts I and II. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on count I, the assault, but guilty on count II, delivering a controlled substance.

Later, a hearing was held on the charge of defendant’s being an habitual criminal. The trial court found defendant had previously been found guilty on a two-count information to breaking and entering and grand larceny, both occurring on the same day, but at different locations. These findings were based on exhibits 1, 2, and 3, the journal, commitment, and the warden’s receipt of the defendant at the penal complex. In those proceedings, the evidence revealed that defendant had received sentences of 18 months and 1 year respectively, the same to run concurrently.

Defendant’s amended motion for a new trial complained that the verdict was not sustained by sufficient evidence, it was contrary to law, the court erred in overruling certain of defendant’s objections to evidentiary questions, there was newly discovered evidence mandating a new trial, and that the exhibits were improperly received at the habitual criminal hearing. The motion was overruled and immediately thereafter defendant was sentenced to a term of 12 years in the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex. The maximum sentence under section 28-4,125, R. R. S. 1943, for delivery of amphetamines is 5 years, but with the enhancement provisions of the habitual criminal statute the term is not less than 10 nor more than 60 years. § 29-2221, R. R. S. 1943.

Defendant’s assignments of error include the over[438]*438ruling of the motion for new trial in that the verdict was not sustained by sufficient evidence and was contrary to law; the court erred in failing to grant a new trial because of newly discovered evidence; the court erred in not requiring corroboration of the State’s witness, a paid informer; and the court erred in finding that the defendant was an habitual criminal.

As far as the insufficiency of the evidence was concerned, a review of the testimony of the witnesses as outlined above reveals that the State did make a prima facie case. Although the witnesses contradicted each other, it was simply a matter of credibility and the jury chose to believe the State’s witnesses.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
283 N.W.2d 6, 204 Neb. 433, 1979 Neb. LEXIS 1146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pierce-neb-1979.