State v. Pope

224 N.W.2d 521, 192 Neb. 755, 1974 Neb. LEXIS 790
Nebraska Supreme Court·Decided December 26, 1974·No. 39394, 39395·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinions

Brodkey, J.

The defendants herein were each charged in separate informations with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, count I in each information charging the respective defendant with the possession of heroin; and count II charging the possession of cocaine. The cases were thereafter consolidated for trial and each defendant was convicted on both counts. The defendants now appeal their convictions raising the several assignments of error hereinafter referred to. We modify and affirm.

The relevant events leading up to the charges filed against the defendants in these cases began at approximately 11:55 p.m., June 10, 1973, when Sergeant Charles Parker of the vice and narcotics unit of the Omaha police department began a surveillance of a house located at 2534 North Sixteenth Street in Omaha. The officer at that time was particularly interested in two cars parked behind that house, including a red Volkswagen. Prior to beginning the surveillance, Officer Parker had arranged to have three other police officers located in the vicinity of the intersection of Twenty-eighth and Bristol Streets in Omaha. At approximately 12:55 a.m., June 11, 1973, Officer Parker observed a Negro female [758] leaving the house at 2534 North Sixteenth Street. He testified that he saw her go to the rear of the house and that immediately thereafter he saw the red Volkswagen driven away. As Officer Parker followed the Volkswagen in his cruiser, he made radio contact with the officers located at Twenty-eighth and Bristol Streets and informed them that the suspect was proceeding toward their location. When the Volkswagen arrived at that location, it was stopped by the officers who had been waiting there and the woman driving the automobile was arrested. That woman was identified as the defendant, Evelyn Kilgore. A brief search of the purse of the defendant Kilgore was conducted at the scene. At that time it was discovered that the purse contained quantities of substances which were later identified as heroin and cocaine. While Officer Parker maintained custody of the defendant Kilgore, the other three officers proceeded to the house at 2534 North Sixteenth Street. Upon arriving there, they entered the house and discovered the defendant Richard Pope in the act of attempting to dispose of or destroy certain powdery substances which were later identified as heroin and cocaine. The defendant Pope was arrested at that time.

The defendants were thereafter charged with the offenses previously referred to. Motions were made by each of the defendants to suppress certain of the physical evidence seized at the time of their arrest. On July 17, 1973, hearing was held on those motions and the matter was taken under advisement by the court. Each of the motions was subsequently overruled.

We shall first consider the contention of the defendants that the District Court erred in overruling their motions to suppress, their claim being that the exhibits and other physical evidence received during the trial were the result of an unlawful search and seizure and therefore in violation of their constitutional rights. We [759] wish to point out, however, that the pretrial motions to suppress made by the defendants pursuant to section 29-822, R. R. S. 1943, were overruled by the court after a hearing. It is altogether possible that certain evidence and testimony were presented at that hearing which might be of assistance in disposing of defendants’ claim. However, defendants failed to preserve in the record the evidence upon which the District Court based its decision to overrule the motions to suppress at the hearing set for that purpose.

It is the general rule that any assignment of error which requires an examination of evidence cannot prevail on appeal in the absence of a bill of exceptions. State v. Kortum, 176 Neb. 108, 125 N. W. 2d 196 (1963). We are faced with the issue of whether the State, in spite of the fact that it had apparently once sustained its burden of proving the legality of the searches in question, was nevertheless obligated at trial to prove again the legality of those searches. If the State had no such obligation, it would seem our consideration need only be addressed to the District Court’s rulings on the motions to suppress.

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State v. Pope, 224 N.W.2d 521, 192 Neb. 755, 1974 Neb. LEXIS 790 (Neb. 1974).

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