Sullivan v. State

748 N.E.2d 861, 2001 WL 429097
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 2001
Docket82A05-0009-CR-397
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 748 N.E.2d 861 (Sullivan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sullivan v. State, 748 N.E.2d 861, 2001 WL 429097 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

BROOK, Judge

Case Summary

Appellant-defendant Little Bear Sullivan ("Sullivan") appeals from his convictions for manufacturing a schedule II controlled substance, 1 a Class B felony, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, 2 a Class D felony, and eriminal recklessness, 3 a Class B misdemeanor. We affirm.

Issues

Sullivan raises four issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as follows:

I. whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress;
II. whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to discharge the panel of jurors; and
III, whether the trial court erred in sentencing him.

Facts and Procedural History

On March 2, 2000, police officers responded to a complaint that Sullivan's house had a strong odor of anhydrous ammonia and possibly contained a narcotics lab. Evansville police officers Michael Jolly ("Jolly") and Tony Mayhew ("May-hew") went to Sullivan's house and saw a clear carafe and a fanny pack on the front porch. The carafe had a strong odor and contained a substance that was separated into three layers: a milky liquid with a white pill dough in the bottom, a greenish-clear liquid, and a yellow oily layer on top. The officers knocked on the door, and Sullivan answered after approximately forty-five seconds. Sullivan refused to allow the officers to enter his house, but he did speak with them on the front porch. Sullivan permitted the officers to look in the fanny pack that was lying on the porch, which contained tubing with white crystalline residue and valves.

The officers then called Officer Jerry Tooley ("Tooley"), a narcotics detective, to the scene. Tooley spoke with Sullivan and asked for consent to enter the residence, which Sullivan refused. Sullivan informed *864 the officers that there was no one in the house and that he had some fire extinguishers and propane tanks in the house. After failing to obtain consent to enter Sullivan's home, Tooley and the other officers entered the home to perform a protective sweep, but were unable to complete the sweep because the smell of ammonia was too strong. While Tooley was getting a search warrant, Officer Chris Pugh ("Pugh") arrived at the scene and performed a field test on the contents of the carafe. The field test indicated that the substance was methamphetamine. Pugh informed Tooley of the results of the field test by telephone, and Tooley included that information in the affidavit for the search warrant. Tooley returned to the house with a search warrant and protective gear.

Upon searching the house, the officers found several items related to the manufacture of methamphetamine including a propane tank, fire extinguisher canisters, respirators, plastic scales, filters, pseu-doephedrine, and a recipe for making methamphetamine. Many of the items had a white residue on them, which was later found to contain methamphetamine.

Sullivan was arrested and charged with manufacturing a schedule II controlled substance, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, and criminal recklessness. On May 1, 2000, the court held a hearing on Sullivan's motion to suppress in which he sought to suppress the evidence found in plain view outside the house and the evidence obtained pursuant to the search warrant. The trial court denied the motion. A jury convicted Sullivan on all charges, and the trial court sentenced him to a concurrent sentence of fifteen years.

Discussion and Decision

I. Motion to Suppress

Sullivan contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. In particular, Sullivan asserts that the warrantless entry into his home was illegal and therefore tainted the search warrant and that the a search warrant was required for the carafe because it was not in plain view.

Initially, the State asserts that Sullivan has waived any error in denying the motion to suppress for failing to object to the admission of evidence at trial. Specifically, the State argues that a continuing objection is insufficient to preserve error for appeal. See Carter v. State, 634 N.E.2d 830, 833 (Ind.Ct.App.1994) (concluding that where defendant did not object at trial to admission of evidence, defendant's continuing objection noted at pre-trial bearing on motion to suppress was insufficient to preserve error). The trial court held a hearing on Sullivan's motion to suppress one week before trial. The trial court denied the motion. When the evidence that Sullivan sought to suppress was presented at trial, Sullivan objected by incorporating the objections from the previous hearing. The court noted Sullivan's request for a continuing objection. The case at bar is similar to Edwards v. State, 682 N.E.2d 800, 802 (Ind.Ct.App.1997), where the court concluded that when the record demonstrates that the continuing objection fully and clearly advised the trial court of the specific grounds for the objection, the defendant has preserved the error for appeal. Here, Sullivan objected at trial, and the record includes a transeript of the suppression hearing. The record reveals that the trial court was fully apprised of the grounds for Sullivan's objection, and therefore, we address Sullivan's claim on the merits.

The admissibility of evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed absent a showing that the trial court abused its discretion. Johnson v. State, 710 N.E.2d *865 925, 927 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). Upon review of a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, we will examine the evidence most favorable to the ruling, together with any uncontradicted evidence. Callahan v. State, 719 NE.2d 480, 484 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). We will neither reweigh the evidence nor judge witness credibility. Johnson, 710 N.E.2d at 927.

A. Search Pursuant to the Warrant Obtained After the Warrantless Entry

Sullivan asserts that the search warrant was the product of the officers' illegal warrantless entry 4 into his home and was therefore invalid. The State argues that the search warrant was based on independent evidence sufficient to show probable cause and to justify the issuance of the search warrant. Tooley wrote a probable cause affidavit in order to obtain a search warrant. The probable cause affidavit read as follows:

During the evening hours of March 2, 2000, Evansville Police Department Motor Patrol Officers Jolley [sic] and Mayhew went to the above described residence at 2685 W. Maryland to investigate a report that illegal drugs were being produced at the residence. The officers knocked on the door and spoke with Little Bear Sullivan who was identified as the resident of 2685 W. Maryland. The officers identified themselves and advised Sullivan of the purpose of their visit and asked to come inside the residence.

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Bluebook (online)
748 N.E.2d 861, 2001 WL 429097, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sullivan-v-state-indctapp-2001.