Tolbert v. State

552 So. 2d 164, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 237
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 16, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 552 So. 2d 164 (Tolbert v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tolbert v. State, 552 So. 2d 164, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 237 (Ala. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

552 So.2d 164 (1989)

Clinton TOLBERT
v.
STATE.

1 Div. 802.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 16, 1989.
Rehearing Denied July 21, 1989.
Certiorari Denied October 27, 1989.

J. Langford Floyd, Daphne, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Robert E. Lusk, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Alabama Supreme Court 88-1389.

TYSON, Judge.

Clinton Tolbert was indicted by the Grand Jury on three charges for the unlawful sale of marijuana (Count I, CC-87-491; CC-87-492; Count I, CC-87-493), in violation of § 20-2-70, Code of Alabama 1975 and for trafficking in marijuana (CC-87-494), in violation of § 20-2-80, Code of Alabama 1975. These cases were consolidated for trial. The jury found the appellant guilty on two charges of the unlawful sale of marijuana (CC-87-491, CC-87-493), not guilty on one charge for the unlawful sale of marijuana (CC-87-492), and guilty of trafficking in marijuana (CC-87-494). The appellant was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment on each of the two unlawful sale convictions and to 15 years' imprisonment on the trafficking conviction.

From March until July of 1987, Gordon Dixon worked as a confidential informant for the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department, under the supervision of Officer Paul Surrey. During this time, on April 15, 1987, Dixon went to the appellant's home and made contact with the appellant, who the police suspected was unlawfully dealing *165 in drugs. In the course of conversation, Dixon asked this appellant if he knew where he could get some marijuana. The appellant told Dixon he would check into it.

Dixon kept in touch with the appellant for the next few days while the appellant was trying to locate some marijuana.

On April 20, 1987, the appellant called Dixon and told him he had some marijuana. The two agreed upon the price of $250 for one-quarter of a pound. The next day, April 21, the appellant drove to Dixon's house towing an automobile he was going to sell to Dixon. The appellant told Dixon that the "stuff" Dixon wanted was underneath the seat of the vehicle which Dixon was going to purchase. Dixon reached under the seat of the vehicle and pulled out a brown paper bag which contained a zip-loc bag with green plant material in it. Dixon paid the appellant $275 for this substance.

Dixon turned over this evidence and a tape of his conversation with this appellant on this day to Surrey. The substance was determined to be marijuana and it weighed 107.3 grams (or 3.78 ounces).

On May 12, 1987, Dixon and the appellant talked about another purchase of marijuana. On May 14, 1987, the appellant came to Dixon's house and gave him another brown paper bag which contained a ziploc bag with green plant material in it. Dixon then paid $300 for this buy.

Dixon turned over this evidence and a tape of this conversation with the appellant to Surrey.

The green plant material was determined to be marijuana with a total weight of 110 grams (or 3.85 ounces).

On June 16, 1987, the appellant left Dixon a message that he wanted to talk. Dixon went to the appellant's house and the appellant sold Dixon a bag containing 6.4 grams (or 0.2 ounce) of marijuana for $30.

On June 27, 1987, the appellant went to Dixon's house and told him that the man he got his marijuana from had received a large shipment of marijuana. The appellant said that he could get Dixon all of the marijuana that he wanted for $1,000 a pound. Dixon agreed to take five pounds, and he told the appellant to meet him at his (Dixon's) house at 8:00 the next morning, June 28, 1987.

The appellant arrived at Dixon's house at 8:00 the next morning and removed an ice chest, containing five large bags of green plant material, from his automobile. Dixon put the ice chest in his vehicle and told the appellant that they had to deliver the marijuana to his (Dixon's) man. The two drove to a location on a dirt road off of Highway 90. By prearrangement, Officers Surrey, Long, and Smith met the appellant and Dixon there and arrested them both. Dixon was arrested in order to maintain his cover.

The green plant material in the ice chest, as well as a tape recorded that day, was then turned over to Surrey. The green plant material was determined to be marijuana. The total weight of the five bags of marijuana was 4.85 pounds (or 77.52 ounces). Tony Crawley and George Massey testified for the defense and stated that they met Dixon through this appellant. Crawley testified that he saw Dixon use or furnish marijuana on several occasions. He said he also saw Dixon take a substance from a box which Dixon said was "speed."

Massey testified that the appellant furnished him with six "hits" of speed.

I

The following occurred prior to the trial of this case:

"MR. FLOYD [defense counsel]: Your Honor, we would like to move to exclude all the members on the panels, to challenge every person for cause that sat on that previous jury due to the fact that it was the same exact charge, they just came back from that other case, and it was a guilty verdict, the exact same witnesses are going to testify in this case who testified in that one, and we feel to have to strike from them will give undue prejudice on my client, that he is not getting the right to a fair group of the venire. They are already tainted.
"THE COURT: Let the record show that we are interchanging panels between *166 three judges, and if some of them are here on that same case that was before, we can't help it, but the facts are going to be different.
"I don't see how we can try a case using all the panels interchangeably without having some that have been on other juries. You accept?
"MR. FLOYD: Yes, Your Honor." (R. 5)

The appellant contends on appeal that his motion to exclude the jury venire should have been granted. We disagree.

"The general rule is that `absent some evidence of actual partiality, a juror is not disqualified merely because he previously sat in a similar case arising out of a separate and distinct set of circumstances even though the offenses charged in the cases are similar and some of the same prosecution witnesses testify in each case.' Government of Virgin Islands v. Williams, 476 F.2d 771, 773 (3rd Cir.1973). It is not a ground for challenge for cause in a drug prosecution that a juror had served on the previous day on a case involving a similar charge in which the same undercover officer had testified as a witness for the State. Hill v. State, 348 So.2d 848, 856-57 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 348 So.2d 857 (Ala.1977)."

Roberts v. State, 472 So.2d 444, 445-46 (Ala.Cr.App.1985).

The appellant has not alleged the existence of actual partiality by any juror in particular or the venire as a whole nor is there any evidence in the record of actual partiality since the voir dire examination of the jury venire is not included in this record. Thus, this issue is without merit. No error is shown.

II

The appellant contends that the trial court improperly admitted four tape recordings (three tapes of the drug buys and one tape of the appellant's statement) into evidence because the State failed to prove a proper chain of custody of these items.

The record shows that Dixon maintained custody of the three tape recordings of the drug buys until he turned them over to Surrey.

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Bluebook (online)
552 So. 2d 164, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tolbert-v-state-alacrimapp-1989.