Watson v. State

724 S.W.2d 478, 291 Ark. 358, 1987 Ark. LEXIS 1969
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 2, 1987
DocketCR 86-107
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 724 S.W.2d 478 (Watson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watson v. State, 724 S.W.2d 478, 291 Ark. 358, 1987 Ark. LEXIS 1969 (Ark. 1987).

Opinion

Steele Hays, Justice.

Raymond Watson has appealed from a judgment entered on his conviction of three felony counts and one misdemeanor count of theft by receiving, and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The convictions brought fines of $16,000 and sentences totaling nineteen years in the Department of Correction. Watson argues twenty points for reversal grouped in five categories: I) the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence obtained under a defective search warrant; II) the trial court erred in denying a motion for a mistrial for witness misconduct; III) the trial court erred in permitting the state to amend the information in that Watson was charged and convicted of multiple offenses out of a single, continuing course of conduct; IV) the trial court erred in permitting testimony of other acts of misconduct and prior convictions of the appellant; and V) the trial court erred in permitting the state to exercise a peremptory challenge against a juror who had already been accepted by the state and the defense. We find no merit in the arguments and therefore we affirm the judgment.

J.R. Robinson, Jr. testified for the state that around February 6,1985 he went with Bobby Foster to a place near Mammoth Spring where they had hidden stolen property — including two three-wheelers and some welding equipment. Robinson helped Foster load the property and take it to appellant’s farm in Fulton County where it was traded for marijuana. A week or so later Foster and Robinson agreed that in return for Robinson’s silence, Robinson would receive a pound of marijuana which Foster expected to receive from appellant in exchange for stolen guns. Some disagreement arose and Robinson arranged to meet Foster when Foster would have the marijuana, but then tipped off the police, who arrested Foster with the marijuana.

On February 19 a search warrant was obtained on the basis of information given by Robinson and Foster to Sheriff Stan Witt. The warrant authorized a search of appellant’s farm in Fulton County and the seizure of two three-wheeler motorcycles, a cutting torch, two bottles, a double-barreled shotgun, a bolt action shotgun, a semiautomatic rifle, a rifle with a scope, and an indeterminate amount of marijuana. The warrant was executed and, except for the guns, the articles were found in appellant’s barn. Marijuana was found in the barn and in a cattle feeder.

I

The Search Warrant

Appellant attacks the search warrant on eleven grounds (numbered A through K). He submits that even if no defect taken alone would invalidate the warrant, the accumulation of errors is fatal under Harris v. State, 264 Ark. 391, 572 S.W.2d 389 (1978). We uphold the warrant.

A

Appellant alleges the February 19, 1985 affidavit of Sheriff Witt failed to recite facts which tended to prove the reliability of the two unnamed informants (Robinson and Foster). Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108 (1964) and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410 (1969). We disagree. The affidavit states that one informant told him on February 16,1985 he went with another individual on February 6, 1985 to the farm of the appellant with “two three-wheeler motorcycles, a cutting torch and two bottles” exchanged for one and one-half pounds of marijuana. The affidavit further states “within the last two days” the other informant returned to appellant’s barn where he was shown in excess of ten pounds of marijuana and where he observed the stolen articles still stored there. We note the informants gave specific details from their own actions and observations, describing the articles, the locations and the times with precision. Coupled with the Sheriffs assertion he considered the informants reliable the affidavit was sufficient. 1 Wolf v. State, 10 Ark. App. 379, 664 S.W.2d 882 (1984).

In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983), the two-pronged test of Aguilar and Spinelli was replaced by a different test — “a practical, common sense decision,” based on all the circumstances, including the veracity and basis for knowledge of persons supplying information. It is sufficient if “there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Under Gates it is the duty of the reviewing court simply to insure that the magistrate issuing the warrant had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed. We are satisfied those requirements were met in this case. Jackson v. State, 291 Ark. 98, 722 S.W.2d 831 (1987); Toland v. State, 285 Ark. 415, 688 S.W.2d 718 (1985).

In Jackson, the affidavit said only that “a reliable informant advised affiant that he gave another boy $20 to get him some marijuana and watched him go to Spike Jackson’s house. When he came out he gave him a bag of green leafy substance and he returned this bag to me.” Here, Sheriff Witt initially received information directly from one of the participants, Robinson, describing the removal of specific articles of stolen property and the transporting of that property to appellant’s farm in exchange for marijuana. Robinson’s information was independently confirmed in three respects: Foster was intercepted where and when Robinson had said he would be, Foster had the marijuana as Robinson had said, and Robinson’s information about the delivery of the stolen property to appellant was corroborated by the other informant, Foster. Foster’s information reenforced a conclusion that the stolen articles were still there two days later when Foster returned to appellant’s farm to trade the stolen guns for more marijuana. Moreover, the admission by the informants of the possession of stolen property cast them under a cloud, and we have recognized that when an informant gives information which exposes himself to prosecution, there is an increased likelihood of reliability. Thompson v. State, 280 Ark. 265, 658 S.W.2d 350 (1983). The details and circumstances of these transactions and the corroborating aspect of two informants verifying the same events created a “fair probability that evidence of a crime would be found in the place designated,” as indeed it was. Gates v. Illinois, supra.

B

Appellant maintains the warrant in this case was not issued by a judicial officer. He reasons that because the case of Lawson v. City of Mammoth Spring, 287 Ark. 12, 696 S.W.2d 712 (1985) held the municipal court of Mammoth Spring was created in violation of our constitution, all proceedings and judgments of that court are null and void under Caldwell v. Barrett, 71 Ark. 310, 74 S.W. 748 (1903). However, we have later held that when a court is created under color of law it exists de facto and its orders are valid against collateral attack. Tumbs v. State, 290 Ark. 214, 718 S.W.2d 105 (1986); Landthrift v. City of Beebe, 268 Ark. 45, 593 S.W.2d 458 (1980).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alberto Dominguez v. State of Arkansas
2026 Ark. App. 155 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2026)
Shawn Cone v. State of Arkansas
2022 Ark. 201 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2022)
Bobby Kellensworth v. State of Arkansas
2021 Ark. 5 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2021)
Chavel Terell Jemison v. State of Arkansas
2019 Ark. App. 475 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2019)
Wormley v. State
375 S.W.3d 726 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2010)
Stevens v. State
208 S.W.3d 224 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2005)
George v. State
140 S.W.3d 492 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2003)
Walley v. State
112 S.W.3d 349 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2003)
State v. Williamson
100 Wash. App. 248 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
Echols v. State
936 S.W.2d 509 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1996)
Brown v. State
932 S.W.2d 777 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1996)
Norman v. State
931 S.W.2d 96 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1996)
Beshears v. State
898 S.W.2d 49 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1995)
Costner v. State
887 S.W.2d 533 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1994)
Jones v. State
871 S.W.2d 403 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1994)
Menard v. City of Carlisle
834 S.W.2d 632 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1992)
Hawk v. State
826 S.W.2d 824 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1992)
Bryant v. State
803 S.W.2d 546 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1991)
Safley v. State
797 S.W.2d 468 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1990)
Sossamon v. State
789 S.W.2d 738 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
724 S.W.2d 478, 291 Ark. 358, 1987 Ark. LEXIS 1969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watson-v-state-ark-1987.