Williams v. State

535 So. 2d 193, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6949, 1986 WL 102
Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama·Decided October 28, 1986·No. 3 Div. 500·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

PATTERSON, Judge.

This is a consolidated appeal following two trials on a single indictment containing two counts. Appellant, Charlie Williams, Jr., was charged in this two-count indictment with possession of marijuana in violation of § 20-2-70, in Count I, and possession of cocaine in violation of § 20-2-70, in Count II. On January 23,1986, following a jury trial, appellant was found guilty of felony possession of marijuana as charged in Count I.1 The jury could not reach a verdict on the possession of cocaine charge contained in Count II, and Judge Gordon, in the absence of Judge Phelps, who presided during the trial, declared a mistrial as to Count II. On February 3, 1986, a second jury was empanelled and appellant was again tried for possession of cocaine as charged in Count II of the original indictment. At this second trial, appellant was found guilty as charged.

On February 20, 1986, Judge Phelps sentenced appellant, pursuant to § 20-2-70(a), Code of Alabama 1975, to a term of two years in the penitentiary, suspended upon one year of court supervised probation, provided appellant pay court costs and obtain a full-time job. Apparently, only one sentence was imposed for both convictions.

The evidence at trial shows that appellant was arrested at his home following a daytime search of his residence, conducted pursuant to a search warrant. The search resulted in the discovery of one and seven-tenths grams of marijuana; five hand-rolled cigarette butts, containing one-tenth gram of marijuana; and twenty milligrams of cocaine residue extracted from certain paraphernalia. At trial, appellant denied any knowledge of how the marijuana got into his apartment, and denied ever smoking marijuana. At both the first and second trials, appellant testified that the paraphernalia from which the cocaine was extracted was the property of a friend whom he had helped place in a drug program. Appellant stated that the items were taken from his friend and placed in a box, and he took the box home for storage. Appellant denied ever using the paraphernalia for the purpose of consuming cocaine.

I

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the search of [195]*195his apartment. Appellant alleges that the affidavit was insufficient to support a finding of probable cause because the officers did not know whether or not he was selling drugs at his residence. It is also argued that the search was defective because the affidavit is dated one day after the issuance of the search warrant.

At trial, Officer T.J. Azar testified that he received information from a confidential informant that one “Leon Frost” was selling drugs at 715 Dehlia Drive. The information known to Azar was contained in an affidavit submitted to Judge Clark Campbell, who issued the search warrant, and this information was testified to by Azar at trial. The affidavit and Azar’s testimony established the following: (1) The confidential informant was a person who had been known to Azar and had given reliable information in the past which had been proven true by investigative means; (2) the informant had given information which was against his best interests; (3) the informant had observed a quantity of cocaine being used and sold at 715 Dehlia Drive; (4) within the prior seventy-two-hour period, the informant had purchased cocaine from Leon Frost at 715 Dehlia Drive; (5) the informant had observed cocaine on pri- or occasions and was able to distinguish cocaine from similar white powder substances; and (6) Azar had investigated the records of the Alabama Power Company and discovered that appellant had established an account for electrical power at 715 Dehlia Drive. This affidavit was taken to Judge Campbell, and sworn to by Azar and his partner, R.G. Locklar. Judge Campbell then issued a daytime search warrant for the premises of “Charlie Williams and Leon Frost, 715 Dehlia Drive, Montgomery, Alabama” for “cocaine and any other controlled substances, paraphernalia, or records of drug transactions.”

The warrant was dated March 21, 1985, and the affidavit was incorrectly dated March 22, 1985. Azar testified that he typed the search warrant in the “later hours of March 21,” and the affidavit had been typed by a typist from the word processing section of the Montgomery Police Department. Azar stated that the date on the affidavit was a typographical error, and that, on March 21, 1985 both the affidavit and warrant were taken to Judge Campbell who read the affidavit and then signed the search warrant. The next morning, at approximately 6:30, the search warrant was executed at 715 Dehlia Drive, where appellant was arrested. Leon Frost was never located, and appellant testified that he knew no one by that name, nor did he share his apartment with any other person.

Appellant here contends that when the authorities realized that appellant, not Leon Frost, had established a power account at 715 Dehlia Drive, they should have investigated further prior to obtaining a search warrant, and that the issuance of the search warrant without more information pertaining to appellant resulted in the search warrant being defective. We disagree with appellant’s contention, and find that based on the totality of the circumstances, the issuing judge had sufficient probable cause to issue the search warrant based on the affidavit presented by Azar and Locklar. As was reaffirmed in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 230, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2328, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983):

“[T]he traditional standard for review of an issuing magistrate’s probable-cause determination has been that so long as the magistrate had a ‘substantial basis for ... concludpng]’ that a search would uncover evidence of wrongdoing, the Fourth Amendment requires no more.”

The totality of the circumstances clearly establishes that Judge Campbell had a substantial basis for determining the existence of probable cause in the instant case.

We find no merit to the contention that the warrant was defective due to the affidavit being dated incorrectly. There was ample testimony at trial from which the court could have concluded that this was a typographical error, as the trial court evidently determined. The State clearly established that the affidavit was submitted and sworn to before Judge Campbell on March 21, 1985, prior to his issuing the search warrant. We find no [196]*196error in the court’s refusal to suppress the evidence.

II

Appellant next argues that the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on possession of marijuana for personal use. At trial, appellant denied any knowledge of how marijuana got into his apartment, and denied having ever used marijuana. “The burden of proving that the possession was for personal use is a defensive matter and the burden of bringing himself within the misdemeanor exception” is upon the defendant at trial. Lee v. State, 350 So.2d 743, 746 (Ala.Cr.App.1977). Appellant offered no evidence at trial which would have brought him within the misdemeanor exception. He did not ask for instructions relative to the exception, nor did he object to the court’s failure to give such instructions in its oral charge. We, therefore, find no error in the court’s failure to charge the jury on the misdemeanor exception.

III

Appellant next contends that the State failed to properly establish the chain of custody of the marijuana and cocaine. Mr.

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

Williams v. State, 535 So. 2d 193, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6949, 1986 WL 102 (Ala. Ct. App. 1986).

535 So. 2d 193 (Williams v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

United States v. Gary
420 F. Supp. 2d 470 (E.D. Virginia, 2006)
Holton v. State
590 So. 2d 914 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)
Presley v. State
587 So. 2d 1016 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)