Wright v. State
Wright v. State
Opinion
Tony Wright was indicted for the unlawful sale, furnishing, or giving away of marijuana, a controlled substance, to Jane Patterson, in violation of §
The facts are not at issue in this case; therefore, we will give only a brief synopsis of the facts.
On the evening of June 14, 1988, Jane Patterson, while acting as an undercover agent for the Florence, Alabama Police Department, gave the appellant $20 and the appellant gave her a bag containing green leafy plant material. The substance was later determined to be marijuana.
At the sentencing hearing, the State produced witnesses who testified that a school was within a one-mile radius of the point where the sale at issue occurred. Terrell Potter, an investigator for the District Attorney, testified that he measured the distance between the place where the sale took place and the campus boundary of College Avenue Elementary School with a specialized odometer. He determined that the distance was exactly one mile. Cheryl Dewayne Stuart, county mapper for Franklin County, Alabama testified that she used three maps to measure the straight distance between the house where the transaction took place and the school, and determined the distance to be .96 of a mile.
"In addition to any penalties heretofore or hereafter provided by law for any person convicted of an unlawful sale of a controlled substance, there is hereby imposed a penalty of five years incarceration in a state corrections facility with no provision for probation if the situs of such unlawful sale was on the campus or within a one-mile radius of the campus boundaries of any public or private school, college, university or other educational institution in this state."
The appellant contends that, because the indictment did not charge him under §
Moreover, the fact that the sale took place after school hours does not relieve the appellant from being sentenced under §
Thus, §
The record reveals that before trial the prosecutor orally informed the appellant of the State's intention to sentence under this statute if the appellant was convicted. Also, the appellant made a pre-trial motion, in which he acknowledged that he was informed by the prosecutor that the State planned to proceed under this statute. On the day of sentencing, the prosecutor submitted a written motion to the court and served a copy on the appellant explaining the State's intention for sentencing to be under §
In United States v. White,
Therefore, we find that the appellant was provided with actual notice of the State's intention to sentence him under §
For the reasons shown this cause is due to be and is hereby affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tony Wright v. State.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published