Cook v. State
Cook v. State
Opinion
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 907
Debbie Lynn Cook was convicted of trafficking in cocaine, was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, was fined $50,000, and was ordered to pay court costs and $2,500 to the Victims' Compensation Fund. She raises six issues in this appeal; however, most of the issues were not properly preserved for our review. Although two issues may have had merit, one (improper execution of the search warrant, see Part I) was not properly preserved, and the other (ineffective assistance of trial counsel, see Part V) is not adequately raised on appeal.
On April 28, 1989, Montgomery narcotics officers provided an informant with $1,380 with which to purchase an ounce of cocaine. The officers' "arrangement" with the informant was that the informant was "to get Ms. Cook to go buy some drugs from" one Arthur James Green, who resided at 3007 Tyler Road in Montgomery. The officers observed the informant go to Cook's trailer, then both the informant and Cook went to Green's residence. After the informant and Cook had been inside Green's residence for a brief period, the officers entered the house and executed a search warrant that had been previously obtained. Several bags of cocaine totaling 42.2 grams and several guns were found in the search. Cook had in her purse $270 in marked "buy" money. Cook argued the defense of entrapment, although she presented no evidence herself.
The record does not contain a written motion to suppress the items seized during the search, nor was any such motion made orally during trial. The issue of the reliability of the informant was not raised in any manner at trial and cannot be presented for the first time on appeal. Thornton v.State,
The officers executing the search warrant admittedly did not comply with Alabama's "knock and announce" rule. Ala. Code 1975, §
However, this issue was not properly raised at trial. Defense counsel did request to examine Montgomery police detective R.A. Lay on voir dire "[t]o see whether or not this is a lawful search. He said he *Page 908
busted down the door, I think you've got to knock, he has to announce who he is and other things." Defense counsel never moved to suppress the fruits of the search but objected only to the admission of the actual search warrant. Later in the trial when the items seized during the search were offered, defense counsel stated, "No objection." Consequently, the earlier objection to the officers' failure to knock and announce was waived. See Hilley v. State,
On this appeal, the State asserts that Cook had no standing to raise the issue of the improper execution of the search warrant because the residence searched was not hers — she had only gone to the residence to purchase drugs from another. However, the issue of standing was not raised by the State at trial and has therefore been waived. United States v.Garcia,
During defense counsel's cross-examination of one of the officers, counsel stated, "And this lady [the informant], I believe her name is Vickie Murchison — " The prosecutor objected, stating that the identity of the informant was a confidential matter. This objection was sustained, without any objection by defense counsel. Defense counsel then asked several questions regarding the interaction of the officers and the informant. When the prosecutor again objected, a short hearing was held in the judge's chambers. The trial judge issued the following ruling:
"I'll sustain the objection to the identification of the informant, but I'll allow [defense counsel] to go into the actions of the informant. The other part of [the prosecutor's] objection goes to the action of the informant and the police officers working with the informant, but I'll sustain only to the identity of the informant only."
There was no objection to this limitation. In fact, defense counsel stated, "I don't need to know the identification of the informant. I know who the informant is." Thereafter, defense counsel established before the jury that the informant was working with the police because she had been offered a "deal" and that her "arrangement" with the officers was that "she was going to get Ms. Cook to go buy some drugs from somebody else." In view of the facts that the defense was permitted to bring out the details of the officers' use of the informant and that the defense knew the identity of the informant and presumably could have called her as a witness, there does not appear to be any error in the trial court's refusal to permit the identity of the informant to be established before the jury. In any event, this issue was not raised below and consequently cannot be raised on appeal. Owen v. State,
As part of this same issue, Cook maintains that another officer's testimony also indicated that she had been involved in prior criminal activity. Detective R.A. Lay testified that he had been introduced to Cook some weeks prior to the date of the instant offense as "someone that [he] could buy drugs from." There was no objection to this testimony at trial and, again, the issue was not preserved for our review. Desimerv. State,
On one of the few occasions where trial counsel voiced an objection, the trial court excused the jury, then instructed trial counsel to stand when he wished to interpose an objection. Also at that time, the trial court entered on the record a number of complaints he had with trial counsel: that counsel appeared at a status conference the previous week with alcohol on his breath; that the day before counsel had been smoking in the courtroom; that earlier that day counsel had been in another courtroom instead of in his courtroom; and that at some time previous, counsel had had a dog in the courtroom.1 The trial judge concluded by instructing counsel to stand when he wished to address the court. Even if we were to consider these comments improper, they were "made in the absence, or without the knowledge, of the jury [and do] not constitute reversible error for the reason that the jury was not influenced by [them]." Oglen v. State,
Although appellate counsel does not mention it in brief, thereafter, in the presence of the jury, on three occasions, the trial court briefly instructed trial counsel to stand while conducting cross-examination. While the trial court twice interrupted counsel's questioning to give these instructions, he prefaced his instructions with "excuse me." The interruptions and instructions were brief and do not appear to have been made in a fashion likely to "have affected the result of the trial." Cox v. State,
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Debbie Lynn Cook v. State.
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published