Sistrunk v. State
Sistrunk v. State
Opinion
The appellant, Donnie Sistrunk, was convicted of the unlawful possession of cocaine, in violation of Ala. Code 1975, §
At the outset, we note that this issue was first raised in the appellant's motion for a new trial and, consequently, has not been properly preserved for our review. See Lehr v. State,
At the hearing on his motion for a new trial, the appellant offered evidence that "as of 1992" blacks constituted 17.82% of the general population of Dale County and 15.46% of the persons of voting age, R. 151; that jurors summonsed for a particular court term are "picked at random by the computer" from Dale County residents "who have drivers' license[s]," R. 153; and that the panel from which his jury was struck consisted of 36 persons, only 2 of whom, or 5.55%, were black, and, when 1 of the 2 black veniremembers was excused for cause,1 he was left with a panel that was only 2.85% black.
The appellant was tried on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 17 and 18, 1992. The "Clerk's Roll Call," which was introduced at the hearing, indicates that 59 persons appeared *Page 149 for jury duty on Monday, November 16. Exhibit Record (Ex.R.) 14-15. Of these 59 prospective jurors, 11, or 18.64%, were black. It appears from the roll call that one white prospective juror was excused on November 17, leaving a venire that was 18.96% black.
A jury was struck in another criminal case on Monday, November 16. At the hearing on the motion for a new trial, the attorneys and the trial court made references to the venire's having been "split" alphabetically in order to provide panels for that trial and for the appellant's trial. However, the clerk's jury strike records from the other trial, which were introduced at the request of the State, clearly indicate that the jury in that case was struck from the entire venire of 59 members. Ex.R. 18-20. When seated, that jury consisted of 7 blacks and 5 whites. Ex.R. 17. The prosecutor indicated that the trial of that case was still in progress on Tuesday, November 17, when the jury was struck in the appellant's case.
The Sixth Amendment requires that petit juries "be drawn from a source fairly representative of the community." Taylor v.Louisiana,
"(1) that the group alleged to be excluded is a 'distinctive' group in the community; (2) that the representation of this group in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community; and (3) that this underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury-selection process."
The third Duren element — that there has been a systematic exclusion of a distinctive group — constrains a defendant to establish that "the cause of the underrepresentation was . . . inherent in the particular jury-selection process utilized."Duren,
It is true that the particular panel from which the appellant's jury was struck contained a substantially smaller percentage of blacks than does the population of Dale County. However, the fair cross-section requirement "ensures only a venire of randomness, one free of systematic exclusion. It does not ensure any particular venire." Note, United States v. Gelb:The Second Circuit's Disappointing Treatment of the FairCross-Section Guarantee, 57 Brook. L.Rev. 341, 343 n. 7 (1991). "Rather than being entitled to a cross-sectional venire," a defendant "has a right only to a fair chance, based on a random draw, of having a jury drawn from a representative panel." Comment, The Cross-Section Requirement and Jury Impartiality, 73 Cal.L.Rev. 1555, 1565 (1985). See Johnson v. State,
In this case, 7 of the 11 blacks in the original venire had been selected to sit on another petit jury when the appellant's jury was struck. The fact that they were not available as part of the appellant's panel is attributable only to the "luck of the draw," rather than to anything "inherent" in the selection process.
We note that there are 2 blacks and 8 whites from the original venire who were unaccounted for at the time the appellant's jury was struck.2 However, there is absolutely nothing in the record to suggest that any of these potential jurors had been systematically excluded from the appellant's panel. In fact, it does not appear that anyone at the hearing on the motion for a new trial realized that 10 jurors were unaccounted for. As noted above, there were several references to an alphabetical "split" of the original venire in order to create two panels. Even assuming that this alphabetical "split" occurred, the appellant has made no showing that the fact that only 2 of the original 11 blacks were on his panel "was due to anything other than mere coincidence." United States v. Guy,
"In the absence of a showing of systematic exclusion, the showing of a disparity between the percentage of blacks in the population of the county in which venue is situated and the percentage of blacks on the venire does not establish a violation of the fair cross-section requirement." Stewart v.State,
The State's evidence tended to show that the appellant was arrested on August 7, 1992, upon an indictment for another offense returned by a Coffee County grand jury. Five law enforcement officers ultimately participated in the arrest — two officers originally approached the appellant and, when the appellant attempted to flee and a scuffle ensued, three additional officers assisted in subduing the appellant. One officer, Dale County Sheriff's Deputy Butch Jones, testified that during the scuffle with the appellant he "saw a plastic bag come from [the appellant's] waist and pocket area and it fell down and got kicked up under a car." R. 58. This *Page 151 plastic bag was retrieved by one of the officers and was found to contain the cocaine that is the basis for the instant charge.
Deputy Jones was the only one of the five officers to testify that he saw the appellant "thr[o]w the dope down." R. 58. None of the other four officers saw this action by the appellant. During defense counsel's cross-examination of Deputy Jones, the following occurred:
"Q. As far as you know you're the only person that saw this?
"A. As far as I know.
"Q. So, your testimony could be very key in this case then, couldn't it?
"A. I guess so, yes, sir.
"Q. You say you have known [the appellant] here for 14 years?
"A. I have known him ever since I have been in law enforcement, yeah.
"Q. You've wanted him for a long time, too, isn't that true?
"A. I've arrested him before, yes, sir.
"Q. And you've wanted him a long time?
"A. What do you mean by 'wanted?'
"Q. I think you know what I mean.
". . . .
"Q. Isn't it pretty common practice, police practice, to make some arrests or whatever, and if you can, you put those people to work for you out on the street? You offer to give them a break if they turn somebody in. Isn't that pretty common?
"A. Yes, sir.
". . . .
"Q. All right. Isn't it a fact that as far back as 1989 you've made that exact same offer to people if they can turn [the appellant] over to you? Isn't that true?
"A. Oh, I wouldn't deny that at all, no."
R. 63-64.
This concluded the cross-examination of Deputy Jones. Immediately thereafter, the prosecutor began his redirect examination:
"Q. Why is that?
"A. He's a known —
"MR. LIVINGSTON [defense counsel]: Objection.
"A. — dealer.
"MR. EMERY [prosecutor]: Your Honor, he's the one that brought it up.
"THE COURT: Just a minute. Quit arguing with each other. He's asked the question. Are you objecting?
"MR. LIVINGSTON: Yes, sir, I am.
"THE COURT: I overrule.
"Q. Why is that?
"A. He's a known dealer.
"Q. Do you know that —
"A. In the 14 years I've been here —
"MR. LIVINGSTON: Your Honor, I would like to have a continuing objection to this line of questioning.
"THE COURT: You may have a continuing line of objection.
"Q. And is this information or belief you have come to believe over the last 14 years working in this county as a drug officer?
"A. Yes, sir.
"Q. So, you didn't start picking on him yesterday to make this case, did you?
"A. No, sir.
"Q. You've arrested him before?
"A. Yes, sir.
"Q. Other drug cases?
"A. Yes, sir." R. 64-65.
Defense counsel then requested a hearing outside the presence of the jury. At this hearing, defense counsel moved for a mistrial, arguing that his cross-examination of Deputy Jones had been for the purpose of showing Jones' bias or prejudice against the appellant and that the testimony elicited by the prosecutor regarding the appellant's reputation and prior bad acts was inadmissible and prejudicial. The trial court responded:
"I deny your motion for a mistrial. And for the record I recall that it was elicited by you from this witness testing his credibility as to what he actually saw. He said he did not know of anyone else that saw it. I don't know whether anyone else saw it or not. But they may or may not have. But, at that point in time it elicited from you the indication that he was trying to get [the appellant]. You even asked him the question, 'Don't you set up people or ask people to do certain things for you?' and he *Page 152 said he did. And then, of course, once you brought that out then, of course, the man has the right to explain why. That's my reasoning for the record." R. 67-68.
"[I]t is a general principle that, where a matter has been gone into by one party to a cause, the other party has the right to explain away anything, if he can, that may have been brought out to his detriment." Leonard v. State,
"Th[e general] exclusionary rule [prohibiting evidence of other offenses] notwithstanding, when one party brings out part of a transaction or conversation, the other party may inquire further into the matter or bring out the whole subject for further examination. Logan v. State,Ex parte Tucker,291 Ala. 497 ,282 So.2d 898 (1973); Hocutt v. State,344 So.2d 194 (Ala.Crim.App. 1977). This proposition of law, also known as the 'rule of completeness,' 7 Wigmore, Evidence §§ 2094-2125 (3d ed. 1940), serves the purpose of allowing a party to explain or rebut adverse inferences which might arise from the fragmentary or incomplete character of the evidence introduced by his adversary. See generally 22A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 660 (1961) and the cases cited therein."
"The purpose of redirect examination is 'to answer any matters brought out on the cross-examination of the witness by [the] adversary.' C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence § 440.01(1) (4th ed. 1991)." Sistrunk v. State,
Deputy Jones' testimony that the appellant was a "known dealer" and that he had arrested the appellant on prior occasions was admissible to rebut the adverse inferences created by defense counsel on cross-examination — that Deputy Jones was improperly "out to get" the appellant, or even that Jones "was 'manufacturing' testimony for the benefit of the jury." Sistrunk, 596 So.2d at 647.
The cases cited by the appellant, Lambeth v. State,
"In order to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show (1) that counsel's performance was deficient, and (2) that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland v. Washington,Kinsey v. State,466 U.S. 668 ,104 S.Ct. 2052 ,80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). 'In determining whether a defendant has established his burden of showing that his counsel was ineffective, we are not required to address both considerations of the Strickland v. Washington test if the defendant makes an insufficient showing on one of the prongs.' Thomas v. State,511 So.2d 248 ,255 (Ala.Cr.App. 1987)."
As discussed in Part I of this opinion, the appellant failed to show that a fair cross-section violation occurred. Consequently, it is abundantly clear that the failure of trial counsel to object to the composition of the venire did not prejudice the appellant.
Trial counsel acknowledged at the hearing on the appellant's motion for a new trial that he called only two4 of the five or six witnesses that the appellant had made him aware of and that had been subpoenaed. Trial counsel was not asked and did not explain why only two of the five or six witnesses were called to testify. The appellant did not identify the other witnesses and made no showing as to what their testimony might have been. Under these circumstances, the appellant has failed to show how counsel's failure to call the additional witnesses prejudiced him. McCall v. State,
At the hearing on the motion for a new trial, trial counsel acknowledged that he made no pre-trial motion for discovery. However, he also stated:
"We had a preliminary hearing sometime in early September. At the hearing certain officers testified and I believe I spoke to other officers after the hearing. I had had an opportunity to review certain chain of custody documents. Just prior to trial, I made an oral discovery motion and once again reviewed the chain of custody documents and I believe there were several photographs. I don't recall if any of the photos were introduced into evidence. We knew what was coming. We weren't surprised by anything, but there was no written discovery motion."
R. 167 (emphasis added). On cross-examination by the prosecutor, trial counsel agreed that "[a]ll the evidence that was presented by the State, [he] knew the State had," and that "[b]asically [the State's case] came down to the policeman who [said he] saw the defendant throw the dope down on the ground." R. 173.
"The purpose of . . . discovery [in modern criminal practice] is to 'permit thorough preparation for trial and [to] minimize surprise at trial.' " Thomas v. Wyrick,
The prejudice prong of the Strickland test "requires a showing that a different outcome of the trial probably would have resulted but for counsel's allegedly ineffective performance." Ex parte Lawley,
It is well settled that "[a] decision on a motion for a new trial rests largely within the discretion of the trial court, and [that] in reviewing such a decision this court will indulge every presumption in favor of the correctness thereof."Brownlee v. State,
For the reasons stated above, the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All Judges concur.
Reference
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- Donnie Sistrunk v. State.
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