State v. Pope
State v. Pope
Opinion of the Court
The defendants herein were each charged in separate informations with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, count I in each information charging the respective defendant with the possession of heroin; and count II charging the possession of cocaine. The cases were thereafter consolidated for trial and each defendant was convicted on both counts. The defendants now appeal their convictions raising the several assignments of error hereinafter referred to. We modify and affirm.
The relevant events leading up to the charges filed against the defendants in these cases began at approximately 11:55 p.m., June 10, 1973, when Sergeant Charles Parker of the vice and narcotics unit of the Omaha police department began a surveillance of a house located at 2534 North Sixteenth Street in Omaha. The officer at that time was particularly interested in two cars parked behind that house, including a red Volkswagen. Prior to beginning the surveillance, Officer Parker had arranged to have three other police officers located in the vicinity of the intersection of Twenty-eighth and Bristol Streets in Omaha. At approximately 12:55 a.m., June 11, 1973, Officer Parker observed a Negro female
The defendants were thereafter charged with the offenses previously referred to. Motions were made by each of the defendants to suppress certain of the physical evidence seized at the time of their arrest. On July 17, 1973, hearing was held on those motions and the matter was taken under advisement by the court. Each of the motions was subsequently overruled.
We shall first consider the contention of the defendants that the District Court erred in overruling their motions to suppress, their claim being that the exhibits and other physical evidence received during the trial were the result of an unlawful search and seizure and therefore in violation of their constitutional rights. We
It is the general rule that any assignment of error which requires an examination of evidence cannot prevail on appeal in the absence of a bill of exceptions. State v. Kortum, 176 Neb. 108, 125 N. W. 2d 196 (1963). We are faced with the issue of whether the State, in spite of the fact that it had apparently once sustained its burden of proving the legality of the searches in question, was nevertheless obligated at trial to prove again the legality of those searches. If the State had no such obligation, it would seem our consideration need only be addressed to the District Court’s rulings on the motions to suppress.
We believe that the State, having once established the legality of police searches, is not again obligated, at trial, to prove that legality when introducing the evidence obtained through those searches. As was stated in the case of State v. Smith, 184 Neb. 363, 167 N. W. 2d 568 (1969): “It is clearly the intention of section 29-822, R. R. S. 1943, that motions to suppress evidence are to be ruled on and finally determined before trial * * * unless within the exceptions contained in the statute. * * * We conclude that section 29-822, R. R. S. 1943, intends, unless within the exceptions contained in the statute, that motions to suppress evidence should be finally determined before trial, but that the trial court is not precluded from correcting errors at the trial.” Thus, although it is true that State v. Smith,
In this case, the record reflects that in a hearing before the court during the trial out of the presence of the jury the defendants’ renewed their objection to the offer in evidence of the exhibits in question on the ground that they were the result of an unlawful search and seizure and in violation of their constitutional rights. Notwithstanding what we have stated above, we shall consider the claims of the defendants in this regard, but must of necessity do so only upon the basis of evidence appearing in the record of the trial itself which we shall now review. It is undisputed in the record that when the police entered and searched the duplex located at 2534 North Sixteenth Street where much of the physical evidence was obtained, they had no warrant authorizing them to do so. The law is well settled, and we have recently held, that a search of a place of residence without a warrant is not justified under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States except for probable cause and the existence of exigent circumstances or other recognized exception. State v. Patterson, ante p. 308, 220 N. W. 2d 235 (1974), a case factually similar to the instant cases.
We believe the foregoing evidence established prob-' able cause and the existence of exigent circumstances warranting the police officers to enter and search the' duplex in question. In State v. Patterson, supra, we held that where the information in the possession of the officers leads to the conclusion that the place of residence is the scene where a felony is being committed and they have evidence which indicates this is the fact and where there is great likelihood that the evidence will be destroyed or removed before a war
We now consider defendants’ motions for severance. Objections to consolidation were made by the defendants “for the reason that it is inherently prejudicial
On appeal, the defendants have assigned as error the action of the District Court in overruling their motions for severance. The matter of the consolidation of criminal prosecutions for the purpose of trial is controlled by section 29-2002, R. R. S. 1943. Section 29-2002(3), R. R. S. 1943, provides in part: “The court may order two or more indictments, informations, or complaints or any combination thereof, to be tried together if the offense, and the defendants, if there are more than one, could have been joined in a single indictment, information or complaint.” Section 29-2002(2), R. R. S. 1943, provides in part: “Two or more defendants may be charged in the same indictment, information, or complaint if they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses.” Section 29-2002(4), R. R. S. 1943, provides: “If it appears that a defendant or the state would be prejudiced by a joinder of offenses or of defendants in an indictment, information, or complaint, or by such joinder of offenses in separate indictments, informations, or complaints for trial together, the court may order an election for separate trials of counts, indictments, in-formations, or complaints, grant a severance of defendants, or provide whatever other relief justice requires.” It is clear from the statute set out above that the matter of the propriety of- a joint trial of criminal
In the absence of a showing that the defendants involved would be prejudiced by the consolidation for trial of criminal prosecutions, such consolidation is proper where it could have been alleged that the defendants participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses. State v. Shimp, 190 Neb. 137, 206 N. W. 2d 627 (1973). The defendants herein made no factual showing in the record before trial to indicate that the consolidation of these prosecutions would be prejudicial. Furthermore, the record affirmatively establishes that consolidation was proper. There is evidence in the record to indicate a common scheme or plan on the part of these two defendants to distribute drugs illegally. It is clear that the defendants could have been charged in the same information with having participated in the same transaction constituting the offenses charged. We conclude that the consolidation of the cases for trial was proper under section 29-2002, R. R. S. 1943.
It is true, of course, that even where criminal prosecutions are otherwise properly consolidated for the purpose of trial, the court may grant the defendants involved therein separate trials under section 29-2002(4), R. R. S. 1943, upon a showing that prejudice will result from a joint trial. State v. Brown, 174 Neb. 387, 118 N. W. 2d 328 (1962). The trial court herein obviously determined that no prejudice to the defendants would
The defendants further allege that the District Court erred in not striking from the informations the multiple charges against them arising out of the same transaction. The defendants argue that trying them on those multiple charges had the effect of submitting them to double jeopardy in violation of their rights under the Constitution of the United States. In support of their argument, the defendants cite Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U. S. 436, 90 S. Ct. 1188, 25 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1970). That case involved an armed robbery of six poker players. The petitioner was charged with the robbery of one of the participants in the poker game, but was acquitted on that charge. Subsequently, the State brought the petitioner to trial on the charge of robbery of one of the other participants and he was convicted. The United States Supreme Court reversed the conviction, applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel to the second prosecution. We understand the theory of the Ashe case, but are convinced it does not apply here. As stated by the majority in the Ashe case: “The question is not whether (the State) could validly charge the petitioner with six separate offenses for the robbery
The case that actually controls the outcome in the matter now before us is Morgan v. Devine, 237 U. S. 632, 35 S. Ct. 712, 59 L. Ed. 1153 (1915). In that case, as here, the defendants had been charged with and convicted on two separate criminal counts. In that case, as here, the defendants contended that the “protection against double jeopardy set forth in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States required their discharge, because the several things charged in the two counts were done at the same time and as a part of the same transaction.” In the Morgan case, the United States Supreme Court held that double jeopardy was not present, stating that: “* * * the test of identity of offenses is whether the same evidence is required to sustain them; if not, then the fact that both charges relate to and grow out of one transaction does not make a single offense where two are defined by the statutes.” In this connection, in defendants’ brief they argue: “If Evelyn Kilgore and Richard Pope would have been acquitted of Count I could they be retried for Count II where the statute defines the offense in terms of ‘possession of a controlled substance?’ The offense is not heroin, cocaine, specifically but collectively, ‘controlled substances.’ ” What defendants are, in effect, arguing is that charging them in separate counts with possession of heroin and cocaine is, in fact, charging them with the same offense. The same situation was involved in the case of Normandale v. United
We believe that the Legislature, in enacting sections 28-4,117, R. S. Supp., 1972, and section 28-4,125, R. S. Supp., 1973, intended to define two separate offenses for the possession of heroin and cocaine with the intent to distribute, deliver, or dispense. Furthermore, it is clear to us that in spite of the fact that the charges involved herein arise out of the same transaction, those charges may not be regarded as constituting an identical offense. Different evidence was required to sustain a conviction on each of the charges. It was entirely possible for either or both of the defendants to have been found not to be in the possession of heroin, for example, and still be found guilty of the possession of cocaine. We further point out that in the Nebraska act, the types of heroin and cocaine involved in these cases are listed in different schedules, and we further point out that in some instances different penalties are provided, depending upon the type of the controlled substance involved in the various schedules. This further supports our conclusion that our Legislature intended to provide for separate offenses for the various types of controlled substances under the facts involved in these cases, and not merely one offense.
Thus, under the circumstances, there was no identity of offenses and the defendants were not submitted to double jeopardy in the form of double punishment.
Other errors raised by the defendants have been considered and found to be without merit. However, we believe that there is one further matter which must be disposed of. It appears clear from a reading of the record with reference to the sentencing of the defendants, that the sentencing judge intended to impose upon the defendant Evelyn Kilgore a sentence that was less harsh than that which was imposed upon the defendant Richard Pope. In fact, even the defendant Richard Pope requested that this be done. As previously stated, however, defendant Pope was sentenced to a flat period of 10 years imprisonment on count I and a flat period of 5 years imprisonment on count II, with the further specific provision of the court that the sentence imposed on count II was to be consecutive to and not concurrent with the sentence imposed bn count I.
On the other hand the defendant Evelyn Kilgore received indeterminate sentences of imprisonment of 3 to 10 years on both count I and count II, with the further specific provision of the court that the sentence imposed on count II was to be concurrent with and not consecutive to the sentence imposed on count I. It appears, therefore, that under the present stat
' Affirmed as modified.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
' The majority opinion reaches the conclusion that Objections to the introduction of evidence at a criminal trial, on the grounds that the evidence was obtained
In State v. Smith, 184 Neb. 363, 167 N. W. 2d 568, this court held that the overruling of a motion to suppress under section 29-822, R. R. S. 1943, does not preclude objections to the introduction of evidence at the trial on the ground that it was obtained by an unreasonable search, nor does the overruling of such a pretrial motion to suppress constitute a waiver of the right to object to the introduction of the evidence at the trial. The problem then becomes, one of determining who has the burden of establishing from the record of the trial either that the evidence was or was not obtained by an unreasonable search and seizure. It must be remembered too that the search here was a warrantless search, and that unless some of the evidence from the pretrial hearing on the motion to suppress is made a part of the record at trial, there was apparently a presumptively unreasonable search, if we go on the record alone. It must be noted too that the trial was conducted by a different judge than the one who conducted the pretrial hearing on the motion to suppress. It would have been a very simple matter for the State to have moved the trial court to take judicial notice of the evidence taken at the pretrial suppression hearing or make the evidence a part of the trial record if such evidence was reported. If it was not reported, there could be all sorts of difficulty in
Courts have reached all sorts of results in cases like this. It is obvious that an appellate court is placed in an extremely difficult position when it must determine from the record of a trial whether or not an objection to the introduction of evidence was properly overruled when the foundation for the ruling does not appear in the evidence of the trial, and was not made a part of the evidence by anyone. Some courts have solved the issue as the majority opinion does, by presuming in the absence of a record that the issue was properly decided at the suppression hearing. See State v. Kelly, 99 Ariz. 136, 407 P. 2d 95. Other courts have ordered the record on their own motion. See, People v. Dunn, 50 Mich. App, 529, 213 N. W. 2d 832; State v. Fetters, 510 P. 2d 1 (Mont., 1973); State v. Michaels, 60 Wash. 2d 638, 374 P. 2d 989. Federal courts have reached varying results on the issue but have tended to take action on their own motion to secure the record of the pretrial hearing and make it a part of the record on appeal. For example, in Gatewood v. United States, 209 F. 2d 789 (1953), the court recognized the principle adopted by the majority opinion in this case that the party appealing must make sure the transcript is complete on an appeal. On its own motion the court sought the record on the ground that the pretrial hearing on the search and seizure issue was of vital significance to the appeal and was actually a part of the trial. In Turk v. United States, 429 F. 2d 1327 (8th Cir., 1970), the court stated that in the interest of justice the court, on its own motion, could order the record in order to review the issue of probable cause for the search. See, also, Washington v. United States, 401 F. 2d 915.
The Nebraska statutory scheme was not intended to reduce or increase the amount of foundation evidence
There ought to be a far more practical answer to the problems of appellate review of rulings made at a pretrial hearing on a motion to suppress. Wherever it becomes necessary, the court ought to obtain the record on its own motion in the'interests of justice.
The majority opinion also holds that the separate charges against the two defendants here- were properly consolidated for the purpose of trial, and that the joint trial fails to establish any possible prejudice. Section 29-2002(2), R. R. S. 1943, provides in part: “Two or more defendants may be charged in the same indictment, information, or complaint if they are alleged to
Subsection (3) of that section authorizes joint trials if the offense, and the defendants, if there are more than one, could have been joined in a single indictment, information, or complaint.
Here the defendant Pope was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The acts and the crime with which he was charged occurred in a house at 2534 North 16th Street, Omaha, Nebraska, and he was the only one present. The defendant Kilgore was also charged with possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver. The acts and the crime with which she was charged occurred in an automobile near 28th and Bristol Streets in Omaha, Nebraska, and at an earlier time than the Pope crime. Kilgore was the only person in the automobile. There is no proof in the trial record that the two defendants in the two separate crimes are husband and wife, and in each case the individual defendant was the only person at the scene of the arrest and was in personal possession of the illegal substances. No constructive possession is involved. There was no charge or allegation that either of the two defendants was a principal or aider or abettor in the offenses charged against the other defendant, and the jury was specifically instructed that it must separately consider the guilt of each defendant and that evidence relating to one should not be considered against the other.
The Nebraska statute involving joinder is substantially similar to Rule 8(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Two or more defendants may be jointly charged in the same indictment if both defendants participated in the same act or transaction constituting the offense or offenses charged^ In interpreting the federal rule, courts have repeatedly held that
In the cases now before this court, presumably because of the absence of the evidence at the pretrial hearing, there is no proper proof that the separate defendants were married and living together in the residence. The separate crimes with which each of these two separate defendants was charged occurred at different times and in different places. The acts or transactions were not even in the same house or the same vehicle. The majority opinion here seems to assume that the two separate crimes here are the same act or transaction, simply because they are the same kind of a crime. The majority opinion states: “There is evidence in the record to indicate a common scheme or plan on the part of these two defendants to distribute drugs illegally.” But the defendants here are not charged with distributing drugs illegally. They
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of Nebraska, Appellee, v. Richard Pope, Appellant; State of Nebraska, Appellee, v. Evelyn Kilgore, Appellant
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published