Ayers v. State

Page 177

659 So.2d 177

Scottie Eugene AYERS v. STATE.

CR 93-595.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Aug. 19, 1994.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 21, 1994.

Certiorari Denied March 3, 1995

Alabama Supreme Court 1940196.

Lindsey M. Davis, Florence, for appellant.

James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Jack Willis, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOWEN, Presiding Judge.

Scottie Eugene Ayers, the appellant, was convicted of the unlawful possession of cocaine and was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. This is a direct appeal from that conviction.

I

The appellant claims that the State failed to establish a proper chain of custody for the cocaine. The appellant claims that although Russellville Police Officer Joe Ganns testified that, "if [he] remember[ed] correctly," (R. 22) he had retrieved the cocaine from the state forensics laboratory, other testimony presented by State witnesses Selwyn Jones, the forensic scientists who tested the cocaine, and Russellville Police Officer William Nale, show that Nale and not Ganns retrieved the evidence from the lab. However, when called to testify in the State's rebuttal case, Officer Ganns candidly admitted that his testimony on this matter had been "in error." R. 190.

The conflict in the testimony as to which police officer actually retrieved the cocaine from the crime lab was resolved. The prosecution adequately established the chain of custody of the cocaine under the test set forth in Ex parte Holton, 590 So.2d 918 (Ala.1991).

II

The appellant claims that the trial court presented evidence on behalf of the State by informing the jury that the appellant had pleaded guilty to public intoxication.

The appellant was originally arrested for public intoxication. The cocaine that is the subject of the unlawful possession charge was discovered in the appellant's personal property when he was being processed at the police department pursuant to that arrest. See Part III of this opinion. At the suppression hearing, the case action summary of the public intoxication case was admitted into evidence without objection. R. 7. That document revealed that the appellant pleaded guilty in district court to public intoxication. During direct examination of Officer Ganns in the State's case-in-chief, the following occurred:

"[Mr. Hargett, the prosecutor]: Your Honor, solely for the limited purpose of proving the lawfulness of the arrest and the probable cause of the officer's arrest for public intoxication, we would offer into evidence a certified copy of the case action summary of that disposition and mark it as and offer as State's Exhibit One for that limited purpose.

"THE COURT: It's admitted. It will not be exhibited to the jury.

"MR. HARGETT: May I advise the jury of what the disposition was then?

"THE COURT: If there's any advising, I'll tell them." R. 100-01.

Defense counsel made no objection to the "limited" introduction of the case action summary.

Subsequently, during the State's case-in-chief and after an unreported hearing outside the presence of the jury, the following occurred:

"THE COURT: I was [going to] ask you for the record now, do you have any objection to the Court announcing what the results of the outcome of the case was in district court?

"MR. BEASON [defense counsel]: Yes, sir, we do on the grounds previously argued in the motion to suppress.

"THE COURT: All right. I will overrule. I'm merely going to advise them that he pled guilty and that [that] offers no proof o[r] presumption or inference he is guilty of the charge. And then I'll quit for the day.

"MR. HARGETT: Yes, sir, and I'll have another witness tomorrow.

"THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, for the record I would like to advise you that the records of the District Court of Franklin County indicate that on March 3rd, 1992, Scottie Eugene Ayers pled guilty to public intoxication. Now, the fact the defendant pled guilty in district court to public intoxication offers no proof, no prejudice, nor any inference that the defendant is guilty of the offense charged in this case which is that of possession of a controlled substance." R. 116-17.

The appellant's motion to suppress stated the following ground: "Defendant submits that his arrest on the charge of public intoxication was unlawful in that he was not loud and boisterous and was not posing a threat of danger to himself or to others in violation of Alabama Public Intoxication statute. That defendant pled guilty to said charge only due to the relatively minor nature of the charge and without knowledge of any pending charge against him for violation of the Alabama Controlled Substances Act and without assistance of counsel." C.R. 21-22.

Our review of the record, including the transcript of the hearing on the motion to suppress, reveals that defense counsel did not object on any ground to the admission of the case action summary and did not object on the ground now asserted to the trial court's informing the jury that the appellant had pleaded guilty to public intoxication in district court. Consequently, the issue now presented has not been preserved for appellate review. "The statement of specific grounds of objection waives all grounds not specified and the trial court will not be put in error on grounds not assigned at trial." Ex parte Frith, 526 So.2d 880, 882 (Ala.1987). "A defendant is bound by the grounds of objection raised at trial and cannot change them on appeal." Leonard v. State, 551 So.2d 1143, 1151 (Ala.Cr.App.1989).

We note that during the prosecutor's cross-examination of the appellant, the appellant asserted that he had not pleaded guilty to public intoxication but that he had "just paid a fine" and had "never seen no judge." R. 173-74. The prosecutor then cross-examined the appellant, reading from the case action summary. R. 173-74. When the prosecutor offered the document to the appellant, defense counsel objected: "I'm [going to] object to badgering the witness and the comments." R. 174. In response, the trial court stated: "I'll admit the item into evidence and it can go to the jury." R. 174. Under these circumstances, any error in the previous instructions of the trial court was rendered harmless.

III

As stated in Part II of this opinion, the cocaine upon which the appellant's conviction is based was found in the appellant's personal effects when he was being processed at the police station after his arrest for public intoxication. The appellant contends that the prosecution failed to prove that probable cause existed for his arrest for the offense of public intoxication and that, consequently, the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the cocaine that was discovered as a result of that arrest.

The offense of public intoxication is defined as "appear[ing] in a public place under the influence of alcohol, narcotics or other drug to the degree that [the person so appearing] endangers himself or another person or property, or by boisterous and offensive conduct annoys another person in his vicinity." Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-11-10(a). ¹ The appellant claims that the State failed to show that he was "endangering himself or others" or was "being boisterous or offensive," and, therefore, that there was no probable cause for his arrest. Appellant's brief at 18.

At the hearing on the motion to suppress, defense counsel attempted to question Joe Ganns, the arresting officer, about the appellant's conduct immediately before his arrest. The following then occurred:

"MR. HARGETT: Judge, I'm [going to] object to that question. I think that issue has been decided, I think that's res judicata based on the--

"THE COURT: Sustain.

"MR. BEASON: Judge, the purpose of going into this is obviously the attempt to establish that this officer did not have probable cause to arrest this individual for public intoxication. I realize the law is that once someone pleads guilty that waives most of the affects, and I submit that that would be applicable only to that particular arrest and not to a subsequent search based upon what was not a proper arrest.

"THE COURT: Overrule--I'm sorry, sustain the motion. I sustain the State's motion.

"....

"MR. BEASON: Well, in light of the Court's ruling on the objection of the State, I would like to make an offer of proof as to what the evidence in that regard would have been.

"THE COURT: All right.

"MR. BEASON: We would have suspected that the evidence would have been that on the occasion of the arrest of Mr. Ayers for public intoxication that he was not under the influence of alcohol to the degree that he endangered himself or another person and he was not boisterous or offensive in his conduct, annoying another person. In short, that he was not publicly intoxicated to an extent that warranted an arrest and any search subsequent to an arrest.

"THE COURT: All right. I note your showing, and it is still the Court's ruling that the plea in the case determines those issues raised by your objection and your showing also."

R. 34, 45-46 (emphasis added).

As the United States Supreme Court observed in Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Educ., 465 U.S. 75, 77 n. 1, 104 S.Ct. 892, 894 n. 1, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984):

"The preclusive effects of former adjudication are discussed in varying and, at times, seemingly conflicting terminology, attributable to the evolution of preclusion concepts over the years. These effects are referred to collectively by most commentators as the doctrine of 'res judicata.' See Restatement (Second) of Judgments, Introductory Note before ch. 3 (1982); 18 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4402 (1981). Res judicata is often analyzed further to consist of two preclusion concepts: 'issue preclusion' and 'claim preclusion.' Issue preclusion refers to the effect of a judgment in foreclosing relitigation of a matter that has been litigated and decided. See Restatement, supra, § 27. This effect also is referred to as direct or collateral estoppel. Claim preclusion...