Patterson v. State, 769S147

• Decision Date: 02 October 1970
• Docket Number: No. 769S147,769S147
• Citation: 255 Ind. 22,262 N.E.2d 520,23 Ind.Dec. 67
• Parties: Anthony Lee PATTERSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 520

262 N.E.2d 520

255 Ind. 22

Anthony Lee PATTERSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 769S147.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Oct. 2, 1970.

Alex M. Clark, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen. of Ind., Edward Squier Neal, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

DeBRULER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction in Marion Criminal Court, Division One for violation of Acts 1935, ch. 380 as amended, Burns Ind.Stat.Ann. § 10--3519, known as the 1935 Narcotics Act.

Appellant was charged by affidavit with the illegal possession of heroin with intent to sell (Count I) and illegal possession of heroin (Count II). Trial was had by court and at the conclusion of the states evidence the trial court sustained appellant's motion for discharge as to Count I. Appellant was adjudged guilty as charged in Count II of the affidavit.

Appellant alleges that the finding of the trial court was insufficient in that the State failed to prove that the appellant ever had possession of the alleged drug. In reviewing the allegation of insufficient evidence this court will not weigh the evidence nor resolve questions of credibility of witnesses, but will look to that evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom which support the finding of the trial court. Asher v. State (1969), Ind., 244 N.E.2d 89. The conviction will be affirmed if from that viewpoint there is evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact could reasonably infer that the appellant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Smith v. State (1970), Ind., 260 N.E.2d 558.

A fair statement of the evidence most favorable to the state reveals the following: At approximately 12:15 a.m., July 18, 1967, four policemen from the Narcotics section of the Indianapolis Police Department stopped their car behind that of the appellant at 2207 N. Pennsylvania in Indianapolis. As appellant exited from his car he noticed the four officers and began running through the yard at that address. The four officers pursued the appellant. As he ran through the yard, appellant was seen throwing currency and aluminum foil packages to the ground. Two officers stopped to retrieve the packages and the money while the other two officers pursued and apprehended the appellant. The aluminum foil packages revealed gelatin capsules containing a white powder. One officer conducted a field test on the powder which test resulted in a positive reaction indicating an opium derivative. Subsequent laboratory test disclosed that the powder was heroin. Appellant alleges that evidence is insufficient to show that he ever had possession of the alleged drugs. This allegation is without merit. Three of the officers on the scene testified that they personally observed the appellant throw the aluminum packages to the ground as he ran thru the yard. Such evidence is sufficient to warrant the finding of the trial court that the appellant did have possession of the alleged drugs.

Appellant next alleges that the finding of the trial court was not sustained by sufficient evidence in that the state failed to prove that the substance retrieved from the appellant was in fact heroin, a derivative of opium. Appellant contends that the two police officers who testified regarding the testing of the drugs did not possess sufficient qualifications as to permit them to give expert testimony as to identification of the substance retrieved from the appellant. We cannot agree.

Police Officer Owen testified that upon his retrieval of the dropped packages he performed a field test upon the white powder. This test, the Marquis reagent test, resulted in a positive reaction indicating the presence of an opium derivative. Officer Owen testified that he had been assigned to the Narcotics Section for approximately fourteen and one half years and that he had been administering this test for approximately fourteen years. He testified that he was a graduate of the Federal Drug Abuse School and the Federal Bureau of Narcotic Training School. He further testified that the reagent used in this field test was...