Pollard v. State, CR78-51

• Decision Date: 18 December 1978
• Docket Number: No. CR78-51,CR78-51
• Citation: 574 S.W.2d 656,264 Ark. 753
• Parties: Robert Neil POLLARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 656

574 S.W.2d 656

264 Ark. 753

Robert Neil POLLARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR78-51.

Supreme Court of Arkansas, In Banc.

Dec. 18, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 12, 1979.

Vincent E. Skillman, Jr., West Memphis, for appellant.

Bill Clinton, Atty. Gen. by Joyce Williams Warren, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

HICKMAN, Justice.

Robert Neil Pollard was charged, along with two others, with manufacturing (growing) marijuana on Brandywine Island which is located in the Mississippi River next to Crittenden County, Arkansas. Pollard was convicted and sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.

On appeal he alleges two errors: a motion to suppress certain evidence found in a house he occupied should have been granted; and, there was insufficient corroborating evidence of an accomplice's testimony to sustain his conviction.

The first argument has no merit. The court, after a hearing, found that a valid search was conducted, either on the basis of consent of the owner of the house, who was not Pollard, or because Pollard had abandoned the house. On review, after making an independent determination, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we cannot say the trial court was clearly erroneous in its findings. State v. Osborn, 263 Ark. 554, 566 S.W.2d 139 (1978).

Pollard's other argument has merit. The case was well prosecuted, based primarily on the testimony of a woman Pollard was living with, Sandra Kay Harris, who was an accomplice. She was granted immunity and her testimony was that Pollard, with others, was guilty of growing the marijuana on Brandywine Island.

The two others charged with Pollard were Garland Stokes, an employee of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Dorse Sutherland, a crop duster. Both testified denying participating in the crime; neither implicated Pollard.

Stokes, whose duties included supervising Brandywine Island, which is a ten thousand acre island in the Mississippi River leased by the Game and Fish Commission from U. S. Gypsum Company, admitted that he had found marijuana growing on the island. In fact, he had cut some of the marijuana, according to Stokes, for the purpose of destroying it.

Stokes admitted that he knew Sutherland and Pollard as friends and that Pollard had frequently been on the island. Stokes admitted that Pollard had loaned him a three-wheel motorcycle and a six-wheel all terrain vehicle for use on the island.

Without reviewing all of the evidence produced by the State, and it is voluminous, suffice it to say we have searched and cannot find sufficient evidence to corroborate the testimony of the accomplice to sustain this conviction.

There is no corroborating evidence that Pollard planted or cultivated the four fields of marijuana found on Brandywine Island. There is only evidence that could raise a suspicion of such activity.

For example, the State argues that evidence showed that Pollard built a hot bed behind his mother's house in Crittenden County where he planted several plants of marijuana; that both vehicles he owned, the three-wheel motorcycle and the all terrain vehicle, were on the island and he was seen riding these vehicles; a state policeman testified that he had seen three-wheel tracks, similar to those made by the motorcycle, at the edge of one of the fields; there was evidence that Pollard had been on the island numerous times; there was testimony that Pollard had purchased blood meal in Memphis, which the accomplice testified was used on the plants to ward off animals; records were produced that showed a "Bob Pollard" purchased three thousand disintegrating peat pots, which according to the accomplice were used for planting marijuana seeds.

There was evidence that marijuana was in the attic of a house...