Purnell v. State

• Decision Date: 04 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 210, September Term, 2005.,210, September Term, 2005.
• Citation: 911 A.2d 867,171 Md. App. 582
• Parties: James Davis PURNELL v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

911 A.2d 867

171 Md. App. 582

James Davis PURNELL v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 210, September Term, 2005.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

December 4, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stacy W. McCormack (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), for appellant.

Brian S. Kleinbord (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Panel DAVIS, DEBORAH S. EYLER, WOODWARD, JJ.

DAVIS, J.

Appellant, James Davis Purnell, was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County at a bench trial (Ballou-Watts, J.) for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of marijuana. He was thereafter sentenced as a subsequent offender to a term of ten years imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and to a concurrent sentence of one year imprisonment for possession of marijuana. From these convictions and sentences, appellant files this timely appeal, presenting the following issues for our review:

I. Whether the trial court erred in denying appellant's motion to suppress; and

II. Whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain appellant's conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At the hearing on appellant's Motion to Suppress, the following testimony was elicited. On December 2, 2003, Police Officer Jeffrey Peach, assigned to the Baltimore County K-9 unit, was sitting in marked Unit No. 1112 on Dartford Road in Baltimore County and, at approximately 2:45 p.m., observed a gold Honda Accord traveling down Dartford Road. The vehicle did not have a front license plate affixed to the front grill, but rather it was placed on the dash board within the vehicle. After following the car for three to five minutes, Officer Peach stopped the vehicle for the traffic violation.

Appellant, James D. Purnell, was the passenger in the front seat of the gold Honda driven by Lakisha Conyers. Officer Peach approached the vehicle and first met with the driver and advised her of the reason for the stop. Afterwards, Officer Peach requested her driver's license and registration. Although the driver failed to produce identification, she provided her name and date of birth. The officer also spoke to appellant and requested his driver's license. Appellant retrieved his license from the pocket of a black coat that was on the rear seat behind him. The coat was within the reach of both the driver and the passenger. The officer returned to his police cruiser and had the dispatcher "run a routine driver's license check of the driver." The routine check revealed that Conyers' license "was currently suspended." Based upon the information retrieved and the driver's failure to produce her identification, she was arrested and ordered into the police cruiser. Upon securing the driver, the police officer returned to the Honda and asked appellant to exit the vehicle to allow him to conduct a search of the vehicle incident to an arrest. Appellant was then instructed to exit the vehicle. He sat down on the grassy area approximately fifteen feet from the Honda Accord.

The officer searched the front and rear of the car, including the coat that appellant previously "retrieved his driver's license from." The officer discovered, inside the opposite pocket from where appellant retrieved his license, a "small recyclable grocery bag" that was "tied in a knot." Inside the bag, Officer Peach found twelve individualized yellow baggies containing crack cocaine and three baggies of marijuana. Appellant was then placed under arrest, advised of his Miranda¹ rights, and transported to the police precinct. While at the police precinct, appellant made a statement acknowledging ownership of the drugs.

On December 13, 2004, alleging a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution, appellant moved to suppress evidence obtained by the police officer during the search of his coat and his statement made subsequent to the search. At the conclusion of the hearing on the motion to suppress, the circuit court issued its ruling, denying appellant's motion:

The State argues that this search was based on a search incident to arrest of the female driver who was properly arrested because she was driving on a suspended license. The defense does not see that as the appropriate exception, particularly in light of Officer Peach's acknowledgment that he knew that the jacket that was searched belonged to this defendant.

The court finds, in looking at the totality of circumstances, first of all, I find that the arrest of the female passenger was a proper arrest, and therefore, the police had the authority, they had a right to search incident to arrest the passenger compartment of the Honda Accord. And this includes the black, puffy jacket that has been referred to.

There was testimony that during Mister or Officer Peach's direct that the jacket could be retrieved by either the passenger or the driver reaching back simply to access it on the back seat. And while I am concerned about the fact that the driver was secured in the police cruiser at the time that the search was conducted, I think the case law is very clear that the police were entitled to conduct that search. And that search would include a search of the black jacket that has been mentioned several times.

And so the court finds that the search was valid.

Immediately following the court's ruling on the motion to suppress, appellant waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to proceed by way of a court trial. Appellant and the State stipulated to the officer's suppression hearing testimony incorporated into the record and agreed to limit the scope of evidence to expert testimony on the issue of intent to distribute. Defense counsel stated:

There is no issue as to the facts, Your Honor. The only question that exists is whether the defendant's possession was simple position [sic] or with intent. So I have no problem if we can agree on a statement of facts as to the entire case, except the one issue as to his intent and the possession. Detective Massoni can testify on that point, and the defendant can testify on that point and everything else is conceded or we can try it from scratch, either way.

The prosecutor replied:

Your Honor, if your honor would be inclined to allow us to proceed in the following way: [w]e would have Officer Peach's testimony from the motions incorporated into this trial, with a very brief addition to that. We'd submit a copy of the analysis, as well as the drugs themselves as State's [Exhibits 1 and 2]. . . . And then the State would call Detective Frank Massoni, who is not a factual witness, but purely in an expertise situation, to testify about possession with intent, obviously with cross-examination by counsel.

Detective Frank Massoni of Baltimore County's Community Drug and Violence Interdiction Team (CDVIT) unit was called by the State as an expert in the area of packaging, distribution and recognition of cocaine.

The circuit court rejected appellant's testimony in which he had explained that he bought drugs from "Pooky" and that the drugs were strictly for his personal use. The court further stated that it "did not find the [appellant's] testimony credible" and it was "satisfied [that] the State has met its burden beyond a reasonable doubt and I find the defendant guilty."

After rejecting appellant's explanation as to how the drugs came to be in his possession, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County issued its ruling:

[T]he Court finds that the testimony of Detective Massoni was very helpful in evaluating the evidence in this case. The defendant had twelve bags of cocaine. They were packaged in a manner that is consistent with distribution. It is true that nothing was found in the vehicle, in the Honda Accord, such as some type of sheet, no scales were found, no other indicia of drug distribution, but then the vehicle did not belong to the defendant. The defendant was catching a ride with this young lady who was a friend of his. I don't know that I would necessarily expect those types of things to be found in a vehicle.

Nothing was found that would be consistent with him simply being a user of crack cocaine. The twelve bags of crack cocaine were contained in individual twenty dollar bags, and those bags were contained in another bag. In addition, as was pointed out during the State's case, if the defendant were truly a user, it would have made more sense for him to buy an eighth of an ounce at a lesser amount.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard which we must apply in our review of a challenge to the denial of a motion to suppress has been summarized by the Court of Appeals in State v. Collins, 367 Md. 700, 706-07, 790 A.2d 660 (2002):

Our review of a Circuit Court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence under the Fourth Amendment is limited, ordinarily, to information contained in the record of the suppression hearing and not the record of the trial. See Ferris v. State, 355 Md. 356, 368, 735 A.2d 491 (1999); In re Tariq A-R-Y, 347 Md. 484, 488, 701 A.2d 691 (1997); Simpler v State, 318 Md. 311, 312, 568 A.2d 22, (1990); Trusty v. State, 308 Md. 658, 670, 521 A.2d 749 (1987). When there is a denial of a motion to suppress, we are further limited to considering facts in the light most favorable to the State as the prevailing party on the motion. Riddick v. State, 319 Md. 180, 183, 571 A.2d 1239 (1990); Simpler, 318 Md. at 312, 568 A.2d 22. In considering the evidence presented at the suppression hearing, we extend great deference to the fact-finding of the suppression hearing judge with respect to the weighing and determining first-level facts. Lancaster v. State, 86 Md.App. 74, 95, 585 A.2d 274 (1991); Perkins v. State, 83 Md.App. 341, 346, 574 A.2d 356 (1990). . . . Even so, as to the ultimate conclusion of whether an action taken was proper, we must make our own independent constitutional appraisal by...