Roberson v. State

• Decision Date: 28 June 2002
• Parties: John Deavie ROBERSON v. STATE of Alabama.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

864 So.2d 379

John Deavie ROBERSON v. STATE of Alabama.

CR-00-2405.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 28, 2002.

Rehearing Denied August 9, 2002.

Certiorari Denied May 16, 2003.

John D. Roberson, pro se.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and Yvonne A.H. Saxon, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

Alabama Supreme Court 1012166.

SHAW, Judge.

The appellant, John Deavie Roberson, was convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana in the first degree, a violation of § 13A-12-213(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. Roberson represented himself at trial,¹ and he represents himself on appeal.

I.

First, Roberson contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Roberson did not move for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the State's case or at the close of all the evidence. Although Roberson filed a motion for a new trial, he did not allege in that motion that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction; rather, he made several allegations regarding various errors he believed occurred during his trial, and he alleged that the verdict was "contrary to law" and "contrary to the weight of the evidence." (C. 308.)

In Reed v. State, 717 So.2d 862 (Ala. Crim.App.1997), this Court held that the appellant's motion for a new trial alleging that the verdicts were inconsistent, that they were contrary to the evidence, and that they were contrary to the law was not sufficiently specific to preserve for review the appellant's argument that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions. This Court stated that "[a] `scattergun' approach in a motion for a new trial `does not squarely present to the trial court the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence; consequently, it is insufficient to preserve the issue for appellate review.'" Reed, 717 So.2d at 864, quoting Johnson v. State, 500 So.2d 69, 72 (Ala.Crim.App.1986). Similarly, Roberson's motion for a new trial was not sufficiently specific to preserve for review his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.

Moreover, even if Roberson had preserved for review the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence, we would decide it adversely to him. "`In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction, a reviewing court must accept as true all evidence introduced by the State, accord the State all legitimate inferences therefrom, and consider all evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution.' " Ballenger v. State, 720 So.2d 1033, 1034 (Ala.Crim.App.1998), quoting Faircloth v. State, 471 So.2d 485, 488 (Ala. Crim.App.1984), aff'd, 471 So.2d 493 (Ala. 1985). "`The test used in determining the sufficiency of evidence to sustain a conviction is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational finder of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Nunn v. State, 697 So.2d 497, 498 (Ala.Crim.App.1997), quoting O'Neal v. State, 602 So.2d 462, 464 (Ala.Crim.App. 1992). "`When there is legal evidence from which the jury could, by fair inference, find the defendant guilty, the trial court should submit [the case] to the jury, and in such a case, this court will not disturb the trial court's decision.'" Farrior v. State, 728 So.2d 691, 696 (Ala.Crim. App.1998), quoting Ward v. State, 557 So.2d 848, 850 (Ala.Crim.App.1990). "The role of appellate courts is not to say what the facts are. Our role ... is to judge whether the evidence is legally sufficient to allow submission of an issue for decision [by] the jury." Ex parte Bankston, 358 So.2d 1040, 1042 (Ala.1978).

The State's evidence indicated that on May 10, 1995, law-enforcement officers obtained a search warrant for a mobile home on premises owned by Roberson's family. The mobile home was believed to be occupied by Roberson. When the officers arrived on the premises to execute the warrant on May 11, 1995, they secured everyone on the premises, including Roberson and an unidentified female, who were not in the mobile home, but in a "travel trailer" next to the mobile home.² While they were securing Roberson, officers saw marijuana in plain view in the travel trailer. When Roberson asked to be allowed to get something out of his vehicle, officers saw a cellular telephone and a large amount of cash in the vehicle. The officers then obtained two additional search warrants for the travel trailer and for the vehicle. The officers seized marijuana in both the trailer and the vehicle. The State also presented evidence indicating that Roberson had previously been convicted of possession of marijuana in the second degree (for personal use). This evidence was clearly sufficient to sustain Roberson's conviction for unlawful possession of marijuana in the first degree.

II.

Roberson contends that the search warrants were deficient and that, therefore, the marijuana seized as a result of the execution of those warrants should not have been admitted into evidence. Although it is not entirely clear, as best we can discern, Roberson argues (1) that the initial search warrant for the mobile home was deficient because, he says, it was based on the hearsay of a confidential informant whose reliability was not established; (2) that the initial search warrant for the mobile home was deficient because, he says, the affidavit submitted in support of the warrant failed to aver when the confidential informant saw the narcotics at Roberson's residence; (3) that the search warrant for the travel trailer was deficient because, he says, it did not describe with sufficient particularity the place to be searched; and (4) that there was a fatal variance between the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant for the travel trailer and the search warrant itself.

Before trial, Roberson filed what he styled as a "Motion for Pre-Trial Determination of Admissibility of Evidence" — which the trial court treated as a motion to suppress — in which he requested that all the evidence seized as a result of the three search warrants be suppressed. As grounds for the motion, Roberson alleged that "the warrant" — he did not identify which warrant — did not sufficiently describe the place to be searched and was, therefore, overbroad (C. 103), and that the officers searched the travel trailer pursuant to the initial search warrant by mistake and then later obtained the search warrant for that trailer to cover up their mistake. The trial court held a hearing on the motion and then denied it.

Roberson's claims 1, 2, and 4, as set out above, were not preserved for review. Roberson did not include these claims in his pretrial motion to suppress. "`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.'" Culp v. State, 710 So.2d 1357, 1359 (Ala.Crim. App.1996), quoting Ex parte Frith, 526 So.2d 880, 882 (Ala.1987). In addition, although it appears that Roberson raised these claims in his motion for a new trial, he did not object to the admission of the marijuana evidence at the time it was introduced. "Objections to the admission of evidence must be made when the evidence is offered, along with specific grounds to allow the trial court to rule." Craig v. State, 616 So.2d 364, 366 (Ala.Crim.App. 1992). "`[A] motion for a new trial or a motion for a judgment of acquittal is not sufficient to preserve the issue where no timely objection was made at the time the evidence was offered and admitted.'" Greenhill v. State, 746 So.2d 1064, 1068-69 (Ala.Crim.App.1999), quoting Newsome v. State, 570 So.2d 703, 717 (Ala.Crim.App. 1989) (citations omitted in Newsome).

As to Roberson's claim that the warrant for the search of the travel trailer did not sufficiently describe the place to be searched, we find this claim to be meritless. From our review of the testimony at the suppression hearing and of the search warrants, it appears that the initial search warrant was for the mobile home located on the southernmost portion of the premises behind the two houses; this mobile home was described at the suppression hearing as being bluish-gray with red trim. Both the affidavit and the search warrant for the mobile home described it as the "southernmost" mobile home located on property on the east side of Highway 201 approximately 0.9 miles north of the intersection of Highway 201 and Highway 93. The second search warrant — for the travel trailer — read, in part:

"Proof having this day been made before me, William G. Hightower, District Judge of Pike County, Alabama, that there is presently located in a residence occupied by John D. Robinson, aka John D. Roberson, and on its premises, including a Sentry safe at the end of a path leading from the residence, said residence being located on the east side of Alabama Highway 201 0.9 miles north of the intersection of Highway 201 and Alabama Highway 93 and being a white Concord travel trailer, the northernmost mobile home behind a blue-gray house and a red house on Highway 201 in Pike County, Alabama, controlled substances, namely, marijuana,

"You are commanded in the daytime or the nighttime within ten days to make immediate search of a residence occupied by John D. Robinson, aka John D. Roberson, and its premises, including a Sentry safe at the end of a path leading from the residence, said residence located on the east side of Alabama Highway 201-0.9 miles north of the intersection of Highway 201 and Alabama Highway 93 and being a white Concord travel trailer, the southernmost mobile home behind a blue gray house and a red house on Highway 201 in Pike County, Alabama, for controlled substances and if you find the same or any part thereof, to bring it forthwith before me at my office at Troy, Alabama."

(C. 17.)

"`A warrant's description of the place to be searched is not required to meet technical requirements or have the specificity sought by conveyancers. The

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