State v. Green

• Decision Date: 07 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 2339,2339
• Citation: 318 S.C. 426,458 S.E.2d 73
• Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: The STATE, Respondent, v. John C. GREEN, Appellant. . Heard

Page 73

458 S.E.2d 73

318 S.C. 426

The STATE, Respondent, v. John C. GREEN, Appellant.

No. 2339.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Heard March 7, 1995.

Decided April 17, 1995.

Rehearing Denied May 31, 1995.

Chief Attorney Daniel T. Stacey, of the South Carolina Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for appellant.

Attorney General T. Travis Medlock, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen. Donald J. Zelenka, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Harold M. Coombs, Jr., and Asst. Atty. Gen. Miller W. Shealy, Jr., and Sol. Richard A. Harpootlian, Columbia, for respondent.

HOWARD, Judge:

John C. Green appeals his conviction for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. We affirm.

On September 28, 1992, law enforcement received an anonymous tip that Green would be travelling from Columbia to Lakeland, Florida on the Amtrak train that night, stay in Florida only nine hours, and return to Columbia. The informant also stated that Green had been seen in a red Chevrolet automobile with license plate number CWC 547. A narcotics officer, John David Freels, testified that such a long trip of short duration to a known drug distribution center sent up a "red flag" that Green could be involved in illegal drug activity. Upon receiving this information, Freels began gathering additional information about Green. He discovered that two other officers had contact with Green in a high crime neighborhood. While investigating residents' complaints of illegal drug activity in the area, these officers conducted a field contact interview with Green. After Green explained he was in the area visiting his girlfriend, the officers allowed him to go. The officers saw Green once again while investigating continued complaints about the same area. Green was standing beside a red automobile, with license plate number CWC 547, and fled when the officers approached. The officers then inventoried the automobile and discovered a round-trip Amtrak train ticket to Lakeland, Florida with Green's name on it in with the same dates and times as the tip. There was no evidence of drugs in the car.

After learning of these incidents, Freels discovered Green had been arrested a month prior to these events for possession of cocaine. Additionally, Freels learned Green had changed his train destination by making a reservation to Miami. However, Green never exchanged his Lakeland ticket, but boarded the train with the Lakeland bound passengers. Based on the totality of the circumstances, Freels obtained a search warrant on the night of September 29 for Green and any packages in his possession to be executed when Green returned to Columbia on an Amtrak train on September 30, 1992.

After Green departed the train, three law enforcement officers approached him while he was in the restroom. They identified themselves and informed Green of the search warrant. The agents read Green his Miranda warnings. Before the officers executed the search warrant, however, Green consented to the search. Nevertheless, the search warrant was read to Green. During the search Green stated to the officers that they must have been looking for his brother. Green claimed he had been to Kingstree, South Carolina, not Florida, on the train. However, the Amtrak train does not service Kingstree.

At this time, additional officers had stopped Walton Davis, another passenger on the train because they suspected he was travelling with Green. An agent identified himself to Davis and asked for permission to search him and his bags. Davis consented, and the officer discovered a bag of crack cocaine on his person. The officer asked Davis if the drugs belonged to him. Davis told the officer the drugs belonged to Green, and Green had paid Davis to transport them from Florida. The officer then reported Davis's statements to the agents who were at that time searching Green. At that point, Green was arrested and taken to the Richland County Sheriff's Department where he made a written statement concerning his whereabouts during the previous two days. The written statement about his travels conflicted with Green's earlier statement and ones he made to officers while being transported to the sheriff's department.

I.

Green contends the trial court erred by allowing testimony that the officers were in the neighborhood where they twice encountered Green because the officers had received complaints from residents concerning drug activity in the area. Green claims the complaints from residents were inadmissible hearsay and so prejudicial to Green as to constitute reversible error. Evidence is not hearsay unless it is offered to show the truth of the matter asserted. State v. Sims, 304 S.C. 409, 405 S.E.2d 377 (1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1103, 112 S.Ct. 1193, 117 L.Ed.2d 434 (1992). In a recent case challenging similar testimony, our Supreme Court held that such testimony was "not hearsay if it is offered for the limited purpose of explaining why a government investigation was undertaken." State v. Brown, 317 S.C. 55, 451 S.E.2d 888 (1994) (citing United States v. Love, 767 F.2d 1052 (4th Cir.1985), cert. denied, ...