State v. Groce
| Decision Date | 08 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 24251.,24251. |
| Citation | 133 Idaho 144,983 P.2d 217 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Rick Allen GROCE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
John M. Adams, Kootenai County Public Defender; J. Bradford Chapman, Deputy Public Defender, Coeur d'Alene, for appellant.
Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Myrna A.I. Stahman, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent.
A jury found Rick Allen Groce guilty of three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Groce appeals, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the jury's verdicts. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Deputy Edward Anderson initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle driven by Groce because the vehicle had no front license plate and a nonfunctional taillight. Groce provided Deputy Anderson with false identification, and after forty-two minutes of attempting to identify him, Deputy Anderson arrested Groce for obstructing and delaying a peace officer and failing to display and fasten license plates.
Deputy Anderson then conducted a search of Groce's vehicle and found a zipper pouch containing syringes, a spoon with white powder residue, and a small plastic scale with white residue powder. Upon discovery of these items, Deputy Anderson called for backup from the Kootenai County Drug Task Force. Drug task force Detectives Stewart and Hildebrandt arrived, identified Groce and completed the search of Groce's vehicle. In addition to the items located by Deputy Anderson, Detective Hildebrandt found a plastic baggie containing a small chunk of powder substance and a small plastic bindle also containing a chunky powder substance.1
Groce was charged by criminal information with three counts of felony possession of a controlled substance, specifically for the methamphetamine and amphetamine found in the two plastic baggies and the cocaine located on the plastic scale. The information was subsequently amended to include one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. A jury found Groce guilty of all four counts. Thereafter, Groce filed a number of post-trial motions, including one for judgment of acquittal. The court denied Groce's motion for acquittal and eventually sentenced him to serve concurrent three-year indeterminate terms of incarceration, with one year fixed, for the felony possession charges. Groce then filed a notice of appeal.
Groce asserts that the state presented an inadequate foundation for admission of the contraband evidence at his trial by failing to establish a proper chain of custody. Groce specifically claims that the trial court did not determine that the evidence seized was the same evidence which was tested and there is a reasonable probability it was not. He cites to the fact that the evidence receipt lists only a bindle with tan powder residue as the contents of the evidence envelope to be tested. Detective Stewart testified that the items listed on the evidence envelope included the two plastic baggies inside a Camel cigarette package. Groce asserts that there is no explanation as to why these items were not listed on the receipt. Moreover, he notes that the criminalist who tested the substances made no mention of the Camel pack or the bindle, and the plastic gram scale which was also tested was not included on the evidence receipt. Thus, Groce argues that his objection to the admission of evidence for lack of foundation should have been sustained and the state should have only been permitted to admit evidence listed on the receipt.
We review a trial court's conclusion that evidence is supported by a proper foundation under an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Nelson, 131 Idaho 210, 217, 953 P.2d 650, 657 (Ct.App.1998),cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 119 S.Ct. 596, 142 L.Ed.2d 538 (1998). In criminal proceedings, exhibits must generally "be shown to be in substantially the same condition when offered into evidence as it was when the crime was committed." Id. The party offering the exhibit presents evidence of its chain of custody to demonstrate that the exhibit has not been materially altered. Id.; State v. Kodesh, 122 Idaho 756, 757, 838 P.2d 885, 886 (Ct.App.1992). The defendant then has the burden of making "some showing that the evidence was tampered or meddled with, to overcome the presumption that the integrity of the evidence routinely handled by governmental officials was suitably preserved." Kodesh, 122 Idaho at 757,838 P.2d at 886,citing State v. Ruybal, 102 Idaho 885, 889, 643 P.2d 835, 839 (Ct.App.1982). The standard for admissibility, then, is whether "the trial court can determine, in all reasonable probability, the proffered exhibit has not been changed in any material respect." Id., citing State v. Campbell, 104 Idaho 705, 662 P.2d 1149 (Ct. App.1983)
.
After reviewing the evidence presented regarding the chain of custody of the exhibits at issue, we conclude that the district court properly admitted these exhibits. Although Groce correctly notes that the evidence receipt describes the contents of the evidence envelope only as "tan powder & bindle w/tan powder residue," the detective who sealed the evidence in the envelope and the criminalist who tested the evidence each testified that the envelope contained two plastic baggies and a scale. Detective Stewart testified that the only items he sealed in the evidence envelope, and then placed in the evidence locker, were two plastic baggies, one containing the tan powder and the other containing residue, and a black plastic scale. The property officer explained how the evidence envelope was removed from the evidence locker, and the criminalist identified the scale and two plastic baggies containing a tan powder as the evidence he tested.
The property officer explained that the only difference between the evidence envelope before it was taken to the lab for testing and after, was the lab technicians' seal across the bottom of the envelope where it had been opened and resealed. In addition, Deputy Anderson and Detectives Hildebrandt and Stewart each testified at trial that the syringes and metal spoon were in substantially the same condition as when they had first discovered them. Groce has identified nothing in the record to suggest that the evidence was altered or tampered with in any way. In light of the testimony, the district court properly concluded as a matter of reasonable probability that the evidence had not been materially altered. Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the challenged exhibits.
Groce asserts that because the state failed to demonstrate that he possessed a usable quantity of cocaine, there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for possession of cocaine.2 Groce's argument is premised on the assertion that knowledge is essential to forming the requisite intent to possess cocaine and that such knowledge is only demonstrated through a defendant's possession of a usable quantity of cocaine; that is, an amount sufficiently large to demonstrate knowledge of possession.3
During the search of Groce's vehicle, Deputy Anderson discovered inter alia a small plastic gram scale with white residue powder visible on the bowl portion of the scale. The scale was discovered in a box of clothing in the cab of the vehicle. Other items discovered in the vehicle included syringes, a spoon with white powder residue, and two plastic baggies containing powder substances later identified as amphetamine and methamphetamine. Subsequent testing of the substance on the scale revealed that the white residue was cocaine.
Groce was convicted of possession of cocaine in violation of Idaho Code § 37-2732(c), which provides:
(Emphasis added.). Section 37-2707 of Idaho Code defines cocaine as a Schedule II substance:
(Emphasis added.).
Essentially, Groce argues that the legislature did not intend for the possession of minute quantities of cocaine to constitute a violation of I.C. § 37-2732(c) because the Idaho Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Idaho Act) does not criminalize the possession of "any quantity" of cocaine, while it does criminalize the possession of "any quantity" of other substances. See, e.g., I.C. § 37-2705(d) (...
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...court's conclusion that evidence is supported by proper foundation under an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Groce, 133 Idaho 144, 146, 983 P.2d 217, 219 (Ct.App.1999). B. The objection to testimony regarding Fernquist not using weapons was properly preserved on appeal, and the admiss......
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