Wahid v. State, F-84-237
| Decision Date | 24 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. F-84-237,F-84-237 |
| Citation | 716 P.2d 678 |
| Parties | Allah-U Akbar Allah-U WAHID, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
The appellant, Allah-U Akbar Allah-U Wahid, was convicted in Oklahoma County District Court, Case No. CRF-83-2570, of Unlawful Distribution of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Marijuana, After Former Conviction of Two or More Felonies, and was sentenced to twenty-three (23) years imprisonment, and he appeals. We affirm.
On April 11, 1984, Jennifer Barnard, a narcotics agent for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control went to appellant's residence located at 1222 Northwest 18th Street in Oklahoma City to purchase an ounce of marijuana from appellant. After Agent Barnard was allowed entry by appellant to his apartment, she observed appellant hand a small plastic bag to an unidentified female in the apartment. After examining the contents of the bag, the female paid appellant some money and left the apartment. At that point, Agent Barnard asked appellant if she could purchase an ounce of marijuana. Appellant responded affirmatively, and proceeded to retrieve two one- half ounce bags of marijuana and sold them to the agent for seventy dollars ($70).
In his first assignment of error, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce Agent Barnard's testimony that upon entering appellant's apartment she observed appellant selling the contents of a plastic bag to an unidentified woman. Appellant alleges that this statement is inadmissible evidence of other crimes. We disagree.
The law is settled in Oklahoma that where the offense charged is so connected with the other offenses sought to be proved as to form a part of the entire transaction, evidence of the latter may be given to show the character of the former. Doser v. State, 88 Okl.Cr. 299, 203 P.2d 451 (1949); Miles v. State, 554 P.2d 1200 (Okl.Cr.1976).
The facts of the instant case clearly show that the two acts in question, the sale of marijuana to the agent and the sale to the unidentified woman, are so proximate to one another in time and space that they form a part of the entire transaction. Therefore, the trial court was correct in admitting the agent's testimony of appellant's sale to the unidentified woman.
In conjunction with his first assignment of error, appellant also alleges that the State failed to give notice to appellant that evidence of other crimes were to be introduced at trial as required by Burks v. State, 594 P.2d 771 (Okl.Cr.1979). However, having previously found that appellant's transaction with the unidentified woman falls within the entire transaction exception to Burks, we find that the State had no duty to give the appellant notice that evidence of other crimes was to be introduced at trial. Therefore, this assignment of error is without merit.
In his second assignment of error, appellant contends that the trial court violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the United States Constitution by not instructing the jury and allowing the jury to conclude whether the actions of the appellant were in fact protected by the Constitution. Appellant contends that his actions are protected by the Constitution in that he uses marijuana in connection with his religious beliefs. However, appellant failed to introduce evidence that tends to support his theory of constitutional protection. Therefore, the trial judge was not obligated to give the jury an instruction on that issue. See, Carter v. State, 560 P.2d 994 (Okl.Cr.1977). Moreover, this Court has distinguished between the possession of a controlled dangerous substance for one's own honest religious belief and the sale of a controlled substance by one claiming a religious exemption. Whitehorn v. State, 561 P.2d 539 (Okl.Cr.1977); Lewellyn v. State, 592 P.2d 538 (Okl.Cr.1979). In Lewellyn, we held that the State of Oklahoma has a sufficient compelling interest to prohibit distribution of a controlled dangerous substance to members of the public who do not receive the substance in...
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