Wayne v. State

• Court: Arkansas Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: CINDY GRACE THYER, Judge
• Citation: 689 S.W.3d 702
• Docket Number: CR-23-688
• Decision Date: 15 May 2024
• Parties: Marshay WAYNE, Appellant v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee

689 S.W.3d 702

2024 Ark. App. 318

Marshay WAYNE, Appellant

v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee

No. CR-23-688

Court of Appeals of Arkansas, DIVISION II.

Opinion Delivered May 15, 2024

APPEAL FROM THE UNION COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 70CR-21-330], HONORABLE JIM ANDREWS, JUDGE

Lassiter & Cassinelli, by: Michael Kiel Kaiser, for appellant.

Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Joseph Karl Luebke, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.

CINDY GRACE THYER, Judge

₁A Union County jury convicted Marshay Wayne of one count of trafficking a controlled substance (methamphetamine); one count of trafficking a controlled substance (cocaine); and one count of maintaining drug premises. She appeals those convictions, claiming that there was insufficient evidence to support her convictions and that the court committed an evidentiary error by allowing the admission of hearsay evidence. We affirm.

On May 8, 2021, approximately thirteen pounds of methamphetamine and three pounds of cocaine were found stored in a nonfunctioning dryer on the back porch of a trailer owned by James Lester and rented by Marshay Wayne. As a result of this discovery, Wayne was subsequently charged with one count of trafficking a controlled substance (methamphetamine); one count of trafficking a controlled substance (cocaine); and one count of maintaining drug premises.

₂Trial occurred on June 5, 2023. At trial, the State called Lester, an army veteran and retired accountant from Murphy Oil, as its first witness. Lester testified that he owned rental property with three trailers on it, and he rented one of the trailers to Wayne on a month-to-month basis. The other trailers were vacant. He testified that Wayne paid her rent on time each month and in cash. Wayne was the sole tenant on the lease.

Lester testified that, on the day the drugs were discovered, he and his property manager, Bernard Hollands, went to Wayne’s trailer to fix her air conditioner. While there, they decided to haul the non-functioning dryer from the back porch to a scrap yard. Lester stated that Wayne had called him a couple months prior to remove the dryer, but he simply had not gotten around to doing so. That day, he decided to kill two ’birds with one stone while he was there—repair the air conditioner and remove the dryer.

When they went to move the dryer, they opened it and looked inside. He stated he was not exactly sure what they had found in the dryer. Because Wayne was out of town, they called her sister. After that, they called the police.

Hollands was the next to testify. He testified that he is a retired special education teacher. He stated that, on the day the drugs were discovered, he had gone to the property to work on one of the air- conditioning units. Lester went with him so he could access the trailer in the event the tenant was not at home.

After he fixed the unit, Hollands and Lester decided to haul off a dryer stored on the back porch. Hollands testified that he already had a scrap pile of stuff he intended to sell ₃and wanted to add the dryer to his pile. He backed his truck up to the porch, and he and Lester attempted to move the dryer.

Because the dryer seemed heavier than normal, they decided to empty it. Inside the dryer, Hollands found baby clothes and a "sandwich bag." He held the baggie up to the sun and then googled the substance inside. His search indicated the substance was "crystal meth."

After the discovery, Hollands and Lester loaded the dryer onto the truck and called Lester’s wife, Judy. Judy attempted to call Wayne, but when she could not reach her, she called Wayne’s sister. Wayne’s sister and mother came to the house, and Hollands informed them they had found drugs in the dryer on the back porch. Wayne’s sister again tried to reach Wayne by phone and was finally able to do so. Hollands told them they wanted Wayne to remove the drugs because drugs were not allowed on the premises. He stated they did not want anyone to get into trouble, they just wanted whoever owned it to come and get it. Wayne stated that she would return home. No one claimed ownership of the drugs.

At that point, Hollands called a friend who worked for the sheriff’s department and informed the friend that they had found drugs in the dryer. The sheriff’s department sent a deputy out to retrieve the drugs. The deputy collected the drugs and then asked Lester and Hollands to follow him to the police station to get their fingerprints to eliminate them as suspects. When they reached the station, two inmates came out, unloaded the dryer, and placed it on the ground. Hollands was allowed to leave once that was done.

₄Hollands also described the porch on which the dryer and drugs were found. He stated that the porch was lined with a mattress and an old baby bed. He explained that it was kind of like a storage building but was not a building.

Captain Eric Meadows was the next witness. He testified that, on May 8, 2021, he was dispatched to Lester’s property to investigate some drugs found at the residence and to collect evidence if needed. The property was in a rural area, and it was open on both sides.

When he arrived on scene, he contacted Hollands. Meadows then explained that Hollands had told him that he had been there to do some work, that he was attempting to remove a dryer that had been there for approximately three months, and that he had found the drugs when he took items out of the dryer to make it lighter. Counsel, however, interrupted his testimony and objected on hearsay grounds before Meadows could finish his explanation. The court overruled the objection but instructed the jury that his comment was not evidence.

Meadows then explained that he saw a dryer sitting on the back of a Ford F150 truck. The door to the dryer was open, and Meadows could see several Ziploc bags inside and some baby items. Meadows stated that he realized at that point what it was and began to take pictures and collect the evidence.

He testified that he discovered large gallon-size bags of a crystal-like substance he believed to be methamphetamine. He stated there were probably fifteen or sixteen bags of that substance in the dryer and that he had never seen that many bags before. He stated that there were also bags containing a white powdery substance he believed to be cocaine. He ₅stated that the drugs were packaged individually and that all of them were about equal in size and weight. It was the largest quantity of drugs he had ever seen. Because he was unsure whom the drugs belonged to, he was nervous and had his head on a swivel because he was afraid the owners might come back to reclaim their property.

After photographing the dryer and the drugs, Meadows had Hollands show him where on the porch the dryer had been located so that he could take pictures of the area as well. He saw several rolls of duct tape, consistent with the tape on the bagged drugs, and several clear nonlatex or latex gloves and tools.

Meadows then described the layout of the porch. He testified that there were several pieces of furniture lining the walls as if to conceal the porch so you could not see onto it. He further testified that you could not see the porch from the road. In his opinion, the location could be considered a "stash spot."

The photographs he took that afternoon, including the picture of the porch, and his body-cam video were admitted into evidence. The video, including the audio portion, was played for the jury.

Austin McQuistion, an investigator for the Union County Sheriff’s Office, testified he conducted an interview with Wayne. After reading Wayne her Miranda rights, Wayne agreed to speak with him. Wayne stated that she and her two children, aged seven months and two years, lived at the address where the drugs were found and had lived there for a little over a year. She indicated she ran a catering or baking business out of her home.

₆As for the dryer, she stated that the dryer had been inside the home when she moved in but that it quit working, and she moved it to the back porch when she purchased a new dryer. She then contacted her landlord to remove it. She offered no explanation as to how the drugs ended up in the dryer on her porch and denied leaving any clothes in the dryer when it was moved outside. When asked if there were any other persons—family members or friends—who frequented her home on a regular basis that might be responsible for leaving the drugs there, she did not offer any names. Wayne was taken into custody immediately after the interview.

Investigator McQuistion was then shown a close-up photograph of one of the bags containing the suspected cocaine. He stat- ed that it appeared to be vacuum sealed and wrapped with some sort of clear tape and placed in a gallon Ziploc bag. On the package were stamps or markings similar to what the cartels use to put their brand on the packaging.

As for the quantity of drugs found, McQuistion stated there were fifteen Ziploc bags containing suspected methamphetamine weighing approximately 6200 grams and two Ziploc bags containing suspected cocaine weighing approximately 1300 grams. He estimated that, at between $50 and $100 a gram, the methamphetamine was worth somewhere between $310,950 and $621,900. Likewise, the cocaine was worth between $65,500 and $131,000. As with Officer Meadows, he testified that this was the largest quantity of methamphetamine he had ever encountered. It was his understanding that both substances tested positive for, methamphetamine and cocaine respectively.

₇Investigator McQuistion then testified that other items found on the porch were sent for fingerprint and DNA analysis. However, they obtained only one fingerprint result off of a black roll of Gorilla Tape. That fingerprint matched the fingerprint of an individual from the Rio Grande area in Texas who, to his knowledge, had no other ties to the area.

He then professed his opinion that the Wayne residence was a "stash house"; that is, a residence or structure used for the sole purpose of...