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1. Appeal and Error_incomplete record_incomplete notice of appeal_guilty pleas
without preservation of evidence issue
Violations of the appellate rules resulted in dismissal of an assignment of error about the
denial of a motion to suppress evidence, and Rule 2 was not invoked to hear the issue because,
given the significant violations of the appellate rules, doing so would create an appeal. The
record contained only a partial order, the notice of appeal did not designate the judgments and
orders from which defendant appeals, and specifically did not refer to the order denying
defendant's motion to suppress, and defendant pled guilty to two of the charges without
preserving his issue as to those charges.
2. Appeal and Error_preservation of issues_subsequent testimony admitted without
objection_plain error not alleged
There was no plain error in a prosecution for trafficking in ecstasy where a detective was
allowed to testify about his two-year investigation of defendant. While the initial testimony was
over defendant's objection, subsequent detailed testimony was without objection, and defendant
did not specifically and distinctly allege plain error on appeal.
3. Appeal and Error_preservation of issues_admission of audiotape_copy not provided
to appellate court
The issue of whether an audiotape was properly admitted was not preserved for appeal
where defendant did not provide the court with a copy of the tape or of the transcript that
accompanied the tape at trial. Moreover, one of the participants who was on the tape was
subsequently allowed to testify without objection.
Judge ELMORE concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Attorney General Roy A. Cooper, III, by Assistant Attorney
General John P. Scherer, II, for the State.
Irving Joyner, for defendant-appellant.
JACKSON, Judge.
On 7 July 2004, Dwight McDougald (defendant) was arrested
and subsequently indicted on charges of trafficking in
methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), trafficking by possessing MDA,
and conspiracy to traffick MDA. Defendant was arrested, along with
Kathryn Powell (Powell), in conjunction with an undercover drug
sale coordinated by Detective Aaron Griffiths (Griffiths) of the
Greensboro Police Department.
Griffiths testified that prior to defendant's arrest in 2004,
he had been investigating defendant for the previous two years. In
April of 2004, Griffiths arrested Earl Jones (Jones) for
possession of marijuana and an assault rifle. Jones agreed to
cooperate with Griffiths by providing information about drug
dealers, drug deals, and other information, in return for
assistance with Jones' pending federal prosecution. During his
cooperation with Griffiths, Jones was told to contact Powell in
order to set a date when Jones could purchase drugs from Powell.
Powell's name had come up during Griffiths' investigation. Per
Griffiths' instruction, Jones was to purchase 500 ecstasy, or MDA,
pills from Powell. Powell testified that once contacted by Jones,
she then contacted defendant to see if he could supply her with
this amount of MDA. Powell stated that she and defendant discussed
how much defendant would charge her for the pills and then how much
she in turn could charge Jones in order for her to make a profit.
Griffiths instructed Jones to set 7 July 2004 as the date for the
sale; Jones contacted Powell and arranged for the drug sale to
occur on that date. On 7 July 2004, Griffiths arranged for Detective Duane James
(James) to participate in the undercover drug sale, by posing as
the individual providing the cash for the sale. Griffiths
outfitted Jones with a body wire, which recorded the events of the
drug sale, including the conversations between Powell, Jones, and
James. Powell testified that just before the sale was to occur,
defendant informed her that he only had 385 MDA pills, not the 500
to which he had initially agreed. Powell then informed Jones of
the reduced amount.
Powell testified that defendant told her that on the day of
the sale, that she was to contact him when Jones arrived, and that
he would walk over to her place with the pills. She stated that
defendant paid her prior to the actual sale, for her portion of the
profit from the sale. At the time of the arranged sale, Jones
arrived at the apartment complex where both Powell and defendant
lived. Detective James rode separately from Jones, but arrived at
the apartment complex at the same time. Jones called Powell to let
her know that he was there, at which time she came downstairs and
approached Jones' car. While Powell was talking with Jones,
defendant was seen leaving his apartment and walking to Powell's
apartment. During this time, Powell's daughter had come downstairs
and began coming over to Powell. Powell then left Jones to take
her daughter back up to her apartment so that defendant could watch
her daughter, along with his own son. When Powell came back
downstairs to Jones, he took her over to James, where he introduced
James and the three of them set up the details of the sale. Powell testified that she then went back upstairs to her
apartment, where defendant gave her the MDA pills and explained to
her how they were arranged in the bag. Powell then took the bag of
pills downstairs, where she gave them to James in exchange for
$3,000.00. As Powell attempted to return to the apartment complex,
she was arrested by Griffiths. Griffiths, along with other
officers, then went to Powell's apartment, where defendant was
arrested.
Once defendant was placed under arrest, Griffiths asked
defendant for consent to search his apartment, to which defendant
repeatedly refused to give consent. Griffiths called defendant's
wife, Chasity McDougald (McDougald), so that she could come to
the apartment to get their son for whom defendant had been caring.
Upon arriving at the scene, McDougald was informed about her
husband's arrest, and was told that he had refused to give consent
for officers to search the apartment that they shared. Griffiths
testified that he asked McDougald if she would give her consent to
allow the officers to search her apartment. He stated that she
agreed, and that he then read a consent to search form to her,
which she then signed.
Upon searching defendant's apartment, Griffiths and the other
officers found a bag of marijuana, a bag of MDA pills, $9,480.00,
and Inositol, which can be used to cut cocaine. Officers also
found an additional $398.00 and a bag of marijuana during the
search of defendant's person. Prior to trial, defendant filed a
motion to suppress all of the evidence seized during the search ofhis apartment, arguing that due to his wife's high risk pregnancy
at the time, she lacked the capacity to consent to the search. He
also argued that once he had already refused consent, it was
improper for Griffiths to then seek consent from his wife.
Defendant's motion to suppress was denied following a hearing on
the matter on 5 April 2005.
After their arrest, defendant and Powell were taken to the
Guilford County Jail. Griffiths testified that when he interviewed
Powell, she stated that she was delivering the pills for defendant,
and that she was to make $200.00 for doing so. Griffiths then
stated that while he was completing the necessary paperwork,
defendant approached him and voluntarily said that Powell was just
going to make a little money for this. She don't know what she's
doing or what's going on.
Following a trial on the three charges, a jury found defendant
guilty of conspiracy to traffick by possessing 100 or more but less
than 500 dosage units of MDA. The jury was unable to reach a
unanimous verdict as to the remaining two charges. Defendant then
entered guilty pleas to trafficking by possessing 100 or more but
less than 500 dosage units of MDA and to sale of Schedule I
substance, MDA. Defendant was sentenced to a term of thirty-five
to forty-two months imprisonment for the offenses of trafficking by
possessing and conspiracy to traffick. For the offense of sale of
a Schedule I substance, MDA, defendant was given a suspended
sentence of thirty-six months of supervised probation, which wasordered to begin at the expiration of his prison term. From his
conviction, defendant appeals.
[1] Defendant first contends the trial court erred in denying
his motion to suppress. However, we decline to address this issue
due to the numerous violations of our appellate rules. Defendant's
assignment of error is dismissed.
Rule 9 of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure
requires an appellant to include in the record on appeal copies of
the . . . order, or other determination from which appeal is
taken. N.C. R. App. P. 9(a)(3)(g) (2006). The record before this
Court contains the first two pages of the order denying defendant's
motion, but it does not contain the portion of the order with the
trial court's conclusions of law, date or signature of the trial
judge. During oral argument, counsel for defendant represented to
the Court that the record had been amended to include the complete
order, when in fact this was not the case and no amendment had
occurred. One week after this case was heard, defendant filed a
motion to amend the record on appeal to include the complete order.
We denied defendant's motion. As the appellant, defendant had the
duty and responsibility to make sure the record on appeal filed
with this Court was complete. Hill v. Hill, 13 N.C. App. 641, 642,
186 S.E.2d 665, 666 (1972). This Court's review of an appeal from
the trial division is solely upon the record on appeal. N.C. R.
App. P. 9(a) (2006).
Defendant's Notice of Appeal also does not comply with our
appellate rules, in that it fails to designate from which judgmentsand orders defendant appeals, and it specifically fails to
reference the order denying his motion to suppress. See N.C. R.
App. P. 3(d) (2006); Finley Forest Condo. Ass'n v. Perry, 163 N.C.
App. 735, 741, 594 S.E.2d 227, 231 (2004) ('Without proper notice
of appeal, the appellate court acquires no jurisdiction and neither
the court nor the parties may waive the jurisdictional requirements
even for good cause shown under Rule 2.' (quoting Bromhal v.
Stott, 116 N.C. App. 250, 253, 447 S.E.2d 481, 483 (1994), aff'd,
341 N.C. 702, 462 S.E.2d 219 (1995))). Based on the significant
violations of our appellate rules, were this Court to invoke Rule
2 of our appellate rules to address this issue, we would be
creating an appeal for defendant, and therefore violating Viar v.
N.C. Dep't of Transp., 359 N.C. 400, 402, 610 S.E.2d 360, 361,
reh'g denied, 359 N.C. 643, 617 S.E.2d 662 (2005). See Viar, 359
N.C. at 402, 610 S.E.2d at 361 (It is not the role of the
appellate courts, however, to create an appeal for an appellant.).
Moreover, defendant was found guilty on only one charge, and
pled guilty to two additional charges. North Carolina General
Statutes, section 15A-979 provides that [a]n order finally denying
a motion to suppress evidence may be reviewed upon an appeal from
a judgment of conviction, including a judgment entered upon a plea
of guilty. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-979(b) (2005). However, [t]his
statutory right to appeal is conditional, not absolute. State v.
McBride, 120 N.C. App. 623, 625, 463 S.E.2d 403, 404 (1995), aff'd,
344 N.C. 623, 476 S.E.2d 106 (1996). Defendant failed to preserve
his appeal on this order at the time he pled guilty to two of thethree charges, thus he has waived his appeal on the denial of the
motion with respect to the two charges to which he pled guilty.
See State v. Stevens, 151 N.C. App. 561, 563, 566 S.E.2d 149, 150
(2002) ('[A] defendant bears the burden of notifying the state and
the trial court during plea negotiations of the intention to appeal
the denial of a motion to suppress, or the right to do so is waived
after a plea of guilty.' (citation omitted)).
As defendant's appeal on this issue is not properly before
this Court, we dismiss this assignment of error.
Defendant next contends the trial court erred in permitting
one of the State's witnesses to testify regarding details of an
ongoing investigation of purported, but uncharged, criminal
activities of defendant which lead up to his arrest for the present
charges. Specifically, defendant contends the trial court erred in
permitting Detective Griffiths to testify that he had been
investigating defendant for two years prior to his arrest.
Defendant also contends the trial court erred in permitting an
audio recording, and accompanying transcript, to be played for and
published to the jury. Defendant argues that the recording, which
contains only the voices of Powell, Detective James, and Jones, the
informant, does not contain defendant's voice or any reference to
defendant, and therefore was unduly prejudicial.
Rule 401 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence defines
relevant evidence as evidence having any tendency to make the
existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination
of the action more probable or less probable than it would bewithout the evidence. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2005).
In criminal cases, every circumstance calculated to throw any
light upon the supposed crime is admissible and permissible.
State v. Collins, 335 N.C. 729, 735, 440 S.E.2d 559, 562 (1994).
All determinations on the weight of such evidence are matters which
are properly left to the jury. State v. Smith, 357 N.C. 604, 614,
588 S.E.2d 453, 460 (2003), cert. denied, 542 U.S. 941, 159 L. Ed.
2d 819 (2004). While a trial court's rulings on the relevancy of
evidence are not discretionary, they are given great deference on
appeal. State v. Streckfuss, 171 N.C. App. 81, 88, 614 S.E.2d 323,
328 (2005).
Evidence which is found to be relevant may be excluded if its
probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair
prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by
considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless
presentation of cumulative evidence. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule
403 (2005). A trial court has discretion whether or not to
exclude evidence under Rule 403, and a trial court's determination
will only be disturbed upon a showing of an abuse of that
discretion. State v. Grant, 178 N.C. App. 565, 573, 632 S.E.2d
258, 265 (2006) (citing State v. Campbell, 359 N.C. 644, 674, 617
S.E.2d 1, 20 (2005), cert. denied, __ U.S. __, 164 L. Ed. 2d 523
(2006)).
[2] On appeal, defendant argues the trial court erred in
allowing Detective Griffiths to present irrelevant testimony
concerning his ongoing two-year investigation of defendant prior todefendant's arrest in April 2004, and of the detective's
interactions with the informant and preparations for the undercover
drug sale. Defendant contends not only was this testimony
irrelevant, but also that its probative value was substantially
outweighed by its prejudicial effect, and therefore it should have
been excluded pursuant to Rule 403 of our Rules of Evidence.
Detective Griffiths testified, over defendant's objection,
that he first became involved in the investigation that resulted in
defendant's arrest in 2002. He then testified, without objection,
that the investigation continued until the date of defendant's
arrest in 2004, and that prior to the arrest of defendant, he had
been doing surveillance at defendant's apartment complex.
Detective Griffiths then went on to testify in detail, and without
objection, concerning the criminal history of Jones, his
preparation with Jones, and the details of setting up the
undercover drug sale with Powell, the informant, and the other
officers involved. Also, while cross-examining Detective
Griffiths, defendant elicited additional testimony concerning the
detective's two-year investigation of defendant and his
surveillance activities of defendant.
Generally, a defendant must make a timely objection to
proffered testimony in order to preserve the issue for appellate
review, and when a defendant has failed to object this Court may
only review the matter for plain error. N.C. R. App. P. 10(b)(1)
and (c)(4) (2006); State v. Barden, 356 N.C. 316, 348, 572 S.E.2d
108, 130 (2002), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 1040, 155 L. Ed. 2d 1074(2003). Also, [w]here evidence is admitted over objection, and
the same evidence has been previously admitted or is later admitted
without objection, the benefit of the objection is lost. State v.
Whitley, 311 N.C. 656, 661, 319 S.E.2d 584, 588 (1984). Thus, as
defendant has failed to preserve his appeal on the above testimony
by either failing to object initially, or by failing to object when
the same testimony was elicited later, this assignment of error may
be reviewed only for plain error. However, because defendant did
not specifically and distinctly allege plain error as required by
Rule 10(c)(4) of our appellate rules, defendant is not entitled to
plain error review of this issue. N.C. R. App. P. 10(c)(4) (2006).
[3] At trial, the State was permitted, over defendant's
objection, to play for the jury an audiotape of the conversation
between Powell and Jones, which was recorded by a body wire being
worn by Jones. The audiotape also included brief statements by
Detective James, the undercover officer, but did not include any
statements made by defendant. While the audiotape was played for
the jury, the jury was permitted to follow along with the audiotape
by reading a transcript of the recording. The State contended that
the audiotape and accompanying transcript corroborate the previous
testimony given by Detectives James and Griffiths concerning the
undercover drug sale.
Rule 9(d)(2) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate
Procedure requires that exhibits offered in evidence and required
for understanding of errors assigned shall be filed with the
appellate court. N.C. R. App. P. 9(d)(2) (2006). As defendanthas failed to provide this Court with either a copy of the
audiotape or the accompanying transcript, we are unable to review
the challenged exhibits to determine whether they were prejudicial
in light of the testimony by Detectives James and Griffiths
describing what occurred during the undercover drug sale.
[D]efendant has failed to bring forward a record sufficient to
allow proper review of this issue and has failed to overcome the
presumption of correctness at trial. State v. Ali, 329 N.C. 394,
412, 407 S.E.2d 183, 194 (1991). We also note, that subsequent to
the playing of the audiotape, Powell was permitted, without
objection, to testify not only about her repeated conversations
with defendant in preparation for the undercover drug sale, but
also about the events of the sale itself. Therefore, we hold this
assignment of error is without merit.
No error.
Chief Judge MARTIN concurs.
Judge ELMORE concurs in part; dissents in part in a separate
opinion.
ELMORE, Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority opinion that there was no error in
defendant's convictions of the crimes to which he entered guilty
pleas (trafficking by possessing 100 or more but less than 500
dosage units of MDA and for sale of Schedule I substance, MDA).
However, I respectfully dissent from that part of the majorityopinion upholding defendant's jury conviction of conspiracy to
traffic by possessing 100 or more but less than 500 dosage units of
MDA. I would address on the merits defendant's contention that the
trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress, rather
than dismissing it based on rules violations. Accordingly, because
I believe that the trial court erred in its denial of defendant's
motion, I would vacate defendant's conviction of conspiracy to
traffic by possessing 100 or more but less than 500 dosage units of
MDA.
Preliminarily, I would note that while the complete order is
not in the record, the trial court's findings and conclusions
appear in the transcript at pages 18-21. It is true that the
notice of appeal does not reference the order denying the motion to
suppress. However, this issue was argued vigorously before this
Court at oral arguments, and the panel responded with questions
directed to this issue. I agree with a recent dissent by Judge
Geer, who wrote that the proper line is to dismiss only those
appeals that substantively affect the ability of the appellee to
respond and this Court to address the appeal. Stann v. Levine,
180 N.C. App. ___, ___, 636 S.E.2d 214, 223 (2006) (Geer, J.,
dissenting). Given that, in my view, the State practically
conceded the unconstitutionality of the search at oral arguments,
I would invoke Rule 2 of our Rules of Appellate Procedure to avoid
manifest injustice and address this issue on its merits. N.C.R.
App. P. Rule 2 (2006) (To prevent manifest injustice to a party .. . [an appellate court] may . . . suspend or vary the requirements
or provisions of any of [the] rules).
Defendant essentially argues that a recent United States
Supreme Court decision establishes that his Fourth Amendment rights
were violated. Georgia v. Randolph, ___ U.S. ___, 164 L. Ed. 2d
208 (2006). In Randolph, the majority held that a warrantless
search of a shared dwelling for evidence over the express refusal
of consent by a physically present resident cannot be justified as
reasonable as to him on the basis of consent given to the police by
another resident. Id. at ___, 164 L. Ed. 2d at 226.
Indeed, the State concedes that Randolph applies. It argues,
however, that the error was harmless. A violation of the
defendant's rights under the Constitution of the United States is
prejudicial unless the appellate court finds that it was harmless
beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden is upon the State to
demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the error was
harmless. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1443(b) (2005). [T]he question
is 'whether there is a reasonable possibility that the evidence
complained of might have contributed to the conviction.' State v.
Soyars, 332 N.C. 47, 58, 418 S.E.2d 480, 487 (1992) (quoting
Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 17 L. Ed. 2d 705, 710
(1967)) (internal quotations omitted).
It is true that [o]verwhelming evidence of guilt may render
constitutional error harmless. State v. Thompson, 118 N.C. App.
33, 42, 454 S.E.2d 271, 276 (1995) (citation omitted). The State
contends that it provided such overwhelming evidence in thiscase. However, aside from the MDA and ecstacy found in defendant's
apartment, the only evidence that tended to show his guilt was the
testimony of police officers and Powell. The officers in question
were not witnesses to the interaction between Powell and defendant
on the date in question, nor were they privy to the phone
conversations regarding the set-up of the drug deal. Powell
testified against defendant at trial as part of her own plea deal.
This evidence simply does not rise to the level of overwhelming
evidence. The discovery of MDA and ecstacy in the apartment was
clearly a major part of the case against defendant that
contributed to [his] conviction. Soyars, at 58, 418 S.E.2d at
487. I would therefore hold that the error was not harmless beyond
a reasonable doubt.
I would address on the merits defendant's contention that the
trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress.
Having done so, I would hold that defendant's Fourth Amendment
rights were violated, and that the trial court erred in its denial
of defendant's motion. Accordingly, I would vacate defendant's
conviction of conspiracy to traffic by possessing 100 or more but
less than 500 dosage units of MDA, and grant him a new trial on
that charge.
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