Title: Ex Parte O'Leary
Citation: 417 So. 2d 232
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: May 21, 1982

417 So. 2d 232 (1982)
Ex parte Daniel P. O'LEARY.
(Re Daniel P. O'Leary v. State of Alabama).
80-824.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
May 21, 1982.
Rehearing Denied July 16, 1982.
*233 W. Kenneth Gibson of Taylor, Benton &amp; Gibson, Fairhope, for petitioner.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and J. Anthony McLain and James F. Hampton, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., for respondent.
EMBRY, Justice.
O'Leary's conviction for possession of marijuana is here for review after we issued the writ of certiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals the second time.
That appellate court, 417 So. 2d 214 initially reversed the conviction on the basis that the record did not disclose a proper arraignment. At the behest of the State, we granted certiorari to review that holding and reversed that court regarding arraignment. We remanded for further proceedings, 417 So. 2d 217. On remand, the Court of Criminal Appeals decided the remaining issues adversely to defendant and affirmed his conviction. Now defendant challenges that court's latter decision.
The pertinent underlying facts are summarized in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals, O'Leary v. State, [Ms. June 23, 1981] 417 So. 2d 219 (Ala.Cr.App. 1981), as follows:
At a further point in the opinion, there appears a more detailed statement of the surveillance of the two vessels by law enforcement officers. It reads:
"SPO McKnight testified further that he was among those who boarded the Cher and found the bales of marihuana thereon.
"Agent Aubrey Little of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, (Public Safety) testified that he, with a deputy sheriff and an officer of U. S. Customs boarded the Island Girl soon after it was stopped as heretofore stated and saw the defendant as they boarded it, who identified himself by name and stated that he was the captain of Island Girl...."
Although defendant was neither aboard the sailing vessel "Cher," at the time of his arrest, nor when the marijuana and numerous other articles were seized from that vessel, he challenged the search and seizure as unconstitutional by way of a motion to suppress as evidence at trial all "papers, documents, vehicles, boats, controlled substances, marijuana, firearms, and any other evidence" seized. The motion was denied by the trial court.
Reviewing that action of the trial court, the Court of Criminal Appeals held:
Defendant asserts this ruling was error because, he contends, he was entitled to "automatic standing" under Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S. Ct. 725, 4 L. Ed. 2d 697 (1960). The "automatic standing rule," as enunciated in Jones, and later clarified in Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 93 S. Ct. 1565, 36 L. Ed. 2d 208 *236 (1973), is that a defendant has standing to test the constitutionality of a search and seizure where his indictment charges "possession of the seized evidence at the time of the contested search and seizure," 411 U.S.  at 229, 93 S. Ct.  at 1569, without the necessity of showing an expectation of privacy in the premises searched.
That rule was expressly overturned in United States v. Salvucci, 448 U.S. 83, 100 S. Ct. 2547, 65 L. Ed. 2d 619 (1980), wherein the court remarked:
However, the decision in Salvucci was handed down after the conviction of defendant in this case. We therefore conclude that defendant was entitled to automatic standing because he relied upon Jones. As the court in Salvucci stated, with respect to the defendants in that case:
We find the Court of Criminal Appeals in error when holding that defendant had no standing to challenge the warrantless search and seizure. However, this was error without injury and therefore does not require reversal. Rule 45, ARAP. This, we conclude, because that court did proceed to address the merits of the search and seizure issue in another context, when it observed:
The opinion of the appellate court does not contain any discussion of the numerous cases interpreting this statutory provision.
Defendant asserts that, although § 1581(a) grants customs agents broad statutory authority to stop and search for contraband, nevertheless, the Fourth Amendment imposes a reasonableness requirement upon custom searches. United States v. Almeida-Sanchez, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S. Ct. 2535, 37 L. Ed. 2d 596 (1973). It has been held that strict application of the literal terms of the above quoted statute to every vessel would "subvert the Fourth Amendment." United States v. Jones, 528 F.2d 303 (9th Cir. 1975).
It is well-settled, however, that customs officers may conduct a search of a vessel or person at the borders of the United States or the functional equivalent of the United States borders, without a warrant, without probable cause, or even without suspicion of illegal activity. Almeida-Sanchez, supra. But, before customs agents may legitimately conduct a border standard search, there must be a "high degree of probability that a border crossing took place." United States v. Brennan, 538 F.2d 711 (5th Cir. 1976). The customs officers must be "reasonably certain" that the *237 object of the search has just entered from a foreign county. United States v. Tilton, 534 F.2d 1363 (9th Cir. 1976); United States v. Vigil, 448 F.2d 1250 (9th Cir. 1971).
Defendant contends that the "Cher" was first sighted in the intracoastal waterway, and the arresting officers had no information indicating the vessel had come from international waters. Consequently, he argues, a border standard search was improper.
Of course, on review by certiorari, we must defer to the fact findings of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Flannagin v. State, 289 Ala. 177, 266 So. 2d 643 (1972). As earlier quoted, that court stated the "vessel... had been traced upon its entry from the Gulf of Mexico to where it had been moored and abandoned by its occupants at Bear Point Marina." It is unclear from this statement whether the "Cher" was initially spotted in international waters or in territorial waters of the United States. For reasons we will state, however, it is not necessary to decide whether the facts of this case justified a border scenario search.
In United States v. Serrano, 607 F.2d 1145 (5th Cir. 1979), that Court of Appeals considered § 1581(a) in light of facts strikingly similar to those of the instant case. Because of its close factual parallels and its treatment of what we consider to be controlling principles of law, we quote from Serrano at length:
Following a restatement of the facts earlier set out, the court concluded:
The holding in Serrano was recently reaffirmed in United States v. Ruano, 647 F.2d 577 (5th Cir. 1981), as follows:
In light of the "relaxed standard" of reasonable suspicion of illegal activity justifying searches conducted pursuant to 19 U.S. C.A. § 1581(a), as delineated in Serrano and Ruano, applied to the facts stated by the Court of Criminal Appeals, the conclusion is supported that a reasonable suspicion existed of illegal activity taking place about the vessels. This justified the law enforcement officers, which included U. S. Customs Officers, searching those vessels and seizing therefrom contraband and other articles without violating constitutional restraints imposed upon searches and seizures.
Having resolved the search and seizure issues, we turn to defendant's contention that the Court of Criminal Appeals erred when it failed to reverse the trial court's ruling denying his motion for new trial, based on false answers given by the jury foreman during the voir dire examination of prospective jurors.
This issue was not addressed in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals, although petitioner had argued it in his brief to that court. The issue was properly brought before this court, however, by petitioner's additional or corrected statement of facts pursuant to ARAP 39(k). Bankston v. State, 358 So. 2d 1040 (Ala.1978).
During the voir dire examination, defendant's attorney asked each juror about his or her jury duty experience, to which Mr. Morgan Odom, eventually selected as foreman of the jury, responded.
"I was summoned twice, but never served."
Several months after defendant's conviction, a question arose as to whether defendant had been properly arraigned for trial. In connection with the arraignment issue, defendant filed a motion to correct or modify the record. At a hearing on that motion, several witnesses, including Odom, were called to testify concerning the events which transpired on the morning of the arraignment.
After specifically testifying that he had served on the jury for the defendant's trial in July of 1978, Odom was cross-examined by defendant's attorney, during which the following exchanges occurred.
Although defendant's attorney did not ascertain, by his questions, whether the four occasions of Odom's jury service occurred prior to or after the trial of defendant in this case, it is evident from the quoted responses of Odom that he had served on a jury at least once prior to defendant's conviction and, significantly, in a "marijuana case." It is further made clear that defendant's trial was the second occasion on which Odom had served as jury foreman.
Parties have a right to have questions answered truthfully by prospective jurors to enable them to exercise their discretion wisely in exercising their peremptory strikes. Coalite, Inc. v. Weeks, 284 Ala. 219, 224 So. 2d 251 (1969); Little v. State, 339 So. 2d 1071 (Ala.Cr.App.1976), cert. denied, 339 So. 2d 1073 (Ala.1976).
However, "the failure of a juror to make a proper response to a question regarding his qualifications to serve as a juror, regardless of the situation or circumstances, does not automatically entitle one to a new trial." Beauregard v. State, 372 So. 2d 37 (Ala.Cr.App.1979); Radney v. State, 342 So. 2d 942 (Ala.Cr.App.1976), cert. denied, 342 So. 2d 947 (Ala.1976).
Some cases have held that "[t]he proper inquiry in such cases is whether the defendant's rights were prejudiced by such failure to respond properly." Radney, supra; Sheperd v. State, 57 Ala.App. 35, 325 So. 2d 551 (1975). To be more correct, however, "[t]he test is not whether the defendant was prejudiced but whether he might have been." Beauregard v. State, supra.
It is axiomatic, however, that a party seeking reversal on appeal must not only argue a valid ground of reversible error committed below, but must also have preserved that error for review by proper procedural mechanisms.
At the trial level, defendant raised the discrepancy in Odom's answers by way of an oral renewal, based on newly discovered evidence, of his earlier written motion for new trial. The oral renewal was made more than 30 days after judgment was entered on defendant's conviction, even though the original motion for new trial was filed within 30 days of conviction.
The 30-day period statutory period for filing a motion for new trial is jurisdictional. Code 1975, § 15-17-5; Nikens v. State, 31 Ala.App. 297, 15 So. 2d 633 (1943).
Where a motion for new trial filed within 30 days of a judgment of conviction does not contain a ground relative to newly discovered evidence, a defendant is not in a position to make an assertion regarding newly discovered evidence by motion for new trial after expiration of the 30-day period, even though the new evidence could not have been discovered until after that time period had elapsed. The trial court therefore acted correctly in denying defendant's motion for new trial as orally renewed. It is apparent this is the reason the appellate court did not address this issue. The oral motion to renew was both ineffective and, more importantly, too late.
Defendant also raises issues challenging the manner in which the jury was summoned, impaneled and qualified, the introduction as evidence of certain nautical charts seized by the arresting officers, and jury charges given by the trial court relative to the law of conspiracy. Upon careful review of the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion, we find no error in that court's treatment of these issues, and refer the reader to the language of that opinion for elaboration.
For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed according to the terms of this opinion.
AFFIRMED.
*241 TORBERT, C. J., and MADDOX, FAULKNER, ALMON, SHORES, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
JONES, J., not sitting.
EMBRY, Justice.
A consideration of this case for the second time by this court resulted in our opinion of 21 May 1982. In it, this court made a statement concerning our scope of review of decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeals. That statement in pertinent part is as follows:
On application for rehearing, petitioner contends this court erred when it did not consider his rule 39(k) statement for additional or corrected facts, amending those set out in the opinion of the appellate court, and misstated the rule regarding our scope of review of decisions of that appellate court. This is evidenced by petitioner's challenge of our quote from Flannagin.
Under Rule 39(k), ARAP, if a petitioner wishes, he may on an application for rehearing to the appellate court, present a statement of additional, or claimed corrected, facts for that court's consideration. If the request is denied petitioner may include, in the petition for certiorari filed with this court, that statement and "it will be considered along with the statement of facts in the opinion of the appellate court, if found to be correct." (Emphasis added.)
A careful review of our opinion in this case demonstrates that petitioner's 39(k) statement was considered when we addressed the issue of whether the appellate court erred when it failed to reverse the trial court's ruling that denied defendant's motion for new trial based on false answers given by the jury foreman during voir dire examination of prospective jurors. Petitioner could have readily determined that this 39(k) statement was not overlooked if he had carefully reviewed the record, together with his 39(k) statement. We did so, without difficulty, and concluded that the "false answers" issue petitioner says the appellate court did not address, in fact, was not addressed by it.
However, petitioner correctly asserts that we erred in our statement regarding this court's scope of review in appeals structured on a record, framed as is the one in this particular case. We note that Flannagin, in its applicability to our scope of review by certiorari, is applicable to this case to the extent those issues raised by petitioner's 39(k) statement were found to be incorrect and without merit. To the extent the one issue in that statement was meritorious, we hereby clarify our opinion and state that our scope of review is not limited only to the facts found in the appellate court's opinion, but also includes consideration of petitioner's additional, or claimed corrected, statement of facts. Rule 39(k), ARAP.
As we again review the record in this case, and again consider petitioner's 39(k) statement, we find no new issues or facts not carefully considered or correctly disposed of either by this court or the appellate court.
OPINION EXTENDED; APPLICATION FOR REHEARING OVERRULED.
TORBERT, C. J., and FAULKNER, ALMON, SHORES, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.