Opinion ID: 2393694
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contemporaneous Objection

Text: On appeal, the issue is whether the trial court erred when it denied Stewart's motion to suppress the drugs seized from her coat pocket. Before reaching the merits of Stewart's argument, we must first decide whether she has properly preserved this issue for appeal. The State contends that she has not because she failed to make a contemporaneous objection when the drugs were offered into evidence. Hence, we are asked for the first time to decide whether a contemporaneous objection is required during a bench trial when the previously filed motion to suppress has been renewed at the beginning of the trial. It is well settled that in order to preserve an issue for appeal the appellant must make an objection contemporaneously with the alleged error. Smith v. State, 330 Ark. 50, 953 S.W.2d 870 (1997). In State v. Brummett, 318 Ark. 220, 885 S.W.2d 8 (1994), we explained that the reason for the contemporaneous-objection rule is to give the trial court an opportunity to fully understand the reason for the disagreement with its proposed action before it renders a ruling. If, however, the motion to suppress is orally renewed at the beginning of a bench trial, and the trial court agrees to consider the motion to suppress at the same time it considers the evidence, there is no risk that the court will be unfamiliar with the nature of the objection. Under these circumstances, we hold that a contemporaneous objection is not required in order to preserve the issue for appeal. In reaching this conclusion, we are not unmindful of two recent cases where we held that a contemporaneous objection is required in order to preserve for appeal issues that were raised in a motion in limine. Slocum v. State, 325 Ark. 38, 924 S.W.2d 237 (1996); Massengale v. State, 319 Ark. 743, 894 S.W.2d 594 (1995). We, however, find these cases distinguishable because they involved jury trials, instead of a bench trial as in this case. If a contemporaneous objection is not made at the time the evidence is offered during a jury trial, the proverbial bell will have been rung and the jury prejudiced. However, when the contested evidence is mentioned during a bench trial, there is no risk of prejudice because a trial judge is able to consider evidence only for its proper purpose. Similarly, in Strickland v. State, 322 Ark. 312, 909 S.W.2d 318 (1995), we held that litigants are not required to make a motion challenging the sufficiency of the evidence during cases tried before the court instead of a jury. For these reasons, we hold that during a bench trial it is not necessary to make a contemporaneous objection when the contested evidence is offered if the appellant has renewed the previously filed motion to suppress at the beginning of the trial, and the court agrees to consider the motion simultaneously with the evidence on the merits. Accordingly, we hold that Stewart has properly preserved her constitutional argument for appeal.