Opinion ID: 1653080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: proof of the charge

Text: Lonnecker and Rick Brau have known each other since 1975 and lived together from 1984 to 1987 in a house identified as 4540 North 65th Avenue in Omaha. In the spring of 1988, Brau occupied the house, but Lonnecker moved into a schoolbus parked at 4510 North 65th Avenue, and on occasion showered and slept at the house where Brau lived. However, on April 12, 1989, Lonnecker delivered $200 to the landlord for the Brau house, and the landlord issued a rent receipt to Bob Lonniker & Rick for the period from April 10 to May 10, 1989. Lonnecker's driver's license, which was issued June 22, 1987, and bore an October 16, 1990, expiration date, listed 4540 North 65th Avenue as Lonnecker's current address. As adduced at trial, an informant contacted Sheriff's Deputy William H. Jackson on April 15, 1989, and stated that marijuana was being cultivated and distributed at the 4540 North 65th Street residence. On April 18, Deputy Jackson obtained a search warrant for 4540 N. 65 Av., Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. Deputies executed the search warrant on the evening of April 18. While securing the grounds around the house, a deputy encountered Brau and detained him outside the dwelling. Other deputies involved in the prospective search of the house were confronted by Brau's pit bull on a chain by the front door of the house. The dog chased a deputy involved in the search, but the animal was restrained at the end of the chain, which prevented the dog's reaching the front door of the house. After maneuvering around the pit bull, deputies entered the residence as one deputy yelled, Sheriff's office; we have a search warrant. Deputies then proceeded to search for occupants on the first floor. When they found none on the first floor, the deputies proceeded to the second floor of the house and, arriving at a closed bedroom door which had been barricaded from within, heard someone moving around inside the bedroom. Deputies entered the bedroom, which contained a bed, bedding, and men's clothing and noticed that a wall panel was ajar. After the deputies removed the panel and entered a crawl space, they found Lonnecker hiding in the crawl space between the house's rafters and its ceiling for the first floor. In the house's basement, deputies discovered that half the basement had been partitioned into two rooms with Styrofoam walls covered with reflective material. In one room, there were mature marijuana plants, while the other room contained marijuana seedlings and small marijuana plants. The basement rooms also contained lamps with automatic timers, fans, plant food, a water hose, a sprayer, 350 to 400 marijuana plants, and cut marijuana leaves drying on a screen. Deputies then searched the rest of the house, which had two bedrooms, and found marijuana being dried in every room in the house and various drug-related items and paraphernalia, including a book entitled Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, a scale, a magnifying glass, sandwich bags, and a smoking pipe. Also, in the house were several firearms, namely, a .22-caliber rifle, a .22 revolver, and a sawed-off .410 shotgun. Nothing indicated that the weapons belonged to Lonnecker. At trial and over Lonnecker's objection (relevance), a deputy sheriff testified about finding the firearms in the house. During presentation of Lonnecker's case, Brau, who had a serious leg injury, testified that he had some of the firearms to protect himself, since the house had been broken into. One of the firearms had been given to Brau as a gift. As the search proceeded, deputies, accompanied by Lonnecker, went to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the pit bull had broken its chain outside, darted into the house, ran to the kitchen, and was about to attack the deputies, who had drawn their weapons to shoot the dog, when Lonnecker yelled: I will take care of the dog.... Let me take care of the dog. After Lonnecker had calmed the dog, he took the animal outside and chained it to a truck. Over Lonnecker's objection (relevance), a deputy testified about the pit bull event inside the house. Lonnecker was arrested and subsequently convicted of the controlled substance charge previously mentioned in this opinion.