Court Opinion

ID: 9567606
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:56:04.998262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:42.908619
License: Public Domain

Green, C.J.
(dissenting) — I would affirm the trial court because I do not believe Pat Thorson’s testimony would change the result.
Drake testified that on the evening of January 14 he made a sale of drugs to Pat Thorson and the informer; that defendant was not involved; and that he may have given some money to defendant that night, but it was only because defendant needed it and not because of any agreement for a split of the money.
Diane Cox, a “girl friend sort of” of the defendant, testified sble saw Drake sell amphetamines to Pat Thorson and the informant on January 14 and saw Thorson hand money to Drake and no one else.
Defendant testified the transaction at his house on January 14, while in his presence, was between Drake, Pat Thorson and the informant; that he was not involved and did not handle any of the currency from the transaction. Defense counsel did not make a formal offer of proof; however, he represented that Pat Thorson would confirm defendant’s statement to the extent that she dealt with Drake and not the defendant.
Defendant further testified that on January 17, the day before the sale that resulted in his being charged:
I bad gone to the house to see Pat Thorson. I had called Pat Thorson earlier that night and she said she wanted to buy a “spoon.” So I took a “spoon” into the house, and she said she did not want to buy it. Jensen [the informant] then called Drake in. Drake talked to Pat about it and measured it out to her, and she still refused to buy it. Then Jensen had asked Drake if he could get a large quantity of amphetamines. ... As I recall it, Mr. Jensen decided that he could get — he told us that — or he told Drake, but I was sitting there, that he could get money to buy a large quantity of narcotics. And he then asked Turk — or Drake if he could get — or if he could get access to a large quantity of amphetamines. . . . He said that he could possibly do it ... *705Jensen had said that if Drake could get it to meet him at Fancy Dan’s at 1:00 o’clock the next afternoon.
(Italics ours.) When asked why he went to Fancy Dan’s with Drake on January 18, defendant said:
Well, for one thing I wanted a cup of coffee, and he had asked me to go along, plus Jensen had said the night before that he would definitely like to see me there.
Defendant denied that his going to Fancy Dan’s had any relation to the sale of drugs.
The record is clear that amphetamines were used in defendant’s house in his presence; that defendant asked Jensen if he was an informer when Jensen and Thorson told him they wanted to purchase some drugs; that defendant was present on January 14 when a sale was made to Pat Thorson and used by her and the informer; that on the evening of January 17 defendant admittedly carried a “spoon” of amphetamines into Pat Thorson’s residence, which she refused to buy; that defendant was present when the sale at Fancy Dan’s was arranged; and that defendant was present in Fancy Dan’s on January 18 when Drake delivered amphetamines to the informant, although he never witnessed the actual delivery. Additionally, defendant testified to his use of amphetamines and its effect upon him as a basis for his testimony as to the observed effect of its use upon the informer.
In my opinion, Pat Thorson’s testimony that on January 14 she purchased drugs from Drake, and not the defendant, when considered in the context of the entire record, would have had no effect on the outcome of the trial. Consequently, the trial court’s denial of the motion for continuance was, at the most, harmless error.
State v. Edwards, 68 Wn.2d 246, 255, 412 P.2d 747 (1966), cited in the majority opinion, is distinguishable and, in my view, is not controlling.
I would affirm.
Petition for rehearing denied June 4, 1973.
Appealed to Supreme Court June 13, 1973.