Court Opinion

ID: 9793230
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:44:43.546183+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:04:00.989546
License: Public Domain

Abbott, J.,
concurring and dissenting: I concur with the majority in regard to Counts IV and V.
I want to emphasize I view our decision concerning Counts I, II, and III very narrowly. If Porter s testimony is believed, the defendant wholesaled drugs to Porter. He did so on credit (fronted), Le., the evidence is such a jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt on Counts I, II, and III that the defendant furnished the drugs to Porter with the understanding Porter would sell the drugs and then pay the defendant. The defendant retained a financial interest in the resale. Thus, the defendant would be aware the drugs were in Porter s possession with the intent to sell because of the fronting arrangement and because of the quantity of the drugs turned over to Porter. According to Porter, sales took place every two to four weeks over an extended period of time.
Porter fronted the drugs to Heberly in smaller quantities than he obtained from the defendant. Heberly then sold the drugs and paid Porter. As a result, I find venue and jurisdiction in Ottawa County even though the record indicates that, with regard to Counts I, II, and III, the only contact with Ottawa County was when Porter and Heberly drove through the county on Interstate 135 without stopping and with no discussion concerning the drugs that were in the vehicle.
*623I have reservations about our review of this case, and it is for the following reason I dissent. The trial judge did not have a court reporter or a certified recording device available and, with the consent of the attorneys, used an unapproved recorder. The recorder reached the end of the tape and shut off during the hearing. As a result, no record was made of the trial judge’s reasoning.
No effort was made to give the trial judge an opportunity to explain his reasoning on the record. It is the appellant’s responsibility to furnish an adequate record on appeal. The failure to do so is fatal on appeal. Assertions in an appellate brief are not sufficient to satisfy inadequacies in the record on appeal. State v. Dunn, 249 Kan. 488, 496, 820 P.2d 412 (1991).
We have followed the State’s lead and set up a “straw dummy,” knocked it down by first speculating what the trial judge must have reasoned, and then delivered the knockout blow by adding our speculations to those of the county attorney about what the problem was.
We do not know what the trial judge’s reasoning was. He was faced with a case that was two years old when he heard it. The State’s two witnesses, Porter and Heberly, had been caught red-handed possessing and dealing drugs. They were told the defendant was targeted, and if they would testify against him, some potential charges would be dropped and they would receive favorable sentence considerations for agreeing to testify. Heberly witnessed one drug sale between the defendant and Porter, but did not witness the other two transactions. Heberly had no conversations with the defendant concerning drugs, and there is no evidence the defendant knew Porter was selling drugs to Heberly. (The only significance to the above comments concerning Heberly is to illustrate it was Porter’s testimony, not Heberly’s, that was crucial to the State’s case.) The trial court may have disbelieved Porter’s and Heberly’s testimony. In addition, no drugs involved in this case were recovered, and Heberly conceded there were legal drugs available that caused a similar reaction to a user and could be made to resemble methamphetamine.
The record before us is inadequate. Because the State in this case bears the responsibility of furnishing an adequate record to *624demonstrate error, I am unwilling to reverse the trial judge on Counts I, II, and III.