Court Opinion

ID: 9686917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:11:16.621924+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:22.952036
License: Public Domain

TYSON, Judge
(dissenting).
The appellant, William A. Walker, alias, was indicted for the unlawful possession of heroin. Jury trial resulted in a conviction and sentence was fixed at fifteen years imprisonment.
Chief witness for the State was E. B. Alford, a Montgomery City Policeman. Alford testified that on November 6, 1971, he received a telephone call from a reliable informant, whose voice he recognized. Based on information supplied by that informant, Alford swore out an affidavit for a search warrant to search appellant’s apartment for heroin. The search warrant and affidavit in support thereof were subsequently introduced into evidence.
In executing the warrant, the record discloses that the following actions took place:
“Q What actions took place when you served the warrant, if any ?
“A Well, we went to the apartment at approximately 7:15 A.M. on November 6th, 1971, myself and four other officers and when we got to the door we knocked several times and there was no answer. We never received an answer. We identified ourselves as police officers with a search warrant and we still did not get an answer. The kitchen door is a glass ■type door with louvers that screw out *747and we removed one of those and we unlocked the door. This was inside the kitchen and we went into the living room and down the hall and we found the defendant in bed asleep with a female, Roberta Walker, and at this time I woke him up and advised him that we were police officers and gave him a copy of the search warrant and we began to search.”
Alford testified that he found on a dresser beside appellant’s bed a coffee can which contained twenty-two manila folders containing a white powdery substance. These items were turned over to Property Officer T. J. Conner who labeled this evidence as to time and place seized.
Officer E. E. Wright, who also participated in conducting the search, testified that he found in one of the kitchen cabinets a syringe, a small cap, some cotten, and a vial, all of which he turned over to Property Officer Conner.
Officer Ronald E. Foster, also involved in the search, testified that he found inside a dresser drawer in appellant’s bedroom a needle, which he turned over to Conner.
Conner testified that he received all of the aforementioned items, sealed them, and delivered them to James Small, a State Toxicologist.
James Small testified that he tested and analyzed four of the twenty-two cellophane packets containing the white powdery substance and determined the powder to contain heroin and quinine. Small further testified that the syringe and needle found were analyzed and tests revealed that both items contained heroin and quinine. These items were introduced into evidence.
The defense presented no witnesses, but moved to exclude the State’s evidence. Such motion was denied.
I
Appellant therefore contends the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress the evidence seized under the search warrant; and later in overruling his objection to the introduction of such evidence at trial on the ground that there was no probable cause for the issuance of such search warrant.
The warrant in question was issued upon the following affidavit:
“Affidavit for Search Warrant
“Before Me, Plonorable D. Eugene Loe,. Judge, Municipal Court, City of Montgomery, Alabama, the undersigned being duly sworn deposes and says:
“That he has reason to believe that in the residence of William Walker, 1029 Apt. H, Day Street Road, Montgomery, Alabama, there is being kept and sold a large amount of Heroin in violation of the Alabama Control Substance Act, Schedule 1.
“And that the facts tending to establish the foregoing ground for issuance of a search warrant are as follows:
“An informer hereinafter called A, whose information has been reliable in the past, stated to affiant Alford on Nov. 6, 1971 by telephone that he had observed a large amount of Heroin being used and sold from the residence of William Walker, 1029 Apt. H, Day Street Road, Montgomery, Alabama.
“ ‘A’ called affiant Alford on Nov. 2, 1971, and stated that he saw William Walker with a large amount of Heroin in his possession.
“William Walker has been known to this office as a dealer and user of Heroin in the past.
“Informer A has been reliable in the past in that he has called affiant Alford on or about September 24, 1971 and stated that Farris Lawrence was in possession of a large amount of Heroin. Farris Lawrence was arrested that same day and charged with possession of Heroin. Her case is in this term of Circuit Court, informer A called affiant Alford *748on September 25, 1971 and stated that Mack Pettway had a large amount of Heroin in his home. After a search of Pettway’s home he was charged with possession of Heroin. Plis case is in this term of Circuit Court.
“The foregoing information is based upon personal information which has been obtained by affiant Alford.
“S/ E. B. Alford
E. B. Alford
Vice and Narcotics
Montgomery, Alabama
Police Dept.
“Sworn to before me this 6th day of November, 1971.
“S/ D. Eugene Loe_
D. Eugene Loe
Municipal Court Judge
City of Montgomery,
Alabama”
In passing on the validity of a search warrant based upon information received from an unidentified informer, the court must determine whether the issuing magistrate was informed of, (1) some of the underlying circumstances from which the affiant concluded that the informant was credible or his information reliable, and (2) some of the underlying circumstances from which the informant concluded that the drugs were where he claimed they were. Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723; Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637; Oliver v. State, 46 Ala.App. 118, 238 So.2d 916.
My brother Judge DeCARLO and I are of the opinion that the affidavit here meets all the legal requirements. The statements in the affidavit show that the information supplied by the informer was fresh as opposed to being remote, and that it was not subject to the vice of vagueness as to the time element. Reynolds v. State, 46 Ala.App. 77, 238 So.2d 557. Thus, there existed from the officer’s deposition a substantial basis for crediting the hearsay from which a finding of probable cause could be based. We therefore are of the opinion that there was no failure to comply with Title 15, Sections 102 and 103 of the Code of Alabama 1940. Clenney v. State, 281 Ala. 9, 198 So.2d 293; Myrick v. State, 45 Ala.App. 162, 227 So.2d 448; Davis v. State, 46 Ala.App. 45, 237 So.2d 635, affirmed 286 Ala. 117, 237 So.2d 640.
The majority’s reversal is based upon its construction of the following two paragraphs in the affidavit previously quoted, which are:
“An informer hereinafter called A, whose information has been reliable in the past, stated to affiant Alford on Nov. 6, 1971 by telephone that he had observed a large amount of Heroin being used and sold from the residence of William Walker, 1029 Apt. H, Day Street Road, Montgomery, Alabama.
“ ‘A’ called affiant Alford on Nov. 2, 1971 and stated that he saw William Walker with a large amount of Heroin in his possession.”
We believe the first paragraph to read that affiant Alford understood from the telephone call received on the morning of November 6, 1971, from the informant, that the informant had actually seen the heroin at the address in question on that morning.
Further, we do not understand the law to require that the affiant must state in the affidavit that the informant’s information be received or seen that exact date. Reynolds v. State, supra.
DeCARLO, J., concurs in this dissent.