Warren v. State

Full title: Stanley WARREN v. STATE

Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama

Date published: Mar 22, 1991

579 So. 2d 12 (Ala. Crim. App. 1991)

Opinion

CR 89-803.

October 26, 1990. Rehearing Denied February 1, 1991. Certiorari Denied March 22, 1991 Alabama Supreme Court 1900777.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; Michael W. McCormick, Judge.

Erskine R. Mathis, Birmingham, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Gilda B. Williams, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOWEN, Judge, dissenting.[fn*] [fn*] Reporter of Decisions' summary: The Court of Criminal Appeals, on October 26, 1990, issued a "memorandum opinion" in this case, but officially reported the case as "Affirmed. No opinion." Judges Tyson, Patterson, and McMillan concurred; Judges Bowen and Taylor dissented, with an opinion by Judge Bowen. That dissenting opinion is published with this summary, but the "memorandum opinion" is not being published.

In an unpublished memorandum opinion, the majority holds that in a prosecution for the possession of a controlled substance, a police officer was properly allowed to testify, over objection, that the area where the defendant was arrested is "a known drug house," that the police had had "several complaints from citizens that live in the area," and that the officer had personally made "around 50" drug arrests on other occasions at that location. In my opinion, this constitutes a clear violation of the holding in Ex parte Lambeth, 562 So.2d 575 (Ala. 1990), that the trial court erred by allowing hearsay evidence of a police officer that the location of the sale of drugs was a club notorious for cocaine distribution activity. On this basis, I dissent.