COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Annunziata, Bumgardner and Frank
Argued at Salem, Virginia
DAVID C. PETTY
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 1648-01-3 JUDGE ROSEMARIE ANNUNZIATA
SEPTEMBER 24, 2002
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY
George E. Honts, III, Judge
Malcolm G. Crawford for appellant.
Stephen R. McCullough, Assistant Attorney
General (Jerry W. Kilgore, Attorney General,
on brief), for appellee.
A grand jury indicted David C. Petty for distributing
cocaine, in violation of Code § 18.2-248(C). At trial, the
court refused to allow Petty to introduce expert testimony by a
police sergeant concerning proper narcotics investigation
procedures. A jury found Petty guilty and the court sentenced
him to five years in prison, in accordance with the jury's
recommendation. Petty appeals on the ground that the trial
court erroneously refused to admit his proffered expert
testimony. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
*
Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not
designated for publication.
Background
On appeal, we review the evidence in the light most
favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party below,
granting to it all reasonable inferences fairly deducible
therefrom. Commonwealth v. Grimstead, 12 Va. App. 1066, 1067,
407 S.E.2d 47, 48 (1991). In October 2000, Special Agent Robert
P. Chappell, of the Virginia State Police, began investigating
drug use in the Goshen area of Rockbridge County. Karen
Strickler assisted the police in its investigation by making
controlled buys of drugs.
On November 2, 2000, the police had planned for Strickler
to make a controlled buy of "crank," or methamphetamine, from
Allen Petty, the defendant's brother. Before permitting
Strickler to assist with the investigation, Chappell performed a
background check on Strickler, searched her person, and had
Special Agent Glenn Thompson search her car. Chappell searched
Strickler's pockets, felt around her socks, and had her pull her
shirt tight. He used the back of his hand to detect any hidden
substances. Thompson performed a "thorough" search of
Strickler's vehicle. They subsequently provided Stickler with a
tape recorder and gave her $100 to make the purchase, the going
rate for a gram of methamphetamine.
On November 2, they followed Strickler's car and observed
the transaction from approximately one hundred yards away.
Strickler parked her car in Petty's driveway. She disappeared
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from sight for a "few seconds" as she walked to the door of the
residence. When no one answered her knock, she returned to her
car. David Petty approached her while she was in her car. She
asked him if he had any "crank," and he said "yeah." He sold
her what he claimed was a gram for $100. Strickler was unable
to record the conversation with Petty because she could not
start the tape recorder in time. Strickler's car remained in
the officers' view the entire time. Chappell and Thompson
monitored the transaction with binoculars.
After Strickler completed the buy, the police followed her
to a secluded location and again searched her person and her
vehicle. She handed them a small bag containing white powder,
which proved to be half a gram of crank.
The defendant vigorously questioned Chappell on
cross-examination concerning the meticulousness of his search of
Strickler. In addition, he cross-examined Chappell as to
whether he employed proper police procedures in permitting
Strickler to assist with the controlled buy, in searching her
before the buy, and with respect to other policies regarding a
controlled buy.
[Defense Counsel]: So, you have no written
policy, or guidelines, just a case by case basis
whether or not you opt to work with somebody?
[Officer Chappell]: It’s a case by case basis,
there are some parameters, for example, I can’t
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work someone who is on probation. So there are
some guidelines set by the Court, for example.
* * * * * * *
[Defense Counsel]: [If I] called you up and said
I want to work for the drug task force, and you
were to ask me are you using drugs and I say no,
that's the extent of your investigation, correct?
[Officer Chappell]: Well, I met with her, it's
not just a telephone call, but I met with her.
* * * * * * *
[Defense Counsel]: [W]hen searching a female,
isn't it policy to have females search females?
[Officer Chappell]: Show me the policy.
[Defense Counsel]: There's no such policy?
[Officer Chappell]: There was no female
available.
* * * * * * *
[Defense Counsel]: In your opinion, Special
Agent Chappell, when an informant leaves your
line of sight, is that still a controlled
situation?
[Officer Chappell]: Controlled as best as
possible. . . .
On re-direct, the Commonwealth also addressed this issue:
[Commonwealth's Attorney]: And, and there was
questions [sic] about whether there's policies,
is there any written state police policy other
than strip searches that would deal with
informants or anything like that?
[Officer Chappell]: I've reviewed the state
police manual, and the Bureau of Criminal
Investigations manual, and I, I'm unaware of
. . .
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[Commonwealth's Attorney]: So, as far as you
knew, everything you were doing on this occasion
was appropriate and proper?
[Officer Chappell]: As far as I know, yes.
After the Commonwealth rested, Petty sought to introduce
expert testimony from Sergeant Dennis Patrick O'Toole of the
Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland. The
defendant proffered:
It is our submission that [Chappell] has not
followed established procedures. Since Officer
Chappell has stated that specialized training is
needed to conduct a proper narcotics
investigation, there's no way that a lay person
can rebut that. The only way that can be
rebutted is by expert testimony. And as for the
patdown, laymen do not know what is required for
a patdown.
* * * * * * *
[E]ssentially you had Officer Ragland and Officer
Chappell testify in an expert capacity that we've
done everything right, no, there are no
guidelines, and well, maybe we should have done
this and maybe we should have done that, Your
Honor, there is no way for us to rebut that but
for expert testimony, to say that there are
guidelines and there are ways that this should be
done.
The trial court ruled that the testimony should be excluded,
stating as follows:
I'm holding the evidence here in my hand, and it,
I don't think it takes an expert to tell us that
this could be secreted in the cleavage of a
woman's breast or in her bra, or in a body
cavity, or in her underpants, and the soles of
her shoe . . . . That's just common practical
sense.
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Because we find the issue Petty raises on appeal is procedurally
defaulted, we affirm the conviction.
"When . . . an objection is sustained and a party's
evidence is ruled inadmissible . . . the party must proffer or
avouch the evidence for the record in order to preserve the
ruling for appeal; otherwise, the appellate court has no basis
to decide whether the evidence was admissible." Lockhart v.
Commonwealth, 34 Va. App. 329, 340, 542 S.E.2d 1, 6 (2001)
(internal quotation and citation omitted). The party must
proffer "the [witness'] expected response[s] . . . [or] any
other evidence from other sources that, if believed, would
[assist] the fact finder . . . ." Id.; see also Whittaker v.
Commonwealth, 217 Va. 966, 969, 234 S.E.2d 79, 81 (1977)
(holding that "it [is] incumbent upon the defendant to make the
record show the expected answer [to a question]").
In the instant case, Petty did not proffer the expert
witness' expected responses to questions about police procedures
and guidelines, except in a general and conclusory way. Counsel
failed to state specific testimony regarding what constitutes
proper police procedures and guidelines, in the witness'
opinion. Without a proper proffer, we are unable to perform an
analysis to determine whether any error was harmless, assuming
the trial court erred in excluding the witness' testimony. See
Lacks v. Commonwealth, 182 Va. 318, 325, 28 S.E.2d 713, 716
(1944); Crawford v. Commonwealth, 22 Va. App. 663, 669, 472
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S.E.2d 658, 661 (1996); Lowery v. Commonwealth, 9 Va. App. 304,
307, 387 S.E.2d 508, 510 (1990). We find that, since the record
is silent as to the content of the excluded testimony, Petty's
claim is barred procedurally. We, therefore, affirm his
conviction.
Affirmed.
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