Criminal Law: Uncharged Crimes – Hearsay – Community Member Testimony

(1)Where an officer testified that he saw a gun in the defendant’s waistband during a chase, and the defendant argued that was evidence of uncharged crimes because he was not charged with an offense related to his alleged gun possession, when a defendant is charged in a drug crime, evidence of contemporaneous possession of other drugs, weapons, money or paraphernalia is relevant and admissible to show knowledge and intent to possess the drugs.

(2)Where an officer testified that he was told by two passengers of a car that pulled up near a defendant that they were planning to buy drugs from the defendant, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the evidence because although the statements would not have been admissible on direct examination, defense counsel injected the issue of the search of the car by asking about it during cross examination, which provided only a partial account of the events surrounding the search, so the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing statements as an explanation for the officer’s conduct, and the court also gave a proper limiting instruction.

(3)Where a trial court allowed testimony in a drug case from two members of the community where the crime took place even though they were not victims of the crime, such testimony has been held to not be limited by Section 577.041.2 and the defendant’s implication that there are no direct victims of drug offenses is mistaken.

Judgment is affirmed.

State v. Watson (MLW No. 64404/Case No. ED97303 – 11 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Gaertner Jr., J.) Appealed from circuit court, St. Louis City, Van Amburg, J. (S. Kathleen (Kate) Webber for appellant) (Robert J. (Jeff) Bartholomew for respondent).

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