Edward Alexander Beckford, Jr. v. Commonwealth ( 2000 )

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Chief Judge Fitzpatrick, Judges Bray and Annunziata
Argued at Alexandria, Virginia
EDWARD ALEXANDER BECKFORD, JR.
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 1976-99-2 JUDGE ROSEMARIE ANNUNZIATA
MAY 30, 2000
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LANCASTER COUNTY
Joseph E. Spruill, Jr., Judge
(Robert L. Cunningham, on brief), for appellant.
Appellant submitting on brief.
Robert H. Anderson, III, Assistant Attorney
General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General,
on brief), for appellee.
On April 29, 1999, Edward Beckford and Andre Noel were
tried jointly on various charges stemming from a drug
distribution conspiracy in Lancaster County. Beckford was
convicted in the bench trial of conspiracy to distribute
cocaine, distribution of cocaine, possession of cocaine with
intent to distribute, and transportation of cocaine. Beckford
contends that the trial court erred 1) in admitting a written
out-of-court statement of Faith Parker, a co-conspirator; 2) in
admitting oral out-of-court statements made by Parker; and 3) in
admitting the weight of imitation replicas of cocaine "cookies"
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, recodifying Code
§ 17-116.010, this opinion is not designated for publication.
as demonstrative evidence. We find that Beckford has failed to
preserve his claims for appeal, and affirm the convictions.
FACTS
In the summer of 1998, the Lancaster County Sheriff's
Department began an investigation of a drug trafficking
conspiracy involving a group of individuals calling themselves
the "Jersey Boys." These individuals were suspected of
trafficking in "crack" cocaine and distributing it in Lancaster
County. Ashby Allen, Jr., Chief Investigator for the Sheriff's
Department, and Investigator Joan Webb headed the investigation.
Webb hired a paid informant, Mary Beale, to conduct controlled
purchases of cocaine from the Jersey Boys. On September 9,
1998, Allen and Webb went to Beale's apartment in Kilmarnock,
where Beale placed a telephone call to Arthur Fisher, one of the
Jersey Boys. Allen and Webb hid in Beale's bedroom when Fisher
arrived. Beale and Fisher discussed a purchase of drugs, and
Fisher made several telephone calls. On the telephone Fisher
spoke to "Marquis" and "Dre"; one of Beckford's aliases was
Marquis Givins. After making the telephone calls, Fisher left
the apartment, but soon returned, accompanied by Beckford's
codefendant, Noel, nicknamed "Dre." Allen and Webb overheard
Beale, Fisher, and Noel negotiating the drug sale. After Fisher
and Noel left the apartment, the officers recovered a substance
from Beale later determined to be cocaine.
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Fisher testified for the Commonwealth. He admitted that he
sold cocaine to Beale on the evening of the controlled purchase
and that he had purchased the cocaine in question from Noel.
Fisher further testified that he had first encountered the
Jersey Boys in the summer of 1998 and that members of the group
included Noel, Beckford, Keith Mayweather, and Daniel Ford.
Fisher stated that all of the Jersey Boys lived together in a
house on Kilmarnock Road.
Francis Norris also testified. Norris owns a house in
Merry Point, located in Lancaster County, which he rented to
Faith Parker in the summer of 1998. While cutting the grass at
the house, Norris discovered a large rock of cocaine hidden
beneath a board near the house. Disturbed by the discovery,
Norris destroyed the rock of cocaine and evicted Parker. Parker
told Norris that the cocaine did not belong to her, but belonged
to Daniel Ford. Parker told Norris that she was afraid of Ford
and his associates, and she gave Norris a telephone number where
he could contact them. Norris phoned Ford, and asked whether
the cocaine was his. Ford initially denied the cocaine belonged
to him, but when Norris told him he had destroyed it, Ford said
the drugs were "part of his job" and demanded payment for its
value.
Investigator Allen testified that on October 14, 1998,
Parker offered a written statement at the Lancaster County
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Sheriff's office. Parker was not under arrest at that time.
She stated that she had known the Jersey Boys, whom she
identified as Noel, Ford, Beckford (whom she identified by his
alias "Marquis Givins"), and Mayweather (whom she identified as
"Keith Grant") since February, 1998. She knew they sold drugs.
She stated that she accompanied them on an unspecified date to
Ford's home in Newark, New Jersey, to pick up cocaine. The four
men dropped her off in Newark and proceeded to New York. When
they returned to Newark, Parker saw them package the cocaine,
storing it in the gear shift mechanism of the car for the return
trip to Virginia. Parker further stated that she accompanied
Ford and an individual named George on a second trip to New
Jersey in August, 1998 and that they obtained cocaine there.
She stated that in September, 1998, members of the ring stored
cocaine at her house, which Norris subsequently found and
destroyed. She stated that Ford called her and demanded the
monetary value of the destroyed cocaine and that Beckford and
Mayweather "wanted to hurt me or Mr. Norris." The statement was
admitted into evidence over the objection of counsel for both
defendants.
Allen further testified, over objection by Noel's counsel,
that in addition to her written statement, Parker described the
cocaine purchased by the Jersey Boys for distribution in
Lancaster County as "cookies." By this term, Parker meant
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"large pieces of crack cocaine." Because Allen was previously
unfamiliar with this term for rock cocaine, he questioned Parker
in detail about the "cookies." She described them as "about the
size of a personal pan pizza," and said that in one trip, the
ring brought back "four or five" such "cookies," which were
approximately four and one-half inches in diameter and
one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Parker stated that the ring
members paid approximately $8,000 for the "cookies" in question.
Parker admitted that once the cocaine was packaged, she boarded
a bus with it and brought it to Virginia. 1
Allen testified additionally that, based upon Parker's
description of the "cookies," he created a model of a "cookie"
from dental stone, a substance used by the police to make
castings of footprints and tool marks. He presented the model
to Parker, and she told him it was "the exact size and weight"
of the "cookies" she transported from New Jersey to Virginia.
Allen then weighed the model, and determined its weight to be
148.5 grams. The Commonwealth offered the model into evidence.
The model was admitted over objection by Noel, who based his
objection on the ground that the model was "a result of
1
Investigator Webb's testimony substantially matched that
of Investigator Allen concerning the statements made by Parker.
Counsel for Noel objected to Webb's recital of Parker's
statements, stating he "would have the same objection as
before." Counsel for Beckford raised no objection, however, and
did not join in Noel's objection.
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hearsay." Beckford "join[ed] in the objection." The court
admitted the model.
ANALYSIS
Beckford has failed to preserve his claims for appeal.
While Noel objected to Investigator Allen's recounting of the
oral statements made by Parker, Beckford did not. Although
Beckford objected to the admission of Parker's written statement
during the direct examination of Investigator Allen, when
Investigator Webb later testified and recounted the content of
Parker's statement, Noel renewed his earlier objection, but
Beckford failed to do so. Also, when Beckford joined in Noel's
objection to the admissibility of the model "cookie," he did so
on the ground that it was the result of hearsay; his claim on
appeal concerns whether a sufficient foundation was laid.
Because Rule 5A:18 provides that "[n]o ruling of the trial court
. . . will be considered as a basis for reversal unless the
objection was stated together with the grounds therefor at the
time of the ruling, except for good cause shown or . . . to
attain the ends of justice," Beckford's failure to object to
Parker's oral out-of-court statements bars his claim on this
issue. See People v. Foster, 473 N.Y.S.2d 978, 984 (N.Y. 1984)
(in a joint trial, codefendants "cannot avail themselves of
their [codefendant's] objection"); Wolfe v. East Texas Seed Co.,
583 S.W.2d 481, 482 (Tx. App. 1979) (appellant who failed to
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make objection at trial cannot avail himself of codefendant's
objection to preserve issue for appeal); Poston v. Ragan, 187
S.E.2d 503, 505 (N.C. App. 1972) (a party is not entitled to the
benefit of an exception not taken by himself, and therefore
exception taken by one party is not available to a co-party).
Moreover, when a party objects to the admissibility of
material offered as evidence, and the same material is
subsequently offered as evidence, failure to restate the
objection constitutes a waiver of the previous objection. See
Phillip Greenberg, Inc. v. Dunville, 166 Va. 398, 404, 185 S.E.
892, 894 (1936); Portner v. Portner's Ex'rs, 133 Va. 251, 263,
112 S.E. 762, 766 (1922); C & O Ry. Co. v. Greaver, 110 Va. 350,
354, 66 S.E. 59, 60 (1909). Thus, Beckford's failure during the
testimony of Investigator Webb to renew his earlier objection to
the admission of Parker's written statement effected a waiver of
the prior objection.
Finally, although Beckford properly joined in Noel's
objection to the model "cookie" on the ground that its admission
was the result of improperly admitted hearsay evidence, Beckford
bases his argument on appeal on the Commonwealth's failure to
properly establish that the model constituted "illustrative
evidence" of the nature of the cocaine "cookies" transported by
Parker. Because Beckford did not object to the evidence on this
ground, and we find no basis to apply either the good cause or
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ends of justice exceptions to the Rule, we will not consider the
argument on appeal. See Singleton v. Commonwealth, 19 Va. App.
728, 735, 453 S.E.2d 921, 926 (1995) (en banc); Reed v.
Commonwealth, 6 Va. App. 65, 70, 366 S.E.2d 274, 277 (1988).
Beckford has thus failed to preserve his claims for appeal, and
we consider them no further.
Affirmed.
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