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James Skrivanek III v. State of Maryland, No. 146, September Term, 1998.

[Criminal Procedure - Prosecutor, in order to avoid complete dismissal of case for insufficient evidence, agreed to trial court's suggestion that case be submitted to jury on uncharged, lesser included offense. Held: Case properly submitted despite prosecutor's unsuccessful insistence that charged offense had been proved.]

Court for Cecil County
Case Criminal # 97790C

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 146 September Term, 1998 _________________________________________ JAMES SKRIVANEK III

v.

STATE OF MARYLAND _________________________________________ Bell, C.J. Eldridge Rodowsky *Chasanow Raker Wilner Cathell, JJ. _________________________________________ Opinion by Rodowsky, J. _________________________________________ Filed: October 12, 1999

*Chasanow, J., now retired, participated in the hearing of this case and conferencing while an active member of this Court, but did not participate in the decision and adoption of this opinion.

This is an appeal from a drug conviction. The appellant contends that the trial court erred by submitting the case to the jury on lesser included, but not expressly charged, attempt offenses. The appellant also argues that the police violated due process by the manner in which they conducted the reverse sting operation leading to the appellant's arrest and that the court improperly admitted evidence of other crimes. For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm. Corporal Robert Shelley (Shelley) of the Maryland State Police was working in an undercover capacity with the Cecil County Narcotics Taskforce on August 17, 1997. At that time, Shelley told confidential informants to give prospective buyers of marijuana his pager number so that he could be contacted to conduct a controlled sale of the drugs. On August 18, 1997, Shelley's pager was activated with a telephone number with which Shelley was not familiar. Returning the page, Shelley spoke with a person who identified himself only as "James." James was the appellant, James Skrivanek III (Skrivanek). The next day, August 19, Shelley telephoned Skrivanek at the same number. The two men agreed to meet to discuss the terms of a transaction. Approximately ten minutes later, Shelley and Skrivanek met at a bank in Perryville, Maryland. Shelley wore a body wire, and their discussion was recorded. At the meeting, Skrivanek reiterated that "Steve told me that you might be able to help me find some weed." Skrivanek and Shelley then discussed the price for the drugs and agreed upon $900 per pound, $1,350 for a pound and a half. Portions of the transcript of the recorded conversation are set forth below.

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"Skrivanek: Uh, instead of dealing in a big amount at first, can [I] just go ahead get like uh half or a pound at a time until I get comfortable. "Shelley: (Sigh) Man, I don't.

"Skrivanek: I could bring you mad business, but you know, if, I'm just as sketchy as you are right now. "Shelley: I, I know that, but no. I, I, it ain't, it ain't worth the ... risk.

"Skrivanek: Right. .... "Skrivanek: Can I get one the first time? "Shelley: Yeah that's not a problem.

"Skrivanek: I got the money for, you know as much, but I'm just really nervous. "Shelley: (Laughter)

"Skrivanek: You know it's just like we just met, you know? "Shelley: Yeah. Yeah.

"Skrivanek: I'm probably just as scared as you are. "Shelley: Well, OK. My problem is that you tell me one and a half.

"Skrivanek: Right. "Shelley: Then you, then you want a lot less than that and now you want one.

"Skrivanek: Well I can, I can get one and a half that 's not a problem. Uh, I'm just nervous.

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"Shelley:

(Laughter) I, I, I bet you are.

"Skrivanek: I deal in LSD and it's got me sketchy, cause right now four of my friends in the area got busted by somebody I don't know who they are. "Shelley: Well can you, can you?

"Skrivanek: I don't know. "Shelley: See I, I can move some sheets. Whatcha talkin.

"Skrivanek: Uh, for a book probably twelve to a buck twenty a sheet." There followed a discussion about a possible future course of dealing between the two men in which they would barter LSD and marijuana. In the conversation, Skrivanek gave a representation of the quality of his product, stating, "[i]t's got three hundred mic's on it ... [i]t's really good ... real clean." Skrivanek said: "In fact, if you've ever heard [of] Timothy Leary designs, that's what design they are, they're Timothy Leary's, they come from California." Each party indicated that he might be able to effect price reductions in future transactions. The conversation then continued as follows: "Shelley: Yeah. You said some friends of yours have been hurt lately.

"Skrivanek: Yeah. Which is scary, I was about to lock down. "Shelley: Yeah.

"Skrivanek: Just say fuck it, you know. But um, I have people in White Marsh that are starving for herb. ( I n a u d i b l e ) that's where I work, I'm there all day long.

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"Shelley:

It's, it's, I've got a good supply, it's a never ending supply, so, and I can, I can go damn near as high as you can possibly imagine. Not [sic].

"Skrivanek: I don't need to know anything." The parties agreed that Skrivanek would beep Shelley's pager the next day to make arrangements for the consummation of the sale of one and one-half pounds of marijuana. On the next day, August 20, Skrivanek contacted Shelley by pager. Shelley called him back and was told that Skrivanek had to run an errand and would contact Shelley when he returned. Approximately one-half hour to an hour later, Skrivanek again paged Shelley. Skrivanek said that he would not be able to meet that day because his wife had not gone to the bank to withdraw money for the drugs. Skrivanek promised to obtain the money the next day and to page Shelley to make arrangements for purchasing the drugs. Skrivanek again paged Shelley in the afternoon of August 21. He left a number consisting of the last six digits of Skrivanek's telephone number followed by 1400. This indicated to Shelley that Skrivanek was going to pay $1,400 for the drugs. When Shelley returned the page, Skrivanek confirmed that he had paged Shelley earlier and that he was going to pay him $1,400. The men agreed to meet in a half hour at an industrial plant in Perryville. After the half hour expired, Shelley was paged again. This time, Skrivanek left the number, 745 1400, which indicated to the officer that they should meet at 7:45 p.m. The undercover officer arrived early, again wearing a body wire. When Skrivanek arrived, he parked his car so that their driver side windows faced and were within arm's reach of each other. Officer Shelley and Skrivanek exchanged the keys to their respective

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automobiles. Shelley then handed Skrivanek a brown paper bag in which he had placed roughly one and one-half pounds of marijuana. Shelley's supervisors in the Maryland State Police had authorized this quantity be released to him for the reverse sting operation from the drug locker of the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement Division. Skrivanek placed the bag containing marijuana in his lap, beyond the officer's view, peered into the bag, and said to Shelley that it "[l]ook's good." According to Officer Shelley, the defendant then "appeared to place it over on the passenger's seat or on the floor somewhere over there." Skrivanek gave Shelley a large sum of U.S. currency, which the officer began to count. As Officer Shelley was counting, another state trooper arrived at the parking lot. Skrivanek was arrested. A grand jury indicted Skrivanek on charges of unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance with the intent to distribute under Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl. Vol.), Art. 27,

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