Cooper v. State

The defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial after he was charged with selling cocaine, using a communication facility to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony and possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.

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After a bench trial, DeMarco Cooper was convicted of four counts of selling cocaine, five counts of distributing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a public housing project, three counts of using a communication facility to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony sale of cocaine, one count of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, and one count of possessing a counterfeit controlled substance. Cooper appealed, and this court vacated the judgments of conviction and remanded the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether Cooper knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial. See Cooper v. State, 324 Ga. App. 451, 452-453 1 751 SE2d 102 2013. In that prior appeal, this court also went on to review the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the vacated judgments of conviction, reasoning that the trial court, after the remand hearing on the issue of waiver of the right to a jury trial, would not be authorized to reinstate any conviction that the state had failed to prove. Id. at 453 2. This court then determined that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Cooper had possessed a counterfeit drug or that he had sold drugs within 1,000 feet of a public housing project so those convictions could not be reinstated. Id. at 455-456 2 b c.

On remand, after holding an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found that Cooper had knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial. The trial court reinstated the convictions that were not barred by this court’s prior opinion, dismissed the other charges, and denied Cooper’s request for re-sentencing him as a first offender. Cooper appeals.

Cooper v. State

The defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial after he was charged with selling cocaine, using a communication facility to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony and possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.

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