Raines v. State

Evidence that the defendant showed the co-defendant a bag of money, which he claimed contained $14,500, and retrieved drugs from the trunk of the co-defendant's vehicle, supported his conviction for cocaine trafficking.

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A jury convicted Katorian Ronte Raines of trafficking in cocaine, and the trial court sentenced him to 30 years to serve in confinement. He appeals, contending that the evidence against him was insufficient and that the trial court erred in denying his Batson motion. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. “Following a criminal conviction, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict.” Citation omitted. Fortune v. State , 304 Ga. App. 294, 295 696 SE2d 120 2010. So viewed, the evidence at trial established that the police stopped Meiko Collier on Interstate 75 for following too closely, obtained his consent to search the rental car he was driving, and found bags of a substance ultimately determined to be cocaine. Collier agreed to participate in a sting operation and called Raines to meet him in a motel parking lot. Raines arrived, got into Collier’s car, and showed him a bag of money that Raines said contained $14,500. Raines then got out, retrieved the drugs from the trunk of Collier’s car, and got back in. At that point the police moved in and arrested both men for trafficking in cocaine. Collier had not entered a plea or gone to trial when he testified for the State during Raines’s trial.

1. Raines argues the evidence against him was insufficient to sustain the trafficking conviction because the sale “was technically never completed and he never acquired possession of the cocaine,” citing Epps v. State , 251 Ga. App. 645, 647 555 SE2d 25 2001. In Epps , this court reversed a cocaine trafficking conviction, where the evidence showed that Epps took a test sample from a large block of cocaine, which the seller then put into the trunk of his car. Id. at 646. After Epps tested the drugs he returned to the car with cash, at which point the police approached and arrested him. Id. We held that Epps never had actual or constructive possession of all the cocaine, a necessary element of the crime of trafficking under OCGA § 16-13-31 a. Id. at 647.

Raines v. State

Evidence that the defendant showed the co-defendant a bag of money, which he claimed contained $14,500, and retrieved drugs from the trunk of the co-defendant's vehicle, supported his conviction for cocaine trafficking.

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