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Morgan v. State

Although the defendant testified that he did not consent to a search of the vehicle he was driving and in which cocaine was discovered, the officer testified that the defendant readily consented to his request to search and the trial court's credibility determination in this regard was not clearly erroneous.

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Following a jury trial, Samuel Lee Morgan was convicted of trafficking in cocaine. Morgan’s sole enumeration of error on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the cocaine that was discovered during a search of the rental vehicle he was driving. For the reasons set forth infra , we affirm. The record shows that Morgan and a passenger, his then-girlfriend Jessica Thompson, were traveling northbound on I-85 when a Gwinnett County police officer observed the Chrysler PT Cruiser they were driving make an abrupt lane change without signaling, nearly cutting off another car. The officer then entered the roadway, caught up to Morgan’s vehicle, ran the tag number, and discovered that the tag was registered in North Carolina to a Dodge Caravan that belonged to a rental car company. At that point, the officer initiated a traffic stop.

After approaching the vehicle on the passenger side and detecting what he believed to be a faint odor of cocaine, the officer asked Morgan for his driver’s license. Morgan handed the officer a North Carolina identification card, and a subsequent check showed that Morgan’s driver’s license was suspended. Morgan also provided the officer with a copy of the rental agreement, which listed a third-party renter, showed neither Morgan nor Thompson as a driver, and advised that the vehicle was not to leave North Carolina.1 Additionally, the agreement provided that the car was scheduled to be returned to the rental company the day before.

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