Belcher v. State

Following a trial by jury, Roderick Belcher was convicted of felony possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The two counts were merged for the purpose of sentencing. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Belcher appeals and contends the State failed to prove chain of custody for the marijuana. He therefore challenges the introduction of that evidence as well as the sufficiency of the evidence in general. Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that on January 30, 2008, the manager of the Federal Express office in Athens gave two suspicious packages to Special Agent Mark Lavender. Both packages were addressed to David Johnson at 222 South Hubbard Street, Monroe, GA. Lavender identified State’s Exhibits No. 1 and No. 2 as the two packages he received that day. The manager and Lavender opened the packages at the Federal Express office and found two “bails wrapped in plastic wrap, packaged in Styrofoam, peanut-type packaging material”; they were further wrapped in what appeared to be dryer sheets, which are often used to mask odors of marijuana. Lavender transported both of the packages, with the bails inside, to the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force office in Athens, where he field-tested the contents of one of the two bails; the test indicated the presence of marijuana. Lavender also marked the two bails as “No. 1 and No. 2.” He identified two photographs of the bails and testified that they represented the bails at the time they were removed from the packages. Lavender also weighed both bails together with the inside packaging: No. 1 weighed 2,714 grams and No. 2 weighed 2,753 grams, or roughly 6 pounds each. While still at the task force office, Lavender resealed the packages and placed his initials and badge number on the bottom of both boxes.

Lavender and other officers contacted the Monroe police department in order to make a controlled delivery of the packages at the indicated addresses. Lavender brought the two packages to Monroe. Lavender also obtained a search warrant for the address on the packages.