Following a jury trial, Mark Jackson appeals his conviction of trafficking in cocaine,1 possession of cocaine with intent to distribute,2 possession of marijuana,3 and obstruction4 five counts. Specifically, Jackson 1 challenges the sufficiency of the evidence as to the trafficking count, and contends that the trial court erred by 2 failing to give him a full hearing on his motion to suppress, 3 denying his motion to suppress, 4 failing to merge the trafficking count with the distribution count, 5 failing to merge the five obstruction counts, and 6 instructing the jury as to joint possession and parties to a crime. Because the lesser-included offense of distribution should have merged with the conviction for trafficking, we vacate the sentences as to the trafficking and distribution counts and remand for re-sentencing on the trafficking count. We otherwise affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.” Punctuation omitted. Eady v. State .5 So viewed, the evidence shows that an officer on patrol executed a traffic stop on a vehicle with a broken windshield. The officer then realized that he knew the female driver, whom he had recently cited for DUI and who was a confidential informant for other officers. The driver told the officer that she was going to pick up a man who turned out to be Jackson who would be carrying a large amount of crack cocaine. The driver described the man and, despite the officer’s reluctance, offered to signal the officer later in the evening if the man was indeed carrying the drugs when she picked him up. After the driver departed, the officer observed the described man on the street where the driver said he would be.
Later in the evening, the officer spotted the driver again as she drove by waving dramatically out her window at the officer. The officer followed her, noticed a broken tag light and executed a second traffic stop on the vehicle, which now contained Jackson in the passenger seat. As the officer spoke to the driver outside of the car, the driver said that Jackson had a large quantity of crack cocaine hidden in his pants. As four other officers arrived at the scene and began speaking to Jackson, the driver told an officer that Jackson had a gun. As the officers attempted to pat Jackson down, he gave consent to search inside his pants, but then immediately struggled and ran to the rear of the car where he was eventually tackled and handcuffed by the officers. A search of Jackson yielded no weapon but a large “cookie” of crack cocaine and one gram of marijuana concealed in his pants.
