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McSears v. State

The trial court properly sentenced the defendant as a recidivist based on his three prior convictions for burglary.

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Following a jury trial, Craig McSears was convicted on one count of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act selling cocaine.1 He appeals his conviction and the denial of his motion for new trial, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and arguing that the trial court erred in sentencing him as a recidivist under OCGA § 17-10-7 c. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be construed in a light most favorable to the verdict and McSears no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence.” Punctuation omitted. Berry v. State .2 In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we do not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility, but only determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia .3

So viewed, the record shows that on the night of March 28, 2007, a police officer was working undercover to investigate reported illegal drug sales in an area of town near two roadside motels. As the undercover officer drove through the parking lot of one of the motels, McSears approached him and asked him “what he was looking for.” When the undercover officer replied that he wanted to buy $20 worth of crack cocaine, McSears got into the officer’s vehicle and directed him to drive across the street to another roadside motel. With McSears still directing him, the undercover officer pulled into a parking space in the other motel’s lot. McSears then exited the undercover officer’s vehicle and went into one of the motel’s rooms. While McSears was inside the motel room, the undercover officer communicated a description of McSears via radio to other officers who were waiting nearby for his signal to make the arrest. A few minutes later, McSears emerged from the motel room and handed the officer the crack cocaine in exchange for $20. At that time, the waiting officers arrived on the scene and arrested McSears.

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