Christopher Jamael Rosser was convicted of malice murder and other crimes arising out of the shooting death of Rodney Rivers during a drug sale. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial.1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. The evidence authorized the jury to find that Keno Hall met with appellant at Rachel Bisbee’s apartment in a Cherokee County apartment complex seeking to purchase some marijuana. Appellant, in the presence of Hall and several other witnesses, telephoned the victim, Rodney Rivers, to arrange the drug purchase and then announced to the others his intention to rob the victim. After the victim parked his car behind another building in the complex, as directed by appellant, the victim and appellant negotiated a sales price for a half ounce of marijuana. The victim opened the trunk to his car where he kept the marijuana and a set of scales. As the victim reached inside, appellant shot him twice in the head from behind. Appellant dragged the body to the side of the building, took the victim’s money and marijuana from the trunk and returned to Bisbee’s apartment, where he divided the money and shared the marijuana with others. Several witnesses testified that appellant bragged to them about shooting the victim.
This evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged crimes. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. Contrary to appellant’s contention, venue was sufficiently established by the lead detective’s testimony that the “apartment complex” where the crimes occurred was on the “south end of the county” and Bisbee’s testimony that her apartment in that complex was located in Cherokee County. See generally Chapman v. State , 275 Ga. 314 4 565 SE2d 442 2002. Nor did the trial court err by denying appellant’s motion for a directed verdict on the charge of felony possession of marijuana. The amount of marijuana was established by Bisbee’s testimony that appellant returned to her apartment with “about a pound” of marijuana in a grocery bag. Although the marijuana was then divided and smoked, its nature was established by both circumstantial evidence, see Jones v. State , 268 Ga. App. 246, 249 1 601 SE2d 763 2004 distinguishing Chambers v. State , 260 Ga. App. 48 1 579 SE2d 71 2003 where there is circumstantial evidence that “the defendant acts as if the substance is marijuana or treats it like marijuana or, as here, refers to it as marijuana”, and by the testimony of the marijuana analyst for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office that she found marijuana-like substances throughout the car, including the trunk, and that the sample she subjected to testing was marijuana. See generally Smith v. State , 289 Ga. App. 236 656 SE2d 574 2008 nature of marijuana sufficiently established by expert’s testing of single sample.
