Lipsey v. State

A jury found Orin Lipsey guilty of trafficking in cocaine, possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, possessing less than one ounce of marijuana, possessing tools for committing a crime, and two counts of misdemeanor obstruction of a law enforcement officer. Lipsey appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. He also argues that the trial court erred in refusing to give a requested jury instruction and in limiting his closing argument. Finally, he contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. For reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. In reviewing Lipsey’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we construe the evidence in a light favorable to the jury’s verdict.1 We do not weigh the evidence or resolve issues of witness credibility, but merely determine whether the jury was authorized to find Lipsey guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes charged.2

So viewed, the evidence shows that at approximately 3:16 a.m. on June 7, 2003, Officer Robbie Beddow of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department observed a car operating without working tail lights. Beddow stopped the car and discovered Lipsey in the front passenger seat. Shortly after the stop, Officers Mike Delatorre and Raymond Retzer arrived at the scene. As Beddow spoke with the driver, Delatorre approached the car’s passenger side and noticed that Lipsey was behaving oddly, sitting very still “like . . . a statue.”