Fernandez v. State

The defendants' nervousness and conflicting stories about why they traveled from California to Atlanta authorized the jury to find that they were aware of the 33 kilos of cocaine, which was hidden in a secret compartment beneath their vehicle's floorboards.

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A Carroll County jury found Hector Fernandez a.k.a. Hector Garza and Delia Esparza guilty of trafficking in over 400 grams of cocaine, OCGA § 16-13-31 a 1 c. Fernandez and Esparza appeal from orders denying their motions for new trial. They both contend the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support the verdicts and that the trial court erred in denying their motion to suppress the cocaine evidence seized. Fernandez also contends he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Because these appeals arise from the same criminal trial and involve the same facts and overlapping legal issues, we consolidate them. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury verdicts,1 the record reveals the following. At around 11:20 a. m. on February 6, 2001, a Villa Rica sheriff’s deputy saw a green Ford Explorer moving along Interstate 20 in Carroll County. The driver of the Explorer was rubbing his face and head, as if extremely fatigued, and a young child was bouncing around in the back seat, unrestrained. The deputy followed the car. He saw the car’s California license plates. He observed the driver, who continued to rub his face, weave out of his lane. The deputy also noticed that neither the driver nor his front-seat passenger wore safety belts. The deputy made a traffic stop based upon the seat-belt and failure-to-maintain-lane violations he witnessed.

The deputy walked to the front passenger side of the Explorer to speak with the driver, Fernandez, and his passenger, Esparza. As the deputy asked Fernandez for his license and registration, he saw a third adult, Louis Garcia, lying down in the back seat. The deputy noticed that Esparza’s carotid artery had begun visibly pulsing and that she seemed very nervous. She also broke out in hives. The deputy told Fernandez that he stopped the car because Fernandez seemed tired, because Fernandez had failed to maintain his lane, and because the deputy had witnessed a violation of the seat belt law.

Fernandez v. State

The defendants' nervousness and conflicting stories about why they traveled from California to Atlanta authorized the jury to find that they were aware of the 33 kilos of cocaine, which was hidden in a secret compartment beneath their vehicle's floorboards.

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