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O'Neal v. State

The totality of the circumstances justified the officers' detention of the defendant after he pulled up to house in a neighborhood known for drug activity.

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Following a bench trial, the trial court found Ronald O’Neal guilty of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. In his sole enumeration of error on appeal, O’Neal contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. For reasons that follow, we affirm. In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we construe the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the lower court’s findings and judgment.1 We adopt the trial court’s findings on disputed facts and credibility unless clearly erroneous.2 “Since the trial court sits as the trier of fact, its findings are analogous to a jury verdict and will not be disturbed if there is any evidence to support them.”3

Viewed in this manner, the record shows that on December 10, 2003, Officer D. J. Small was investigating alleged drug activity in a neighborhood known for “a high volume of drug activity.” He and another officer were conducting surveillance on one particular house when they noticed unusual activity at the neighboring house. Small testified that he saw two or three pedestrians walk to the side of the house, and return “just a second later to the driveway, at which time the pedestrian would be greeted by somebody inside the house who would come out, talk to the pedestrian, . . walk to the rear of the residence, and then . . . walk back to the driveway and make a transaction with the pedestrian.”

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