Following a jury trial, Mulius Bland Banks was convicted on two counts of selling cocaine, one count of distributing cocaine within 1000 feet of a housing project, and one count of distributing cocaine within 1000 feet of a school. On appeal he contends that 1 the trial court erred in denying his counsel’s motion to withdraw; 2 the trial court erred in failing to inquire as to whether Banks wanted to represent himself; 3 the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions for i selling cocaine and ii distributing cocaine within 1000 feet of a housing project; 4 the trial court erred in admitting evidence of Banks’s bad character; and 5 the trial court erred in admitting hearsay. We discern no reversible error and affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence reveals that Banks was twice caught on audiotape selling crack cocaine to confidential informants. On the first occasion, the police gave one of the confidential informants $50 to buy five crack rocks from Banks. Police searched the informant and her car prior to her scheduled meeting with Banks to ensure that she was not in possession of any drugs prior to the drug sale. Banks met the informant who was wearing a recording device at a nearby store and sold her the crack. On the second occasion, the informant involved in the prior sale and another informant met Banks at his home to purchase five more crack rocks. Just as in the prior sale, the police searched the informants beforehand to ensure that they did not have any drugs, and recorded the subsequent drug sale.
Prior to trial, Banks’s public defender discovered that another attorney in the Douglas County public defender’s office had represented the confidential informant who would be testifying against Banks at trial. In light of this information, and in light of Banks having also expressed his desire to fire him, Banks’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw as counsel. Banks’s counsel was concerned that cross-examining the confidential informant regarding a plea agreement she took while she was represented by the defender’s office would create the appearance of impropriety at Banks’s trial. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion.
