Finney v. State

Charles Finney was tried by a judge sitting without a jury and found guilty of possession of cocaine. He appeals from his conviction, challenging the admissibility of a statement he made to police, the admissibility of cocaine found in his pocket during a search incident to arrest, and the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction. We affirm the conviction. Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict,1 it shows that police officers obtained a warrant to arrest Finney on charges of child molestation and statutory rape. On January 22, 2002, as officers were placing Finney under arrest, they searched his clothing and found three rocks of crack cocaine in the pocket of his pants. When questioned, Finney told officers that he was holding the cocaine for some friends and they were all going to smoke it later.

In September 2002, the state filed an indictment against Finney for possessing cocaine on January 22, 2002. In March 2003, the state filed a separate four-count indictment against Finney for child molestation, statutory rape, possession of marijuana, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor; these acts were allegedly committed on January 15, 2002. A jury found Finney guilty on all four counts charged in this indictment. Finney appealed from the convictions entered on the verdict. This Court affirmed his convictions in an unreported opinion on February 20, 2004. We held, among other things, that the trial court did not err in denying Finney’s motion to suppress the statement he made to police.