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Smith v. State

Evidence of the defendant's prior conviction for cocaine possession was admissible at his trial for cocaine trafficking, marijuana possession and obstructing an officer where the drugs in question were found in the same location inside the same car and in both instances the defendant took action to avoid the police.

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An Evans County jury found Frederick Myron Smith guilty of cocaine trafficking, possessing marijuana, and obstructing a law enforcement officer. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. Smith also alleges that the trial court erred in admitting similar transaction evidence, which the court later instructed the jury to disregard. Finally, Smith asserts that the trial court erred in failing to grant a mistrial after this evidence was heard by the jury. For the following reasons, we affirm. After having been convicted of the charges, Smith is no longer presumed innocent, and we construe the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict.1 We neither weigh the evidence nor determine witness credibility, but ensure that the evidence was sufficient to find Smith guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.2

Viewed in this light, the evidence shows that GBI Agent Tracy Sands was investigating Duane Nunnally, Smith’s cousin. In September 1999, a confidential informant made a controlled buy of cocaine at the trailer where Nunnally lived. On September 22, 1999, Agent Sands, who was performing surveillance on the trailer, photographed a brown Cadillac DeVille parked outside. Agent Sands later learned that the car was registered to Cynthia Smith, Smith’s mother. Sands subsequently applied for and received a warrant to search Nunnally’s trailer. Before executing the warrant, Sands arranged a second controlled buy during which the informant purchased cocaine from the driver of the brown Cadillac.

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