Garrett v. State

A Forsyth County jury convicted Donald Garrett of trafficking in methamphetamine. Garrett appeals, claiming the trial court erred in i denying his motion to suppress evidence gathered by police in their search of his home, ii denying his motion for a mistrial after the State introduced evidence of his bad character, iii allowing similar transaction evidence concerning his 1990 methamphetamine possession conviction, iv denying his motion for a new trial due to the insufficiency of the evidence, and v giving certain jury charges. Garrett also claims he was tried under a defective indictment. For reasons which follow, we affirm.

Viewed favorably to the jury’s verdict, the record shows that on January 22, 1998, police executed a search warrant on Garrett’s home. The police found Garrett and two others in the garage. An officer found a bag of powdery substance in Garrett’s pocket which the officer suspected to be methamphetamine or cocaine. He then placed Garrett under arrest. Shortly thereafter, police found a bulging sock on a dryer located in the garage which contained a bag holding 165.6 grams of methamphetamine. After the police discovered the drugs in the sock, Garret exclaimed “that’s all I got.” Garrett told the officers he kept his packaging material in a kitchen drawer. A detective looked in the drawer and found a set of digital scales, plastic baggies, and a notebook containing a list of names and numbers.