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Chandler v. State

Defendant failed to show an actual conflict of interest in defense counsel's dual representation of defendant and his co-defendant since both defendants denied possessing the drugs.

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A Jackson County jury found James Chandler, Jr. guilty of one count of simple possession of cocaine occurring on May 18, 1996, and one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute occurring on May 25, 1996.1 The first offense was the result of a controlled buy by an informant, and the second offense was the result of the execution of a search warrant at the mobile home where Chandler resided and from which he made the earlier sale of cocaine to the informant. Chandler appeals, raising four enumerations of error. He claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, since others had “equal access” to the drugs found in the mobile home; that the trial court erred in permitting Investigator S. Barnhart with the Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad to remain in the courtroom to assist the prosecutor; that the trial court erred in permitting Barnhart to testify about a drug-user amount of cocaine; and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel due to a conflict of interest because his trial attorney also represented a co-defendant who was charged on the possession with intent count of the indictment. Upon review, we find these claims of error to be without merit, and we affirm Chandler’s conviction.

1. The evidence of possession with intent to distribute, viewed to support the verdict, was sufficient. Proof of Chandler’s sale of crack cocaine from the same location a week earlier provided proof of intent sufficient to negate Chandler’s claims of equal access.2 Further, pursuant to the search warrant, several hits of crack cocaine were found in a pill bottle in a kitchen trash can, and the informant, who testified at trial, stated that she purchased one hit of crack cocaine from Chandler which Chandler removed from a pill bottle.

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