Gaston v. State, A02A1238.
| Decision Date | 19 September 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. A02A1238.,A02A1238. |
| Parties | GASTON v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
571 S.E.2d 477
257 Ga. App. 480
v.
The STATE
No. A02A1238.
Court of Appeals of Georgia.
September 19, 2002.
Certiorari Denied November 25, 2002.
Spencer Lawton, Jr., Dist. Atty., Thomas M. Cerbone, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Timothy Lee Gaston was indicted by a Chatham County grand jury for trafficking in cocaine and several traffic offenses, including no driver's license and no tag light. He was tried before a jury, which found him guilty of all charges, and his motion for new trial, as amended, was denied. Gaston appeals, raising 17 enumerations of error, including challenges to the denial of his motion to suppress, the trial court's jury charge, the introduction of similar transaction evidence, the improper admission of evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel, and the general grounds. We find no merit in any of Gaston's contentions, and we affirm the judgment.
Construed to support the jury's verdict, the evidence presented at trial showed that in the early morning hours of May 12, 1999, Corporal Sean Wilson of the Savannah Police Department was training [257 Ga. App. 481] Officer Daniel Rhimes, a new police officer, to observe infractions and stop suspicious persons. The two officers were in their police car in an office parking lot in Savannah. As they left the parking lot and entered a main street, Rhimes noticed a car with a missing tag light. The officer turned on his emergency lights, and the car pulled over. The driver, later identified as Gaston and who was alone in the car, emerged and came toward the police car "at a pretty high pace." This concerned the officers for safety reasons, and Gaston was instructed three times to return to his vehicle before he complied.
The officers then approached the car, and Gaston produced a state identification card and an insurance card, but not a driver's license. Gaston told the officers he believed his license might be in the car's trunk, and the officers permitted him to open the trunk and look, unsuccessfully, for the license. Because the name on the insurance card was not Gaston's, the officers asked for the registration.
While Gaston was looking in the glove box for the registration and his license, Wilson shone his flashlight on Gaston and observed that Gaston was "trembling tremendously," which made Wilson suspicious. Gaston was placed in the back of the patrol car while the officers checked his driver's license status. While Rhimes was checking on Gaston's driver's license, Wilson returned to Gaston's car, shone his light inside, and saw a paper bag on the floorboard under the driver's seat. Wilson returned to the patrol car and asked Gaston whether he had any drugs, alcohol, or weapons in the car. Although Gaston denied having any, he refused to allow the officers to search the car, saying "I can't let you do that." He stated that he could not let them search because it was his aunt's car. He also informed the officers that he usually drove the car and he did not want the car searched.
By this time, Rhimes had learned that Gaston's driver's license had been expired since October 1995. Wilson returned to the car on the passenger side, shone his light inside, and observed a Nike shoe box on the floorboard in front of the passenger seat. Holes were cut into the sides of the box, and because of the flashlight Wilson could see inside the box. He crossed to the driver's side, where the window was open, and shone the light into the box's holes. Wilson then could see clear cellophane bags which, because of his past experience, he believed contained crack cocaine. Wilson opened the Nike box and found a smaller, blue box containing a substance later identified as 249.3 grams of powder cocaine with a purity of 60 percent. The larger box also contained a substance later identified as 494.8 grams of crack cocaine with a purity of 62 percent. Gaston was arrested, and a wrecker was called to tow the car, which was impounded.
Agent Harry Glenn, an officer with the Chatham Narcotics Team (CNT), testified that he was called to the scene and shown the Nike [257 Ga. App. 482] box, with the bags of cocaine "readily visible." After identifying the cocaine, this officer opened the box and saw the blue box containing powder cocaine, and the crack cocaine in cellophane bags. At trial, he identified
Gaston took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he never saw the Nike box and did not know the drugs were in the car. He suggested that the box was under the passenger seat instead of in front of it. In rebuttal, however, Wilson...
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