Green v. State
| Decision Date | 22 September 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 60177,60177 |
| Citation | 155 Ga.App. 795,272 S.E.2d 761 |
| Parties | GREEN v. STATE of Georgia. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Evelyn Johnson, Brunswick, for appellant.
Glenn Thomas, Jr., Dist. Atty., Amanda F. Williams, James A. Chamberlin, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.
This appeal is from the libel for condemnation of Green's van filed by the state pursuant to Code Ann. § 79A-828. Green had previously pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance after he was stopped on June 1, 1979. Thirty-one "hits" or doses of phencyclidine and a marijuana cigarette were found in the van. At the hearing on the condemnation, the arresting officer testified that the phencyclidine was packaged in 31 individual foil packages about the size of a man's little fingernail, all of which were contained in a 35 millimeter film cannister. Green was asked on direct examination if he was going to sell the phencyclidine and he answered "no." When asked if he was receiving it in a shipment of drugs, he replied, "I'd rather not answer that question." He also denied transporting it in a shipment of drugs and stated that it was for his personal use. In rebuttal, the state called an officer who testified that he had been with the police department almost eight years, had spent six years in narcotics and that the phencyclidine was packaged The trial court found from the evidence before it that the drugs were in the van for the purpose of being transported for sale and that the van was subject to condemnation. Appellant insists that the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment. Held :
Code Ann. § 79A-828(a)(4) declares in pertinent part that "All conveyances... which are used, or intended for use, to transport, hold, conceal, or in any manner to facilitate the transportation, for the purpose of sale or receipt of" contraband property are subject to forfeitures. Thus, the only issue before the judge as trier of fact was whether Green intended to sell or transport for sale a controlled substance. The fact that there was a plea bargain whereby he agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of possession of a controlled substance does not preclude the state from seeking to prove the requisite...
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