Lamar v. State
| Decision Date | 07 March 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. A95A0205,A95A0205 |
| Citation | 455 S.E.2d 316,216 Ga.App. 513 |
| Parties | LAMAR v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
John L. Tracy, Albany, for appellant.
Britt R. Priddy, Dist. Atty., Johnnie M. Graham, Asst. Dist. Atty., Albany, for appellee.
Tommy D. Lamar a/k/a Tommy Lamar appeals his judgment of conviction of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. His sole enumeration of error is insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. Held:
1. Appellant has abandoned any claims of error based either on allowing the evidence custodian to testify when his name was not on the witness list furnished appellant, or based on the appearance of a set of initials of an unknown person on a certain brown paper bag. Court of Appeals Rule 27(c)(2).
2. In execution of a "no-knock" search warrant, a drug unit team approached the premises to be searched at approximately 11:30 p.m.; the premises was that of Joe Johnson, which had a reputation among both the drug community and law enforcement drug investigation community as a drug house where drugs are sold and consumed. An unnamed male came out of the premises, spotted the drug unit, cried "police," and started running to a car. Except for uniformed officers, the members of the drug unit were wearing black raid jackets with the word "police" printed on the back. As members of the drug unit entered the front door, a police investigator yelled, "police." Upon entering the premises, four males were observed: Joe Johnson was at the door, another was sitting on a couch, and appellant and another male were standing up in the front room. Appellant immediately ran to the bathroom, closed the door, and locked it. Police officers followed appellant in hot pursuit. The toilet was heard to flush and the police kicked in the bathroom door when appellant would not open it. Appellant was found in a kneeling position on the floor "over the toilet bowl." The water was still running in the bowl. When the police tried to pick appellant up, he grabbed the toilet bowl. The police pried appellant loose from the toilet bowl. No drugs were discovered in the flushed toilet. Appellant was searched and no drugs were found but appellant had $258.25 in cash on his person.
Joe Johnson, who was at the door, was secured by force; a clear plastic wrapping containing a large quantity of crack cocaine was found in plain view behind the door; another bag of crack cocaine subsequently fell out of his pants. Several rocks of cocaine were in plain view on the coffee table in front of the male sitting on the couch. The cocaine on the coffee table was approximately three to four feet from where appellant had been standing before he fled into the bathroom.
Appellant fled the crime scene and locked himself in the bathroom and...
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Cunningham v. State
...seat. When police attempted to stop him, he ran, a circumstance which the jury could consider evidence of guilt. Lamar v. State, 216 Ga.App. 513, 514(2), 455 S.E.2d 316 (1995); State v. Grimes, 195 Ga.App. 773, 774(1), 395 S.E.2d 42 Review of the transcript reveals sufficient evidence from ......
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