Malone v. State

• Decision Date: 20 May 2016
• Docket Number: No. A16A0188.,A16A0188.
• Citation: 337 Ga.App. 178,786 S.E.2d 558
• Parties: MALONE v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

337 Ga.App. 178

786 S.E.2d 558

MALONE

v.The STATE.

No. A16A0188.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

May 20, 2016.

Michael S. Marr, Lawrenceville, for Appellant.

Daniel J. Porter, Dist. Atty., Thomas L. Williams, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Appellee.

McMILLIAN, Judge.

William Malone was convicted by a jury of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of OCGA § 16–11–131. He appealed to this Court, but his appeal was dismissed for failure to timely file his brief on appeal. Following the return of the remittitur, the trial court granted Malone's motion for out-of-time appeal and appointment of new appellate counsel. New appellate counsel filed an amended motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. Malone then timely filed this appeal, asserting in his sole enumeration of error that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. As more fully set forth below, we now affirm.

Construed to support the jury's verdict,¹ the evidence shows that at approximately 11:30 p.m. on November 20, 2013, Officer Brian Notestine with the Gwinnett County Police Department stopped the driver of a silver Mercedes, subsequently identified as Malone, because of a tag violation. Officer Notestine approached the driver's side of the vehicle and obtained Malone's driver's license. During the process of checking Malone's driver's license, which was valid, Officer Notestine discovered that there was an outstanding warrant for Malone's arrest. Officer Notestine also confirmed that at the time of the stop, Malone, who was sometimes employed as a driver for a vehicle transportation company, was driving the Mercedes from an automobile auction to an automobile dealership for his employer.

Officer Notestine placed Malone under arrest and then patted him down before placing him in the back of the police car. During the pat-down, Officer Notestine found seven .380 caliber bullets in Malone's exterior right front jacket pocket. Officer Notestine proceeded to conduct a walk-around search of the Mercedes, and looking in from the passenger side, saw a black and chrome object protruding up about two inches between the front console and seat. Officer Notestine stated that based on his knowledge, training and experience, he believed the object to be a grip of a handgun, so he opened the car door and retrieved the object, which was subsequently identified as a Lorcin model L380.

Officer Notestine cleared the weapon and found that the magazine of the gun was fully loaded with seven .380 caliber rounds. The inside of the vehicle was searched, and two more bullets were found on the floorboard of the front passenger seat, which made a total of 16 bullets recovered by police. However, only 14 bullets were introduced into evidence at trial, and Officer Notestine testified that the evidence introduced at trial was all the evidence found by police.

The owner of the transportation company and the service manager of the auction facility also testified at trial. The service manager explained that each vehicle purchased at auction is visually inspected before it is allowed to leave the auction yard, and that this inspection includes the floorboards and seats of the interior of the car as well as the trunk. The...