State v. Foye
| Citation | 600 SE 2d 520 |
| Decision Date | 06 July 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. COA03-549,COA03-549 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US) |
| Parties | STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. NATASHA RENEE FOYE. |
This case not for publication
Guilford County No. 00 CRS 106379.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General John P. Scherer II, for the State.
C. Orville Light for defendant appellant.
Defendant Natasha Renee Foye was convicted at the 19 September 2002 Criminal Session of Guilford County Superior Court of the charge of trafficking in cocaine by transporting 400 grams or more. Defendant received a sentence of a minimum of 175 months to the maximum 219 months and a fine of $250,000. In an earlier trial, a different jury was unable to render a verdict on the trafficking charges. Prior to that earlier trial, a suppression hearing was held by the Honorable James M. Webb, Superior Court Judge, concerning evidence seized from a car defendant was driving immediately prior to her arrest. Judge Webb's order concluded the evidence was admissible, and it was used for the conviction now on appeal. The State's evidence tended to show the following: On 9 October 2000, Sergeant Rick Smith of the Greensboro Police Department contacted Detective Kyle Shearer (Detective Shearer) of the same department's Vice and Narcotic Unit concerning a suspicious traffic accident report. At the accident site, officers found a ballistics vest, weapons, and a small amount of marijuana. A person involved in the accident, Walter Lamar Watkins (Watkins), was arrested for narcotics. Watkins resided at 128D Walnut Circle located in the Bent Tree Apartments complex in Greensboro.
Based on this information, on 10 October 2000, Detective Shearer went to the Bent Tree complex looking to locate a white Infiniti alleged to have been involved in the accident. Detective Shearer circled the lot and noted a silver Mercedes Benz close to Watkins' address. This car caught Detective Shearer's attention as an expensive car in an area where some of the residents were federally subsidized. The Detective ran the Mercedes' tags and the car came back as registered to Roderick Brunson (Brunson) of Eden, North Carolina. He also discovered Brunson had a suspended driver's license and pending narcotics charges in New York. The Detective then left for the day.
In the morning briefing of 11 October 2000, Detective Shearer asked other narcotic and vice officers whether they knew of Brunson or narcotic sales at the Bent Tree complex. Detective John Sturm (Detective Sturm) informed Detective Shearer that there was an ongoing investigation in conjunction with Forsyth County Sheriff's Department of a subject by the name of Demetrius Dudley (Dudley)who was believed to be selling controlled substances from the Bent Tree Apartments complex. Detective Sturm suggested this may be part of a larger drug operation originating out of Martinsville, Virginia. Detective Shearer contacted law enforcement agents in Virginia and learned that Brunson had a Virginia address.
On 12 October 2000, Detective Shearer went back to the parking area of the Bent Tree Apartments and observed a four-door, burgundy, Nissan Maxima parked near building 128 of the complex and registered with Virginia tags to James A. Martin (Martin). Martin had a Martinsville, Virginia, address. Detective Shearer also observed Brunson exit building 132 of the complex and walk to the Nissan, open the trunk, and then walk to his Mercedes, enter it, and drive away. Detective Shearer tried to follow him, but lost him.
On the night of 17 October 2000, Detective Shearer assisted Detective Sturm with a narcotics transaction utilizing an informant from the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department and involving one kilogram of cocaine which was to be received by Dudley. Detective Shearer was assigned surveillance duties for the night transaction. Dudley was observed behind a carwash, not washing his car, as the driver of a Buick drove up and appeared to meet with him. The driver than drove to 107 Walnut Street, on the same block as Bent Tree Apartments. Detective Shearer observed Brunson arrive at that same address in the previously observed Nissan. Brunson then drove to the area behind the carwash, appearing to meet with Dudley. Detective Shearer then followed Brunson as he drove to building 132of the Bent Tree complex. Brunson got out of the Nissan, and approaching his Mercedes, stopped a sports utility vehicle (SUV). He exchanged something with the driver. The SUV then left, and Brunson got in his Mercedes and drove away. Dudley was observed returning to Bent Tree Apartments in his SUV, and walked into one of the buildings. Sometime shortly thereafter, he left in the same SUV to go to a Blockbuster Video parking lot. This is where the transaction with the informant was set to take place. Dudley was arrested and found in possession of approximately one kilogram of cocaine. His residence at Bent Tree Apartments was then searched and another kilogram was seized.
On 19 October 2000, Detective Shearer returned to the Bent Tree complex for surveillance believing he might see something similar to the Dudley transaction. Driving through the parking lot, he saw a man in a Lexus coupe with Virginia tags parked in front of one of the complex's buildings. Brunson then exited building 132 and approached the Lexus. The man in the Lexus got out, talked to Brunson, and then they both returned to building 132. After five minutes, the two men exited carrying a white shopping bag containing some object. Brunson got in his Mercedes and the other man in the Lexus. The two cars drove in tandem and Detective Shearer followed. He called for back-up believing another narcotics transaction was about to take place. The two cars drove to a gas station, purchased no gas, but parked close together to talk. The cars then split-up. The Lexus first went to a Harris Teeter parking lot, then a Chic-Fil-A, where the driver wentinside, purchased nothing, but observed the parking lot from the glass entry. He then returned to his Lexus, drove back to the Harris Teeter lot and waited for 15 or 20 minutes. At this point, Detective Shearer's back-up arrived and they were briefed. Detective Shearer and the officers now on the scene saw a white Cadillac operated by a female pull in the Harris Teeter lot. The car's high beams flashed twice. The Lexus pulled in closely behind the Cadillac, and the cars traveled closely through the lot. After they stopped, Brunson got out of the passenger side of the Cadillac, walked back to the Lexus, and got in the passenger's side. The Cadillac left the area, and Detective Shearer asked two of his supporting officers to stop the driver based on his observations of Brunson's previous activities. The two supporting officer's stopped the Cadillac, and asked defendant driver for her license and registration. Upset and crying, she said she did not have any. When asked to step out of the car, she asked if she was in trouble. She then sat on the curb, crying. Upon request by the supporting Officer Kroh, she gave permission to search the Cadillac, nodding her head and saying "yeah." A bag of approximately half a kilogram of what was later determined to be cocaine was seized from the floorboards of the backseat on the passenger's side of the car. In a subsequent consent search of an apartment listed in defendant's name, detectives found money, ziploc baggies, a weapon, and personal items of defendant.
Defendant raises three issues on appeal: first, defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error in denyingdefendant's motion to suppress evidence that was confiscated from the stop of the Cadillac; second, that the trial court erred in permitting testimony of a State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) agent as to the identity of the objects seized from the Cadillac, when the agent did not perform the identifying test; and (3) lastly, the trial court erred in charging the jury that defendant need not know that she was transporting more than 400 grams of cocaine to find her guilty of trafficking. For the reasons stated hereunder, we overrule all assignments of error.
Defendant contends that there was no rational basis for the officers, under the command of Detective Shearer, to stop defendant driving the Cadillac. Thus, defendant argues evidence procured as a result of the unlawful stop is inadmissible under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment guarantee against illegal searches and seizure. We disagree.
The applicable standard in reviewing a trial court's determination on a motion to suppress is that the trial court's findings of fact "are conclusive on appeal if supported by competent evidence, even if the evidence is conflicting." State v. Eason, 336 N.C. 730, 745, 445 S.E.2d 917, 926 (1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1096, 130 L. Ed. 2d 661 (1995). Any conclusions of law reached by the trial court in determining whether defendant was lawfully stopped "must be legally correct, reflecting a correct application of applicable legal principles to the facts found." State v. Fernandez, 346 N.C. 1, 11, 484 S.E.2d 350, 357 (1997). Weafford the trial court great deference in its findings as it "sees the witnesses, observes their demeanor as they testify and by reason of his more favorable position, he is given the responsibility of discovering the truth." State v. Smith, 278 N.C. 36, 41, 178 S.E.2d 597, 601, cert. denied, 403 U.S. 934, 29 L. Ed. 2d 715 (1971). Our position is much less favored in questioning findings of fact as we see only a cold, written record. Hence the findings of the trial judge are, and properly should be, conclusive on appeal if they are supported by the evidence. State v. Barnes, 264 N.C. 517, 142 S.E.2d 344 (1965); State v. Moore, 275 N.C. 141, 166 S.E.2d 53 (1969); State v. Wright, 275 N.C. 242, 166 S.E.2d 681, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 934, 24 L. Ed. 2d 232 (1969). In determining whether the findings of fact sustain the trial court...
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