Thomas v. State
| Decision Date | 13 April 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. A93A0561,A93A0561 |
| Citation | 430 S.E.2d 849,208 Ga.App. 476 |
| Parties | THOMAS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Nancy A. Atkinson, Macon, for appellant.
Willis B. Sparks, III, Dist. Atty., R. Jeffrey Lasseter, and Howard Z. Simms, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.
Robert E. Lee Thomas was indicted for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and was convicted of the lesser included offense of possession of cocaine. He appeals.
1. Thomas claims that the trial court erred in admitting the cocaine as evidence. He argues that the state's witnesses offered differing descriptions of the evidence, thereby failing to establish the requisite chain of custody. Two arresting officers described the evidence as a clear plastic sandwich bag containing nine rocks of suspected cocaine. The expert from the state crime lab testified that the clear plastic bag she received contained two rocks of cocaine separately wrapped in corners of sandwich bags and several additional pieces of cocaine loose in the bag. She further testified that it is a policy of the laboratory not to count the number of pieces because it breaks easily. Disparities in the testimony of the witnesses are an issue for resolution by the factfinder. " Pyburn v. State, 175 Ga.App. 158, 161(10), 332 S.E.2d 899 (1985). We conclude that the trial court did not err in admitting the evidence.
2. In his second enumeration of error, Thomas asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence of the cocaine because the search which led to the discovery of the cocaine was illegal. The police received a tip from a known, reliable confidential informant specifically describing the clothing and location of an individual believed to be in possession of crack cocaine. Relying on this information, the police immediately went to the named location, quickly identified Thomas by his clothing and conducted the search which yielded the cocaine. Tips from this same informant had resulted in at least five previous arrests. Thomas argues that the tip in this case did not satisfy the "totality of the circumstances" test set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983).
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Stewart v. State
...supra at 504, 445 S.E.2d 330; see also Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983); Thomas v. State, 208 Ga.App. 476, 477, 430 S.E.2d 849 (1993); McKinney v. State, 184 Ga.App. 607, 608-609, 362 S.E.2d 65 (1987). Accordingly, we also find that the evidence support......
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Kelly v. State
...a strong showing as to the other, or by some other indicia of reliability. (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Thomas v. State, 208 Ga.App. 476, 476-477(1), 430 S.E.2d 849 (1993). Fiallo, supra at 278, 523 S.E.2d 355, involved a warrantless search and an unnamed confidential informant. Here......
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Kelly v. State, No. A04A1378.
...a strong showing as to the other, or by some other indicia of reliability. (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Thomas v. State, 208 Ga.App. 476, 476-477(1), 430 S.E.2d 849 (1993). Fiallo, supra at 278, 523 S.E.2d 355, involved a warrantless search and an unnamed confidential informant. Here......
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Allison v. State, A95A0141
...goes to the weight but does not affect the admissibility of the evidence." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Thomas v. State, 208 Ga.App. 476(1), 430 S.E.2d 849 (1993). The trial court in the present case did not err in overruling Allison's chain of custody objection and in admitting the......