Thompson v. The State

• Decision Date: 29 January 2008
• Docket Number: No. A07A2413.,A07A2413.
• Citation: Thompson v. The State, 657 S.E.2d 296, 289 Ga. App. 387 (Ga. App. 2008)
• Parties: THOMPSON v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

657 S.E.2d 296

289 Ga. App. 387

THOMPSON v. The STATE.

No. A07A2413.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

January 29, 2008.

Appeal from the Superior Court, Chatham County, Morse, J.

Emory B. Bazemore, for Appellant.

Spencer Lawton, Jr., Dist. Atty., Isabel M. Pauley, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Appellee.

JOHNSON, Presiding Judge.

A jury found Reginald Thompson guilty of selling cocaine. Thompson appeals, alleging the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict. We find no error and affirm Thompson's conviction.

On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to support the jury's verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, this Court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.¹ "Resolving evidentiary conflicts and inconsistencies, and assessing witness credibility, are the province of the factfinder, not this Court."² As long as there is some evidence, even though contradicted, to support each necessary element of the state's case, this Court will uphold the jury's verdict.³

Viewed in this light, the evidence at trial showed that Thompson sold an undercover agent "an off-white, rock-like substance [that] appeared to be cocaine." The substance was later analyzed at the state crime lab and returned with a positive finding for cocaine. As the undercover agent drove away, he radioed two other agents who were at the motel, but out of sight of the transaction. He told the agents that he had bought cocaine from two men, who he described in detail, in the area of rooms 123 and 148. The two agents immediately moved to the scene and saw Thompson's co-defendant standing in front of room 123. They detained the codefendant a few minutes until the undercover agent returned and identified the co-defendant and Thompson as the men from whom he had purchased the cocaine. In addition, the drug transaction was audio recorded by the undercover agent, and the audio tape was admitted into evidence and published to the jury.

In a three-paragraph argument, Thompson contends the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of selling cocaine to an undercover agent because "no rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Thompson cites Code Section 16-1-5, which provides that every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that a crime must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but he does not offer any facts supporting his contention that the state failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Here, the undercover agent identified Thompson as the individual who sold him the cocaine...