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Zeeman v. State5/16/2001
Ru-014
Following a bench trial, Noah Zeeman was convicted of possessing cocaine in violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. On appeal, he challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence. For reasons that follow, we affirm.
In reviewing the trial court's decision on a motion to suppress, we construe the evidence "most favorably to uphold the findings and judgment of the trial court; the trial court's findings on disputed facts and credibility are adopted unless they are clearly erroneous and will not be disturbed if there is any evidence to support them."
Viewed in this manner, the evidence shows that two undercover police officers, Massey and Jones, arrested Zeeman early one morning at a gas station. Prior to the arrest, they observed Zeeman walking away from a car at the gas pumps toward the station's convenience store with an object in his hand. As Zeeman approached the store, he stopped another individual and, according to Massey, "there appeared to be some sort of transaction between the two." Although the officers could not see exactly what transpired, Massey observed "some physical contact there between the two of them in a conversation." Jones testified that the two men met, spoke briefly, and Zeeman seemed to reach toward the other man. Zeeman and the other individual then went in separate directions. Both officers suspected that Zeeman had been involved in a drug transaction.
The officers also noted that Zeeman appeared to be intoxicated. Massey stated that Zeeman "wasn't walking well. He was in a wobbly state. When he was returning [to his car], I could see his eyes, which [were] . . . ind of like spacey looking. . . . Intoxicated, he appeared to be. . . . Very unstable looking in the eyes." Jones similarly recalled that Zeeman "appeared to be intoxicated or on drugs."
Because of the suspected drug transaction and Zeeman's apparent intoxication, the officers decided to question him. Massey testified that he decided to approach Zeeman in part because he was concerned about Zeeman driving away from the gas station under the influence of alcohol or drugs. As Zeeman got into his car, Massey walked up, identified himself, and placed his hand on Zeeman's still-open car door. Massey then looked down at the door's inside handle and saw "three small zip lock type bags with some sort of white residue in them or light colored residue."
Massey estimated that he has investigated hundreds or possibly over one thousand narcotics cases. In all cases in which he found a suspected controlled substance in this type bag, the substance turned out to be an illegal drug. Jones, who has handled several hundred drug cases, saw the bags after Massey seized them. He testified that cocaine is commonly found in small plastic bags similar to these.
After discovering the bags, Massey arrested Zeeman. He then searched Zeeman's car and found two more bags with residue, a syringe "with some sort of liquid still in it," a glass cylinder containing a metal fiber and burned residue, and a length of wire with burned residue on one end.
Zeeman moved to suppress the evidence found in his car, arguing that the officers had no grounds to detain him, arrest him, or search the car. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion. It found that "the officers stopped [Zeeman] with reasonable, articulable suspicion and the resulting search of [Zeeman's] car was legal." We find no error in the trial court's ruling.
1. A police officer may conduct a brief investigatory stop when, under the totality of the circumstances, the stop is "justified by some objective manifestation tha
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