# FILED
September 9, 1998 Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate C ourt Clerk IN THE COURT OF CRIMI NAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT KNOXVILLE JUNE 1998 SESS ION

STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) ) Appellee, ) No. 03C01-9710-CR-00484

) ) McMinn County v. ) ) Honorable R. Steven Bebb, J udge ) JAMES A. BROWN, ) (Three c ounts of s

ale of le ss than o ne-half ) gram of cocaine) ) Appellant. ) For the Appellant : For the Appellee : Charles M. Corn John Knox Walkup District Public Defender Attorney General of Tennessee 110 1⁄2 Washington Avenue and Athens, TN 37303 Clinton J. Morgan Assistant Attorney Gener al of Tennessee 425 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, TN 37243-0493 Jerry N. Estes District Attorney General and Amy Reedy Assistant District A

ttorney General P.O. Box 647 Athens, TN 37303

OPINION FILED:____________________

AFFIRMED Joseph M. Tipton Judge2 O P I N I O N
The defendant, James A. Brown, appeals as of right from his convi ctions following a bench trial

of three counts of the sale of less than one-half gram of cocaine. The defendant, a Range II, multiple of fender, was sentenced to six years for each offense, to be served concurrentl y in the custody of the De partment of Correction. On appeal, the defendant contend s that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions. We affirm the judgments of conv iction.
Heather Morris, an undercover drug agent for the Athens Police Department, testified that she began preparing fo r an undercover drug operation in Athens in July 1996. She tes tified that as part of her preparat ion, she was requir ed to look through a box of photog raphs containing pictur es of the people from whom she was likely to pur

chase drugs during the operation. She stated that she w as required to look at these photographs ev ery day throughout the operation. She further stated th at she became familiar with the defendant’s face by looking at h is photograph. She testified that before she bought drugs on each occa sion, her partner, Detective Bill Matthews, would drive through the area to see who was standing outside. She said that she would then meet Detective Matthews at a near by park where she w

ould put on an electronic recording device to record the dr ug transactions.

Officer Morris testified that on August 9 and 14, and September 27, 1996, she drove down Kilg ore Street in Athens and stopped w hen she saw the defendant standing on the street. She s tated that she asked the defendant for “a hund red,” meaning one hund red dolla rs worth of crack coca ine. She s aid that she then drove around the block while the defendant went inside a house to get the d rugs. She said that she then drove up to the defendant, and he handed her the drugs. She testified that a friend of the defendant’s, Paul Moss , was also present w hen the transactions3

took place. She made a positiv e identification of the defendant in court . The tape recordings of the three tr ansactions were introd uced into evidence at tri al.

On cross-examination, Officer Morris admitted that there were other black males present in the area when she mad e the drug t ransactions that were of the same build as the defendant. She stated that she could not remember what th e defendant was wearing during any of the three transactions. She also admitted that before beginning her preparati on for the undercover operati on, she had difficulty disting uishing among black males.

Detective Bill Mat

thews testified that he w orked with Officer Morr is on the undercover drug operat ion. He testified that before Officer Morris would attempt t o make a purchase, he would dr ive through the area to see if there was any potent ial drug activity a nd to see who was “out front,” meaning who was selling cocaine that night. He stated that the defendant appeared to be selling coca ine on all three occasions when the drug transactions took place. He said that he had known both the defendant and the defendant’s friend, Paul Moss , for several years.He testified that he had no trouble distinguis hing between them because the d efendant was tall and muscular, whereas Paul M oss was heavyset.He stated that he monitored the electronic recording

of the transactions. He admitted on cross-examination tha t sometimes th ere would be nume rous black males outside when he wou ld drive through the area.

The defendant testified that once when he w as walking on Kilgore Street, Officer Morris approached him and asked for some “yeh,” a slang term for cocaine. He stated that he continued walking. The defendan t also stated that he saw Officer Morris on Kilgore Street on Aug ust 9, the night of the first dr ug transaction. He state d that he did not sell drugs to Officer Morris on that night or any other occasion. He testified that4

the voice on the tapes of the tra nsactions was not his. He stated that the reason he was standing outside i n the area was because he w as addicted to cocaine and w as looking to purchase cocai ne for his own personal use.

The trial court found the defendant gui lty of three counts of the sale o f less than one-half gram of cocain e. The defendant was sentenced to thr ee six-year sentences to be served concurrently. The defendant argues tha t the evidence is insufficient to support his conv ictions. Specifically , the defendant argues that the identification of the defendant by Officer Morris was not cr edible.

Our standard of review when the sufficiency of the ev idence is questioned on appeal is "whether, after v iewing the evidenc

e in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any

rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements o f the crime beyond a reasonable doubt ." Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979). This means that w e do not reweigh the ev idence, but presume that the jury has resolv

ed all conflicts in the test imony and drawn all r easonable inferences from the evidence in favor of the s tate. See State v. Sheffield , 676 S.W.2d 542, 547 (Tenn. 1984); State v. Cabbage , 571 S.W.2d 832, 83 5 (Tenn. 1978). Although this case involved a bench t rial, the findings of the tri al judge who conducted the proceedings carry the same weight as a jur y verdict. State v. Tate , 615 S.W.2d 161, 162 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1981).

Viewing the evidenc

e in a light most favorabl e to the state, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support the def endant’s convictions. Officer Morris testified that she became familiar w ith the defendant’s face by study ing his photograph before the dr ug transactions , and she testif ied unequivocally th at she purchase d drugs from the defendant. Detective Matt hews, who had known the defendant for several years, testified that the defendant appeared to be selling drugs when he surveyed the5

area before the drug transacti ons took place. We hold that the evidence i s sufficient to support the defendant’s convictions.

In consideration of the foregoing and the record as a whole , we affirm the defendant’s judgments of convicti on.

______________________________ Joseph M. Tipto n, Judge

CONCUR:

_____________________________ John H. Peay, Judge

_____________________________ David G. Hayes, Ju dge