Buckner v. State
321 Ga. App. 715
Ga. Ct. App.2013Background
- Buckner was convicted of trafficking in MDMA under OCGA § 16-13-31.1(l) after a car stop on I-75 in Spalding County.
- A deputy observed Buckner following a truck too closely; Buckner appeared nervous and testified he and his girlfriend were church people.
- A drug dog alerted to the driver’s side door; two deputies found 490 MDMA pills weighing 142.84 grams.
- Buckner volunteered that his girlfriend knew nothing about the drugs; he offered to be an informant for leniency.
- Buckner signed a statement claiming the girlfriend had nothing to do with the pills, but claimed later the officers coerced him; portions of video of the stop were played at trial.
- Buckner challenged the admissibility of his statements, the equal access jury instruction, trial counsel’s effectiveness, and the sufficiency of the evidence.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voluntariness hearing for statements was required | Buckner | Buckner | No reversible error; waiver; plain error not applied in 2008 trial. |
| Equal access instruction warranted? | Buckner | No evidence of girlfriend’s access to drugs; no presumption of possession | Not required; no error. |
| Ineffective assistance of counsel | Buckner | Counsel failed to pursue suppression and preservation | No ineffective assistance; strategic reasons supported. |
| Sufficiency of evidence to prove possession and trafficking | Buckner | Insufficient proof and sampling issue | Evidence sufficient; sampling of pills supports trafficking conviction. |
Key Cases Cited
- Gamble v. State, 235 Ga. App. 777 (Ga. App. 1998) (voluntariness hearing not required absent challenge to use of statement)
- Williams v. State, 291 Ga. 501 (Ga. 2012) (plain error review limited for pre-2013 trials)
- Durham v. State, 292 Ga. 239 (Ga. 2012) (plain error review limited for pre-2013 trials)
- State v. Johnson, 280 Ga. 511 (Ga. 2006) (equal access defense when no ownership presumption)
- Salinas v. State, 313 Ga. App. 720 (Ga. App. 2012) (representative sampling suffices for trafficking conviction)
- Rochefort v. State, 279 Ga. 738 (Ga. 2005) (sampling of representative pills supports conviction)
- Prather v. State, 293 Ga. App. 312 (Ga. App. 2008) (evidence supports possession, reasonable alternative hypotheses rejected)