Richards v. StateRichards v. State
Defendant Richards appeals his conviction of the offense of trafficking in cocaine. Held:
1. Defendant enumerates as error the admission into evidence of four of the State’s exhibits over defendant’s objection as to the chain of custody. Three of the exhibits at issue are quantities of cocaine.
The fourth exhibit is a receipt and return receipt for registered mail. The registered mail receipt and return receipt were distinct and recognizable objects due to their ten digit alpha-numeric identification number. Thus, no chain of custody was required to be proven in regard to this exhibit.
Elder v. State,
The three exhibits consisting of cocaine, which were seized at the Atlanta airport, were placed in a heat-sealed plastic bag which was stamped and signed by one of the officers who had participated in the seizure, with another officer signing as a witness. Thus packaged, the three cocaine exhibits were kept in a safe until taken to the United States Post Office and sent by registered mail to a crime laboratory operated by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami, Florida. At the crime laboratory the samples were tested by a chemist who received the sealed plastic bag from an evidence custodian whose signature was found on the registered mail return receipt as agent of the addressee crime laboratory. The chemist testified that the plastic bag did not appear to have been opened and resealed prior to her receiving it and explained such tampering would probably be apparent on *147 visual inspections of the plastic bag due to changes in the size of the bag or appearance of a seam.
Defendant’s chain of custody argument rests upon three issues. First, the failure of the State to show the physical custody of the three cocaine exhibits as they were taken from the United States Post Office in Atlanta to the crime laboratory chemist in Miami. Secondly, a discrepancy in the weight of one of the cocaine exhibits as weighed in Atlanta and in Miami. And, finally, the fact that two law enforcement officers each testified that they had mailed the exhibits.
“The items seized were fungible, and where the State seeks to introduce evidence of a fungible nature, it must show a chain of custody which is adequate to preserve the identity of the evidence.
Terry v. State,
In view of the evidence as to the tamper-resistant nature of the materials and procedures used to send the cocaine exhibits by registered mail, and the absence of evidence of tampering, it appears to a reasonable certainty that the evidence which reached the crime laboratory chemist is the same as that which was seized. Although there was a discrepancy between the recorded weights of one exhibit sent to and received by the laboratory, the laboratory receiving a weight approximately one ounce greater than was recorded as sent, there is no evidence suggesting that this was caused by tampering or that it was anything other than a weighing or recording error. Similarly, it is obvious that one of the two officers who testified that he mailed the exhibits has faulty recollection on this point. In summation, none of the points argued by defendant amounts to evidence of tampering or cast sufficient doubt on the identity of the exhibits to amount to a broken chain of custody. See generally
Boyer v. State,
2. Defendant contends the trial court erred in its charge to the jury on circumstantial evidence by failing to charge the jury that circumstantial evidence must exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except the guilt of the accused. Apparently, defendant would have
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had the trial court charge the exact language of
Judgment affirmed.