Opinion
No. COA02-871
Filed 18 March 2003 This case not for publication.
On writ of certiorari to review judgments dated 7 March 1995 by Judge Wiley F. Bowen in Wake County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 4 March 2003.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney General R. Marcus Lodge, for the State. Ligon and Hinton, by Lemuel W. Hinton, for defendant appellant.
Wake County No. 94 CRS 26524-25.
Mertune Fortune (defendant), by writ of certiorari, appeals judgments dated 7 March 1995 entered consistent with a jury verdict finding him guilty of trafficking in cocaine by possession and trafficking in cocaine by transportation.
On the morning of 21 April 1994, defendant traveled by passenger train from south Florida to an Amtrak station in Raleigh, North Carolina. He exited the train carrying a bag and began to walk toward the station's parking area. Defendant was approached by two detectives from the Wake County Sheriff's Department who asked to see defendant's ticket and identification. Defendant presented a ticket in the name of Joseph Dennis and a Florida identification in the name of Mertune Fortune. The detectives were then joined by a State Bureau of Investigation agent who led defendant into the station and obtained his consent to search the bag. The bag contained two packages of cocaine weighing 559.6 grams. Defendant was indicted for trafficking in at least 400 grams of cocaine by possession and trafficking in at least 400 grams of cocaine by transportation. Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to suppress the cocaine found in his bag. Defendant also moved to dismiss the drug trafficking charges at trial. The trial court denied both motions.
The issues are whether: (I) the trial court erred in failing to suppress the cocaine found in defendant's bag and (II) the evidence did not support a finding that the cocaine weighed at least 400 grams.
I
Defendant asserts the trial court erred in failing to suppress the cocaine found in his bag. We note that although defendant filed a pre-trial motion to suppress, he failed to object to the introduction of this evidence at trial. Defendant has therefore failed to preserve the suppression issue for review on appeal. See State v. Grooms, 353 N.C. 50, 66, 540 S.E.2d 713, 723 (2000). Moreover, defendant has not assigned or argued plain error in his brief to this Court. See N.C.R. App. P. 10(c)(4). Accordingly, his argument is not properly before us.
II
Defendant next claims the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the drug trafficking charges under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-95(h) because the evidence did not support a finding that the cocaine in his bag weighed at least 400 grams. This argument is based on a typographical error in the original stenographic transcript of the trial. The State has since submitted a motion to amend the transcript to correct the error, supported by an affidavit of the court reporter. This Court allowed the motion by order entered 17 October 2002. The corrected text now reflects SBI chemist William Christopher Stark's testimony that the cocaine seized from defendant's bag weighed 559.6 grams. Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.
As defendant's remaining assignments of error are not addressed in his brief to this Court, they are deemed abandoned. See N.C.R. App. P. 28(b)(6).
No error.
Judges HUNTER and ELMORE concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).