Opinion
No. COA03-414
Filed 2 December 2003 This case not for publication
Appeal by defendant from judgments filed 12 October 2001 by Judge Peter M. McHugh in Guilford County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 19 November 2003.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Marc Bernstein, for the State. J. Clark Fischer for defendant-appellant.
Guilford County No. 00 CRS 110813.
Anthony Leon Williams (defendant) appeals the judgments filed 12 October 2001 entered consistent with a jury verdict finding him guilty of trafficking in cocaine by possession and trafficking by transportation under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-95(a) and of possession of cocaine with intent to sell and deliver under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-95(h)(3)(a).
The State presented evidence tending to show that shortly before midnight on 4 December 2000, Officers J.M. Golden and T.D. Moore of the Greensboro Police Department stopped a vehicle that was displaying an expired license tag. As the officers prepared to walk toward the stopped vehicle occupied by two people, the passenger of the stopped vehicle got out of the vehicle and began to walk toward a house. The passenger, identified as defendant, ignored the officers' orders to return to the vehicle. Instead, defendant ran away from the officers. Officer Golden chased defendant and apprehended him. While retracing the path of defendant's flight, Officer Golden and a canine officer found on the ground a large bag containing a substance later determined to be 106.1 grams of cocaine.
At trial, the State asked Officer J.M. Golden for an estimated street value of cocaine. Defendant objected to the question, and the trial court overruled the objection. Golden testified, "Usually a rough estimate is a hundred dollars per gram."
The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence regarding the street value of the cocaine. Defendant argues the evidence was not relevant, and that any relevance was outweighed by its prejudicial and inflammatory effect.
Here, the charges against defendant included trafficking in cocaine by possession and trafficking by transportation. Evidence of the street value of the cocaine is "both helpful and relevant in showing defendant intended to distribute the narcotics and was therefore engaged in trafficking in cocaine." State v. McCoy, 105 N.C. App. 686, 690, 414 S.E.2d 392, 395 (1992) (rejecting the defendant's claim that evidence of the value of cocaine was not relevant and was unduly prejudicial when the defendant was charged with trafficking in cocaine by possession and by transportation). Therefore, the trial court properly admitted such evidence. See id.
No error.
Chief Judge EAGLES and Judge LEVINSON concur.