Aguilera v. State

740 S.E.2d 644, 320 Ga. App. 707, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 970, 2013 WL 1165386, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 262
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 22, 2013
DocketA12A2218
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 740 S.E.2d 644 (Aguilera v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aguilera v. State, 740 S.E.2d 644, 320 Ga. App. 707, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 970, 2013 WL 1165386, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 262 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Branch, Judge.

Anselmo Duarte Aguilera was tried by a Gwinnett County jury and convicted of trafficking in cocaine.1 He now appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial, asserting that the trial court erred [708]*708in admitting certain hearsay evidence and that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. We find no error and affirm.

On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer entitled to a presumption of innocence, and we therefore construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s guilty verdict. Martinez v. State, 306 Ga. App. 512, 514 (702 SE2d 747) (2010). So viewed, the record shows that in 2008 and 2009 a joint task force, made up of both federal and state law enforcement authorities, was conducting an investigation into a large drug trafficking organization operating in the metropolitan Atlanta area. A major target of the investigation was Soccoro Hernandez-Rodriguez, known as “Soco,” a high-level member of the organization.

The task force was able to obtain a warrant to tap Soco’s cell phone; all calls coming to and being made from that number were monitored and, if the call pertained to drug-related activity, the conversation was recorded and transcribed. On October 16 or 17, 2009, the task force received information indicating that Soco was expecting a large shipment of drugs. In response to this information, agents set up surveillance in the area of Indian Trail and Dickens Roads in Gwinnett County on October 17, the location being chosen based upon the GPS coordinates of Soco’s cell phone and the fact that one of his “stash houses”2 was located in that area. Shortly before 2:00 p.m., the task force intercepted a phone call to Soco from another drug trafficker, known only as Titin. A transcript of that call was introduced at trial and read for the jury During the call, the men negotiated Titin’s purchase of two kilograms of cocaine from Soco.3 Titin indicated that he would have a runner4 pick up the drugs, and Soco told him that the runner should meet Soco at a Shell gas station located at the intersection of Indian Trail Road and 1-85. The men also agreed that the drugs would be exchanged via a vehicle swap, meaning that after Titin’s runner arrived at the designated location, Soco would trade cars with him, leave, and return with drugs in the [709]*709runner’s car. The men would then swap vehicles a second time, and Titin’s runner would leave with the drugs, without ever actually having handled them.5 Soco and Titin further agreed that Titin would pay Soco for the drugs at a later time.

After hearing this call, the task force immediately placed surveillance teams in the area of the Shell station. Task force agents observed a green Honda Element parked at the gas station and occupied by two Hispanic males, neither of whom exited the car for a period of approximately 25 minutes. Aguilera was later identified as the driver of the Honda, and his co-defendant was identified as the passenger.

At 2:01 p.m., agents intercepted a call that Titin placed to Soco, informing him that “[t]he guy will be there in ten short minutes.” Approximately 15 minutes later, Titin called Soco again and told him “[t]he guy is there. Write down the number .. Titin then provided Soco with a telephone number. A little more than half an hour after that call, Soco received a phone call from an unidentified male who informed Soco that he was at the Shell station and asking Soco where he should go from there; Soco responded that the man should wait for him at the gas station. A short time later, agents observed a black Toyota Célica, in which Soco was riding as a passenger, pull into the parking lot of the Shell station. At about this same time, the task force intercepted a phone call from Soco to the telephone number used by the unidentified male, during which Soco identified his car and told the male that he should follow Soco’s car. Agents at the scene observed the Toyota wait as Aguilera pulled the Honda out of its parking space to follow the Toyota. Both cars then proceeded onto Indian Trail Road, with the Honda following behind the Toyota.

The two cars drove a short distance to a small shopping center that was located less than a mile from Soco’s Dickens Road stash house. Both cars parked at the shopping center and the drivers and passengers all exited their vehicles. Agents then observed Soco and Aguilera in a “face-to-face” conversation, with Aguilera’s co-defendant standing next to him. Soco and his driver then entered the Honda and drove it away from the shopping center. After waiting a few minutes, Aguilera drove the Toyota to the back of one of the shopping center’s businesses. Approximately nine minutes later, Soco and his driver returned with the Honda. The men then switched cars for a second time; Aguilera and his co-defendant left in the Honda, and Soco and his driver left in the Toyota.

[710]*710When the Honda left the shopping center, task force agents followed it as it entered onto 1-85. After traveling several miles, Aguilera and his co-defendant apparently began to suspect they were being tailed, as Aguilera exited 1-85 and began to drive the car erratically, in an apparent attempt to evade the agents. Aguilera eventually drove the car into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, where he and his co-defendant abandoned it and ran into a nearby bowling alley. Officers located both men in the bowling alley, and after they returned Aguilera and his co-defendant to the Honda, two drug dogs performed a free air sniff around the car. The dogs indicated that narcotics were present in the back of the car, behind the driver’s seat. Agents then opened the car and found a grocery bag on the floor behind the driver’s seat that contained a cereal box. Inside the box were two packages of cocaine, each weighing approximately one kilogram.

Following the discovery of the cocaine, Aguilera and his co-defendant were arrested. During a search of his person incident to arrest, agents discovered that the co-defendant was carrying a cell phone that was assigned the phone number from which the previously unidentified male had called Soco. In the phone’s contact list, agents found stored the phone numbers of both Soco and Titin. During their search of Aguilera, agents found the keys to the Honda and a cell phone. The phone number assigned to Aguilera’s cell phone was the same number that Titin had given to Soco as the contact number for Titin’s “guy” waiting at the gas station. Stored in the phone’s contact list was Titin’s phone number.

During an interview following his arrest, Aguilera denied any knowledge of the cocaine and told police that he had been instructed to pick up the Honda from a business on Indian Trail Road and drive it to a Mexican restaurant on Roswell Road, near 1-285. Aguilera, however, could not explain to police how he had gotten to Indian Trail Road to pick up the Honda, could not say who had sent him to retrieve the Honda, and claimed not to know the name of his passenger.

Two days after Aguilera’s arrest, the task force concluded its investigation by arresting approximately 45 individuals associated with this particular drug trafficking operation, including Soco. At the time of his arrest, Soco had in his possession the cell phone from which the intercepted calls were made and received. Stored in the contacts of Soco’s cell phone was Aguilera’s phone number, under the name Gua D Titin.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
740 S.E.2d 644, 320 Ga. App. 707, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 970, 2013 WL 1165386, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aguilera-v-state-gactapp-2013.