Estrada-Nava v. State

771 S.E.2d 28, 332 Ga. App. 133
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 19, 2015
DocketA14A1822; A14A1958; A14A2004
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 771 S.E.2d 28 (Estrada-Nava 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
Estrada-Nava v. State, 771 S.E.2d 28, 332 Ga. App. 133 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Miller, Judge.

Following a joint jury trial, Juan Manuel Estrada-Nava, Fernando Padilla-Chavez, and Carlos Humberto Duron (collectively, the “Defendants”) were convicted of trafficking in cocaine (OCGA § 16-13-31 (a) (2009)). The Defendants appeal from the denial of their motions for new trial, contending that the trial court erred in admitting evidence obtained from an illegal wiretap; the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions; and the evidence was insufficient to prove venue. Discerning no error, we affirm their convictions.

On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence. We do not weigh the evidence or resolve issues of witness credibility, but merely determine whether the evidence was sufficient to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

(Citation omitted.) Liger v. State, 318 Ga. App. 373, 373-374 (734 SE2d 80) (2012).

So viewed, the evidence shows that as part of a long-term investigation, the Atlanta High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (the “HIDTA Task Force”) received authorization to wiretap Duron’s cell phone. In 2009, based on the intercepted phone calls, HIDTA Task Force officers believed that Duron was brokering a sale of ten kilograms of cocaine to take place on August 13. From the information gathered from the wiretap of Duron’s phone, police officers expected that the purchasers of the drugs would provide the sellers with a green Dodge Dakota equipped with hidden compartments that the sellers would load with drugs and return to the purchasers. The transaction would take place at a QuikTrip gas station located off Indian Trail Road in Gwinnett County.

HIDTA Task Force officers set up surveillance at the gas station on the afternoon of August 13. Police officers observed Estrada-Nava arrive at the gas station in a green Dodge Dakota. Shortly thereafter, a black Ford F-150 arrived. Javier Zarate-Calleja exited the F-150 and went inside the store. Estrada-Nava also went inside the store. When Zarate-Calleja exited the store, he directed Victor Ortega Valdovinos, who had arrived in a red Chevrolet Tahoe, to park in [134]*134between the Dakota and the F-150. Valdovinos then exited the Tahoe and got into the Dakota. At this time, Estrada-Nava exited the store. Estrada-Nava got into the Dakota and remained there for a few minutes before getting into the Tahoe.

Valdovinos then drove the Dakota to the seller’s stash house in Lilburn. While the Dakota was at the stash house, the seller called Duron because the individuals at the house needed help opening the vehicle’s two hidden compartments. The seller also told Duron that they did not want the buyers to put the money in the Dakota’s hidden compartments because these compartments were difficult to open. The seller then advised Duron that the Dakota would be driven to La Cazuela, a restaurant located on Indian Trail Road about a mile from the gas station, and the buyers could retrieve the Dakota at the restaurant.

Soon thereafter, Duron called Zarate-Calleja and directed him to go to La Cazuela because the Dakota was about the leave the stash house. At that point, Estrada-Nava left the gas station in the Tahoe and drove to La Cazuela. Shortly thereafter, Zarate-Calleja and a driver arrived at the restaurant in the F-150. Estrada-Nava then exited the Tahoe and entered the restaurant. When Valdovinos arrived at the restaurant, Estrada-Nava exited the restaurant, and he exchanged vehicles with Valdovinos. Estrada-Nava left La Cazuela, Zarate-Calleja followed in the F-150, and Valdovinos left in the Tahoe, headed in a different direction.

Estrada-Nava and Zarate-Calleja subsequently met at a Nor-cross residence. Zarate-Calleja called Duron to notify Duron that he was going to test the quality and quantity of the cocaine. A short time later, Zarate-Calleja left the Norcross residence, riding as a passenger in the F-150. Zarate-Calleja called Duron and advised that he thought he was being followed by law enforcement officers. Zarate-Calleja also informed Duron that he had one kilogram of cocaine with him, while the rest of the cocaine was in another vehicle. Zarate-Calleja stopped at a strip mall, and he and Duron discussed either hiding the kilogram of cocaine or having someone meet Zarate-Calleja to take it. During this time, police officers observed Zarate-Calleja walk in and out of several businesses and go in and out of the vehicle.

When the F-150 began to leave, officers moved in, blocked the vehicle, and arrested the driver. Zarate-Calleja was not in the vehicle, but officers found him a short distance away and arrested him. Police officers searched the F-150 and found items consistent with testing narcotics, such as a digital scale, a cutting board, a glass jar, and a razor knife. The scale tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Police officers then searched the area for the kilogram of cocaine, and [135]*135found it in a QuikTrip bag, along with items that Zarate-Calleja had previously bought at the QuikTrip gas station.

At the same time that Zarate-Calleja left the Norcross residence, Padilla-Chavez drove away in the Dakota. State Troopers were summoned to the area to conduct a stop, but they were unable to arrive in time. About thirty minutes later, a State Trooper stopped the vehicle and conducted a search with the assistance of other police officers. They found the hidden compartments and, while they did not find any cocaine in the vehicle, a drug dog alerted to the residual odor of cocaine.

Police officers subsequently obtained a warrant to search the Norcross residence, where they encountered and arrested EstradaNava, but did not find any drugs or money. Police officers also obtained and executed a search warrant on the Lilburn stash house, where they arrested Valdovinos and recovered $559,679 in cash, the Tahoe, 103 kilograms of cocaine, packaging material, plastic wrap, a money counter, and a small amount of crack cocaine.

Some of the cocaine recovered from the Lilburn stash house had packaging markings identical to markings found on the kilogram of cocaine recovered at the strip mall where Zarate-Calleja was arrested. The one kilogram of cocaine recovered at the strip mall had a purity of 73.8 percent. A composite sample taken from the cocaine recovered from the stash house had a purity of 73.5 percent.

1. On appeal, all three Defendants contend that the trial court erred in admitting evidence obtained from the wiretap because the superior court’s order granting the wiretap warrant authorized the warrant to be executed outside of its judicial circuit, in contravention of Luangkhot v. State, 292 Ga. 423 (736 SE2d 397) (2013). Luangkhot held that

in the absence of any state statute expressly granting superior courts the authority to issue wiretap warrants that apply outside their own judicial circuits,... current state law vests the authority to issue wiretap warrants only in those superior courts of the judicial circuits in which the tapped phones or listening post are located.

Id. at 428 (4).1

[136]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
771 S.E.2d 28, 332 Ga. App. 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estrada-nava-v-state-gactapp-2015.