People of Michigan v. Jermaine Marcel Agee

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 2024
Docket365843
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Jermaine Marcel Agee (People of Michigan v. Jermaine Marcel Agee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Jermaine Marcel Agee, (Mich. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED June 13, 2024 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 365843 Wayne Circuit Court JERMAINE MARCEL AGEE, LC No. 22-001023-01-FH

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: MURRAY, P.J., and RIORDAN and D. H. SAWYER*, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals as of right his jury trial convictions of two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iii) (50 grams or more, but less than 450 grams), and one count of keeping or maintaining a drug house, MCL 333.7405(1)(d). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises out of the Detroit Police Department’s (“DPD’s”) continued surveillance and execution of a search warrant at a residential property. Multiple times during surveillance of the property, Officer Wallace Richards observed people drive up to the property and stay for only one minute. Defendant would exit, conduct “hand-to-hand” transactions without having long conversations, and return inside.1 A few days before executing the search warrant, Richards observed the home for about 15 minutes and saw four people arrive simultaneously but separately enter the property, stay for less than one minute, and leave. A team of officers executed a search warrant, and when they entered the property they found defendant sitting with two other men,

1 DPD officers referred to transactions defendant made at the property as “hand-to-hand” transactions, which they described as transactions where currency was physically exchanged for a tangible item. ________________________

*Former Court of Appeals judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment. -1- whom the officers had never seen perform hand-to-hand transactions at the property, sitting in the living room. These two men resided at the property.

The officers seized four sandwich bags containing substances believed to be cocaine from the living room coffee table, but these substances were never tested and confirmed to be narcotics. Sandwich bags containing similar substances were found on the kitchen table, but were also never tested. Officers seized from a kitchen table a large silver scale and a small black and green scale containing a white residue. A black leather backpack was found on a chair at the kitchen table in front of where the scales were seized, and a DPD printable E-ticket with defendant’s name, driver’s license number, and date of birth was found inside the backpack.

Officers also recovered from the kitchen table knotted sandwich bags and a container with the bottom cut out and narcotics placed inside. The narcotics in the container were tested and identified as 70.37 grams of cocaine, and 184.51 grams of fentanyl. The parties stipulated to the weight of these seized narcotics at trial. Two firearms were seized from the second floor of the property. Small green Ziploc bags, which “were definitely for distribution,” were also seized.

Finally, Sergeant Jeffrey Banks, who supervised collection of all evidence during the raid, testified a total of $10,619 in cash was seized at the property. From defendant’s pants pocket $1,760 in cash was seized and comprised of smaller denominations, such as $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills. Officers also seized about $8,700 in cash from inside the backpack. The bills in the backpack were in larger denominations—mostly $20, $50, and $100 bills. Defendant was arrested at the scene because Richards identified defendant as the individual he saw conducting hand-to-hand transactions during surveillance of the property, and was the subject of the search warrant. The officers theorized the other men who resided at the property were allowing defendant to deal from the house in exchange for a free supply of narcotics, as this was a common practice among drug dealers and users.

Together, the DPD officers who searched the property had almost 40 years of experience in the Narcotics Enforcement Unit, and were trained to identify narcotics, materials used for packaging and distributing narcotics, and locations where narcotics would be stored and trafficked. The officers testified the cash found at the property was likely proceeds from narcotics sales, the Ziploc bags seized were likely used to package narcotics for individual sale, and the firearms were likely used to ward off theft of large amounts of cash or narcotics. And, despite not establishing whether defendant resided at the property, the officers explained it was typical for sellers to sell from others’ homes or abandoned homes to keep law enforcement from finding them. According to the officers, it was rare for a seller to sell narcotics out of the same home they lived in.

After being convicted, defendant was sentenced, as a fourth-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.12, to 25 to 40 years’ imprisonment for each count of possession with intent to deliver, to run concurrently, and time served for his conviction of keeping or maintaining a drug house. Defendant now appeals his convictions.

-2- II. ANALYSIS

A. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Sufficiency-of-the-evidence arguments are reviewed de novo. People v Osby, 291 Mich App 412, 415; 804 NW2d 903 (2011). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution to “determine whether a rational trier of fact could find that the essential elements of the crime were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v Alter, 255 Mich App 194, 201-202; 659 NW2d 667 (2003). When an appellate court reviews the evidence supporting a conviction, factual conflicts are also to be viewed in a light favorable to the prosecution. People v Wolfe, 440 Mich 508, 515; 489 NW2d 748 (1992), amended 441 Mich 1201 (1992). “The standard of review is deferential: a reviewing court is required to draw all reasonable inferences and make credibility choices in support of the jury verdict.” People v Nowack, 462 Mich 392, 400; 614 NW2d 78 (2000). “Circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences arising from that evidence can constitute satisfactory proof of the elements of a crime.” Id. (quotation marks and citation omitted).

“In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, [we] must view the evidence—whether direct or circumstantial—in a light most favorable to the prosecutor and determine whether a rational trier of fact could find that the essential elements of the crime were proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v Johnson, 340 Mich App 531, 548; 986 NW2d 672 (2022) (quotation marks and citation omitted). “[We] must defer to the fact-finder’s role in determining the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses.” People v Bennett, 290 Mich App 465, 472; 802 NW2d 627 (2010). In addition, “conflicts in the evidence must be resolved in favor of the prosecution.” Id. (quotation marks, citation, and alteration omitted). “Circumstantial evidence and any reasonable inferences that arise from such evidence can constitute satisfactory proof of the elements of a crime.” Johnson, 340 Mich App at 548 (quotation marks and citation omitted).

1. MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iii)

Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions because not all substances seized from the property were tested, and the prosecution never called an expert witness to testify about the contents of the recovered substances. He also argues the prosecution failed to establish a sufficient nexus between him and any controlled substances found at the property.

MCL 333.7401(1) and MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iii) state:

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People of Michigan v. Jermaine Marcel Agee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-jermaine-marcel-agee-michctapp-2024.