Robelo v. State

421 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 425, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 544
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 27, 2012
DocketNo. CA CR 11-1249
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 421 S.W.3d 329 (Robelo v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robelo v. State, 421 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 425, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 544 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DOUG MARTIN, Judge.

| ¶A Saline County jury found appellant Jomey Robelo guilty of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, and maintaining a drug premises. Robelo was sentenced to an aggregate term of thirty years’ imprisonment. On appeal, Robelo contends that there was no substantial evidence to support his convictions. We disagree and affirm.

Officer Chris Holmes with the narcotics unit of the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office testified that, on September 10, 2009, he met with a confidential informant. After searching the informant’s person and vehicle for money and contraband, Holmes provided the informant with $1,500 to purchase drugs from Robelo. Holmes then met with officers from the Benton Narcotics Unit and informed them that there would be “a buy” at Home Depot in Benton. The informant met two Hispanic males in the parking lot at Home Depot. Robelo 12was driving a gray Hyundai Elan-tra, which Holmes recognized from previous surveillance operations, while the other, unidentified male, who sat in the front passenger’s seat. Robelo, who was wearing a red shirt, got out of the vehicle and went inside Home Depot, while the informant got into the back seat of Robelo’s vehicle. When Robelo returned to the vehicle, the informant emerged from Robe-lo’s vehicle and got back into his own vehicle. Officers then followed Robelo, who led the informant to an apartment complex located at 301 South Border Street in Benton. Robelo and the informant parked in front of apartment A, but Holmes did not follow them into the parking lot because there were many other Hispanics outside the apartmént complex and he did not want to be identified and “have the whole operation blown.” Instead, Holmes pulled to the side of the apartment complex. Holmes later saw the informant as he exited Robelo’s apartment, got into his vehicle, and left the area. Officers followed the informant, who pulled over and provided the officers with an ounce of methamphetamine, which Holmes stated was consistent with the amount of “buy money” the informant was given prior to the transaction. At trial, upon questioning by defense counsel, Holmes testified that the informant did not testify because he was afraid of Robe-lo.

Later in the evening of September 10, 2009, Eli Fowlkes, a patrolman with the Benton Police Department, testified that he was instructed by his superiors to be on the lookout for the Hyundai Elantra. Fowlkes soon identified the car and observed that it crossed the center line twice and entered a turn lane without using the left turn signal. Fowlkes initiated what he characterized as a DWI stop. Robelo, the driver, provided Fowlkes with a Honduras 1¡¡license identifying him as “Jomy Robelo.” Robelo told Fowlkes that he lived at the apartment complex on South Border Street and was on his way to work.

A video of the traffic stop was played for the jury. Holmes was then called back to the stand and identified Robelo as the driver of the vehicle he saw earlier at Home Depot and noted that Robelo was wearing the same red shirt during the traffic stop.

Marco Medina, an investigator in the narcotics unit at the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office, testified that he was involved with the drug-buy operation with Holmes on September 10, 2009, which began at Home Depot and ended at the apartment complex on South Border Street. Medina further testified that he was also present on September 15, 2009, when a search warrant was executed at Robelo’s apartment by the Benton Police Department and a SWAT team. Inside apartment A, Medina found a military-style “butt pack” behind a night stand in the master bedroom. Inside the pack, which could be attached to a belt, Medina discovered a cellophane container, which held eleven baggies that contained cocaine and methamphetamine. Medina testified that, in his experience, separate baggies indicated that the drugs were for individual sale.

Investigator Ronald Davidson with the criminal investigations division at the Benton Police Department testified that he entered apartment A with a battering ram and found Robelo; his girlfriend, Rosibel Gaitan; and Robelo’s child in the den. In the apartment’s only bathroom, Davidson discovered a nail gun underneath the sink and a set of Allen wrenches sitting on top of the vanity. Davidson testified that he thought the bathroom vanity was an |4odd place to store a nail gun and observed that one of the wrenches had “wear” on it and matched the bolts on the nail gun. Davidson removed a panel on the nail gun using the wrench and found a clear plastic baggie containing methamphetamine. In the master bedroom, Davidson found another nail gun containing methamphetamine. In a shoe holder draped over the master-bedroom door, Davidson found two cell phones and seven one-hundred dollar bills inside shoes.

Lieutenant Mike Treasitti with the special investigations unit of the Benton Police Department testified that he documented items seized during the search of apartment A. Treasitti testified that he found a piece of mail in a cabinet above the refrigerator addressed to Robelo. In the master bedroom, in the top drawer of a night stand, Treasitti found a bank statement addressed to Robelo at “301 S Border St Apt A.” Another detective found a wallet in the laundry room containing identification for Robelo. Also, inside a closet in the southeast bedroom, Treasitti found a plastic canister containing small plastic baggies, which he testified are often used for packaging narcotics. Treasitti further testified that, in 2007, he had encountered Robelo at apartment A in l'esponse to a custody dispute between Robelo and the mother of his child.

Sergeant Terry Fuller with the special investigations unit at the Benton Police Department testified that a confiscation report is filed following a search and seizure. The person whose property was seized must sign his name and print his address on the form. Robelo signed the report and wrote that his address was 301 South Border Street, [^apartment A, in Benton. Fuller also testified that he measured the distance between Robelo’s apartment and several drug-free zones in the area. Fuller testified that the distance between apartment A and Angie Grant Elementary was 143 feet; Tyndall Park was 145 feet; and Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was 513 feet.

Nick Dawson, the Assistant Chief of Forensic Chemistry with the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified that the substance associated with the offense committed on September 10, 2009, was twenty-four grams of a mixture of methamphetamine and dimethyl sulfone. The substances seized on September 15, 2009, were examined separately and identified as four grams of cocaine hydrochloride mixed with levamisole; forty-eight grams of dimethyl sulfone; eleven grams of methamphetamine mixed with dimethyl sulfone; and 103 grams of methamphetamine mixed with dimethyl sulfone. Dawson testified that dimethyl sulfone is typically used as a cutting agent to dilute the drugs so that they may be sold for more money.

Robelo moved for a directed verdict, arguing that there was insufficient evidence that he exercised care, control, and management over the drugs in his apartment and that there was no proof that he knew there were drugs in the apartment. On appeal, Robelo argues that the trial court erred in denying his motions for directed verdict as to all three convictions.

A motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Walley v. State, 353 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
421 S.W.3d 329, 2012 Ark. App. 425, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robelo-v-state-arkctapp-2012.