Robinson v. State

348 S.E.2d 662, 180 Ga. App. 43, 1986 Ga. App. LEXIS 2679
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided July 16, 1986·No. 72265, 72266·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinions

Beasley, Judge.

In Case No. 72265, appellant appeals from the convictions of trafficking in cocaine (OCGA § 16-13-31 (a)) and possession of marijuana (OCGA §§ 16-13-30 (j); 16-13-2 (b)). In Case No. 72266, he appeals from the denial of his motion in arrest of the cocaine judgment.

1. Appellant was charged with trafficking in cocaine by an indictment filed May 9, 1985, charging that he knowingly possessed more than 28 grams of a mixture containing cocaine on February 23. He was convicted of that offense on July 19. The contention is that the statute on which the indictment was based was repealed prior to final judgment, ending the prosecution.

An application of the rules of statutory construction leads us to find no repeal of the statute prohibiting the act for which defendant was convicted.

OCGA § 16-13-31 (a), which defines and proscribes trafficking in cocaine, was amended by an Act which took effect on July 1, 1985. Ga. L. 1985, p. 552. See OCGA § 1-3-4. The Act was described by the legislature as “An Act To amend Code Section 16-13-31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to trafficking in cocaine, illegal drugs, or marijuana and penalties for violations, so as to provide for mandatory minimum penalties upon conviction for certain violations. ...” A comparison of the before and after versions of Section 31 shows that the legislature did two things.

One, it omitted the language which embraced within this heavy quantity/heavy penalty section those 28 gram and over “mixtures” which contained some cocaine. It left them to the lower penalties prescribed for lesser amounts, i.e., “any controlled substance,” in OCGA § 16-13-30. Thus, if the defendant’s act involved a mixture of sugar, for example, and less than 28 grams of cocaine as it is statutorily defined in OCGA § 16-13-26, the defendant would be subject only to the lower penalties prescribed in Section 30. “Possession” of the controlled substance cocaine, which defendant was charged with, was in either event a crime, both before and after the 1985 amendment to [44] Section 31.

The second change was a substantial increase in the penalties, depending on the quantity of cocaine involved. While the legislature left the quantity pegs the same as the pre-amendment categories, the escalating mandatory penalties were nearly doubled, both in terms of imprisonment and fines. Thus, persons involved with 28 grams or more of the controlled substance are to be even more severely dealt with than before. As the crisis in cocaine climbs, the legislature spoke and announced that so does the cost of involvement for those with the higher quantities.

The Act, therefore, did not repeal the section describing the crime; at the end of the Act, it merely repealed the laws and parts of laws in conflict with the Act. In this connection, see Jackson v. State, 12 Ga. 1, 3 (1) (1852). Since the Act amended OCGA § 16-13-31, it can hardly be said to have repealed it. Nor did it extinguish as a crime the possession of a mixture containing cocaine, when the cocaine itself, in the mixtúre in any of its forms as described in OCGA § 16-13-26 (1) (D), weighed less than 28 grams. It merely relegated such possession to the lesser penalty statute prohibiting the possession of any controlled substance. OCGA § 16-13-30 (a).

A reading of the rest of the Act reveals that it was part of a comprehensive legislative effort to combat more effectively and stringently the influx of cocaine in this State, targeting this particular controlled substance for more concentrated treatment. In addition to the upgrading of OCGA § 16-13-31, it specifically amended the Code “so as to authorize a Special Cocaine Task Force to assist local law enforcement agencies in cocaine abuse and trafficking investigations and the apprehension of violators; to provide that the Special Cocaine Task Force shall install and publicize the number of a state-wide telephone in an effort to encourage citizens to report incidents of drug abuse and trafficking or any suspicious activity involving drug abuse and trafficking; ... to authorize a mobile cocaine education van . . . available free of charge ... to teach youths and adults about the dangers of cocaine and other controlled substances. . . .” Ga. Laws .1985, p. 552.

In construing the statute, we as a court must try to ascertain the purpose and intent of the legislature and then try to construe the law to implement that intent. Mullins v. First Gen. Ins. Co., 253 Ga. 486 (322 SE2d 265) (1984). This is a cardinal rule of statutory construction. Enfinger v. Intl. Indem. Co., 253 Ga. 185 (317 SE2d 816) (1984). Reading the statute as changed by the legislature, in the context of the other related provisions of the chapter on controlled substances, we conclude that the omission of the “mixture” language signalled the abandonment of a phrase which permitted conviction under the higher-penalty provision for a small quantity of cocaine which was [45] part of a larger quantity of an uncontrolled substance. It reassigned the act of possessing this to the coverage of OCGA § 16-13-30, for its lower penalties.

We cannot ascribe to the word “mixture” the meaning presented by the dissent. We do not know whether the legislature chose it in 1980 because of the Webster’s definition chosen by the dissent or even whether it considered it in opposition to the word “compound.” As the state’s forensic science expert testified, compounds are mixtures of different substances. There are several different meanings of the word “compound,” she said, and a mixture can be a compound. The omission of the phrase thus left within the coverage of this section “cocaine” in the many forms describing this Schedule II controlled substance in OCGA § 16-13-26 (1) (B). In one of these forms it could also be incorporated into a “mixture” in the sense that it was diluted with some uncontrolled substance such as sugar.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Robinson v. State, 348 S.E.2d 662, 180 Ga. App. 43, 1986 Ga. App. LEXIS 2679 (Ga. Ct. App. 1986).

348 S.E.2d 662 (Robinson v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Awad v. State
868 S.E.2d 219 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
State v. Omar Jamal Awad
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2020
Olevik v. State
806 S.E.2d 505 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2017)
OLEVIK A/K/A PLEVIK v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia, 2017
Nawrocki v. State
510 S.E.2d 301 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1998)
State v. Apodaca
1997 NMCA 051 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1997)
State v. Leviner
443 S.E.2d 688 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1994)
Calloway v. State
404 S.E.2d 811 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1991)
Green v. State
398 S.E.2d 360 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1990)
State v. Slavny
395 S.E.2d 56 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1990)
Riviera v. State
380 S.E.2d 353 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1989)
Todd v. State
376 S.E.2d 917 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1988)
Louis v. State
373 S.E.2d 231 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1988)
Miller v. State
361 S.E.2d 63 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)
Cook v. State
359 S.E.2d 716 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)
Hill v. State
360 S.E.2d 4 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)
Robinson v. State
354 S.E.2d 214 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)
Robinson v. State
350 S.E.2d 464 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1986)