Kester Ansel Marcus v. Commonwealth

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Coleman, Willis and Bray
Argued at Norfolk, Virginia
KESTER ANSEL MARCUS
v. Record No. 1307-94-1 MEMORANDUM OPINION *
BY JUDGE SAM W. COLEMAN III
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA JULY 5, 1995
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF HAMPTON
John D. Gray, Judge
Terry N. Grinnalds for appellant.
Robert B. Beasley, Jr., Assistant Attorney General
(James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on brief),
for appellee.
Kester Ansel Marcus appeals his conviction for distribution
of cocaine. The sole issue on appeal is whether the evidence is
sufficient to support the conviction. For the reasons that
follow, we affirm the conviction.
Police officers executed a search warrant at the home of
James Jordan for evidence from a robbery. After knocking and
receiving no answer, the officers entered the house. They
observed Kester Ansel Marcus, the appellant, running toward a
back room. He ran into a bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Detective Lawrence Nisley followed Marcus, kicked open the door,
and found Marcus standing against a bathroom window clutching to
his chest an open aspirin bottle that contained cocaine residue.
Detective Nisley found nine packs of United States currency on
*
Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not
designated for publication.
Marcus, including eight packs containing $100 and one pack
containing $65. In the front room, the officers found James
Jordan seated with a "plate" of cocaine on his lap. A bottle cap
that fit the aspirin bottle which Marcus held was on the floor
beside Jordan.
At trial, Jordan testified that when the police entered the
room, Marcus "threw" the plate of cocaine onto Jordan's lap and
ran for the bathroom. Jordan testified that Marcus had made at
least three sales of cocaine from the house on that day. Jordan
testified that he allowed Marcus to sell cocaine from his home
because he (Jordan) owed money to one of Marcus' "partners" and
felt like he had no choice.
Patsy Griggs, an "acquaintance" of Marcus, testified that
she had purchased $50 worth of cocaine from Marcus at Jordan's
house earlier that day and that there were nine or ten people in
the house "just selling and buying cocaine."
On appeal we view the evidence in the light most favorable
to the Commonwealth and grant to it "all reasonable inferences
fairly deducible therefrom." Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216
Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975). In reviewing the
sufficiency of the evidence, we discard all evidence of the
accused that conflicts with that of the Commonwealth and we
regard as true all credible evidence favorable to the
Commonwealth. Lea v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 300, 303, 429
S.E.2d 477, 479 (1993). The credibility of the witnesses and the
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weight assigned to their testimony are matters exclusively for
the fact finder. Cappola v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 243, 252, 257
S.E.2d 797, 803 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1103 (1980);
Swanson v. Commonwealth, 8 Va. App. 376, 379, 382 S.E.2d 258, 259
(1989).
Jordan testified that Marcus made at least three cocaine
sales on the day he was arrested. Griggs testified that she
personally purchased cocaine for $50 from Marcus. When the
officers entered the dwelling, Marcus took flight, entered a
bathroom, and closed himself in. In his possession was a bottle
containing cocaine residue and $865 in packaged bills. The
evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Marcus distributed
cocaine.
Affirmed.
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