An Ashley County man serving a prison sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver failed Wednesday to convince the Arkansas Court of Appeals that he was wrongly convicted.
Derrick Antoine Wilson contended on appeal that Circuit Judge Sam Pope erred when he refused to suppress the cocaine that was found in his vehicle but the Appeals Court said Pope was correct.
The court ruling said Wilson was stopped at a sobriety checkpoint set up by the Arkansas State Police on April 10, 2010. When Wilson was unable to produce a driver’s license, the trooper gave Wilson’s name and date of birth to dispatchers who reported that Wilson’s license was suspended.
The trooper ordered Wilson to step out of his vehicle and patted him down for officer safety, then asked for permission to search the vehicle and Wilson reportedly gave his consent. Three plastic bags containing cocaine were found in the vehicle.
The trooper also testified that although he specifically did not recall telling Wilson he had a right to refuse to consent to the search, believed Wilson had done so because it was the trooper’s habitual practice to inform people of their right to refuse to consent, he said.
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Wilson was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On appeal, Wilson challenged both the constitutionality of the search and the evidence of his granting consent to the search, but during the trial, Wilson’s defense attorney said he believed the checkpoint was legal because the state police had a written plan outlining their duties and responsibilities at the checkpoint.
Regarding the claim that Wilson did not consent to the search, Appeals Court Judge John Mauzy Pittman said, “even if we had concluded that the state failed to prove that (Wilson) consented to the search, we would not reverse because (Wilson) cannot show that he was prejudiced by admission of the cocaine found in his vehicle.”
Pittman said Wilson testified during his trial that “he was addicted to cocaine and that he had stolen the cocaine from a drug cache earlier that day.”