By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

A Fayette County jury took only 15 minutes Monday afternoon to convict a man on drug charges after a day-long trial.

Gary Sheppard Jr. was sentenced by Judge Ben Miller to 25 years to serve after his conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Prosecutors pointed out during the sentencing phase that Sheppard had been arrested in Atlanta on the same charge a year before his Fayette County arrest, and that this was his second drug conviction.

Defense attorney Kevin G. Ryan, who said afterward that he was not happy with the outcome of the case, mentioned the possibility of an appeal more than once during various objections he made during the trial.

A narcotics agent with the Fayette County Sheriff's Department testified that a confidential informant helped set up a meeting the night of Feb. 12, 1998 at the Greenway store at the corner of Ga. highways 138 and 314 at the northern end of the county.

According to the agent's testimony, he arrived at the store looking for a person matching a specific physical description and driving a Toyota Camry. The car was seen parked near the pay phones in the parking lot, with Sheppard, who matched the description, and an unidentified woman inside the car.

The agent testified that he found a bag, filled with about a dozen smaller bags of what he believed to be crack cocaine, stuffed one of the socks Sheppard was wearing. The woman was not in possession of any drugs and was released at the scene.

Under cross-examination by Ryan, whose earlier motion to suppress testimony concerning the arrest was denied, the agent said that the informant had not been used by him either before or since this incident. He also testified that Sheppard had told him at the scene the drugs were not his, and no fingerprints from the small bags had been obtained.

Other witnesses presented by the prosecution included a detective with the Sheriff's Department who was the evidence custodian at the time of the arrest. He testified as to specific procedures concerning the handling and storing of evidence at the Sheriff's Department, as well as transporting it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's state crime lab.

A forensic chemist with the state crime lab testified as to the testing procedures for determining the types of drugs found by police.

After the prosecution rested, Ryan called no witnesses and moved directly to his closing argument. He moved for a directed verdict on the grounds that “sloppy” crime lab procedures still left some question as to whether the evidence was actually crack cocaine, and that there was insufficient evidence in all to meet the appropriate standards. Judge Miller denied the motion.

There was a question raised by Ryan about whether Judge Miller incorrectly stated in his charge to the jury that the burden of proof rested with the defendant instead of with the state. Judge Miller restated that portion of his charge after the jury returned, but it was agreed that a return to the jury room for further deliberations was not necessary.

During the short sentencing hearing, after the previous drug conviction was entered into the record, Judge Miller suggested that Sheppard had learned “absolutely nothing” from his earlier arrest.

“It's fairly obvious that you are, at least part-time, in the drug business,” the judge said to Sheppard just before passing down his sentence.