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.

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.

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.

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