Appeals court upholds drug dealer's conviction

A sentence handed down to a Nashville drug dealer arrested in Shelbyville was upheld by the Tennessee Court of Appeals last week.

Melvin Pearson Rucker had been sentenced to 11 years, six months after his conviction by a Bedford County jury for possession of cocaine with the intent to sell, possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver, and driving on a suspended license.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler merged the conviction on the two drug charges for the sentence and after denying a motion for a new trial, Rucker appealed the ruling, challenging whether the evidence was sufficient to support his convictions on the drug charges.

A week before his arrest, Shelbyville police detective Brian Crews received information that Rucker planned on driving from Shelbyville to Nashville for the purpose of transporting crack cocaine.

Knowing that Rucker had a suspended driver's license, Crews and Detective Charles Merlo set up surveillance on U.S. 231 North in hopes that they would apprehend him.

Pulling Rucker over, Crews told him that he was under arrest for driving on a suspended license, but when he was asked to step out of the car, Rucker "appeared nervous and started to cry."

Searching Rucker's car, the detectives found three cell phones, $385 in cash and a pill bottle containing a large rock and smaller pieces of crack cocaine -- totaling 2.9 grams.

Crews testified that a typical drug dealer keeps a large quantity of the drug to sell alone or breaks off a small part to sell in $20 or $40 "rocks." A $40 rock of cocaine would normally weigh about 0.4 grams, he said.

Tim Lane, Director of the 17th District Judicial Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, testified that in his opinion, a person carrying between 2.2 and 2.9 grams of cocaine, $385 and three cell phones would be a likely candidate for drug trafficking. Lane also stated that 2.2 grams was a large amount of cocaine for Shelbyville.

During his sentencing hearing, Rucker denied some of his prior criminal history, but Laura Prosser, the representative from the Board of Probation and Parole, testified that Rucker was out on bond for a Davidson County charge of aggravated burglary when he committed the drug offenses in Bedford County.

Rucker also had two prior convictions for possession of a weapon with the intent to go armed, a conviction for casual exchange, a conviction for possession of less than 0.5 grams of cocaine, driving on a suspended license, and reckless driving.

Crigler commented on Rucker's multiple convictions and placed "great weight" on his criminal history, also taking into account that the pre-sentence report reflected his daily use of marijuana from the age of 29 to the date of the offense, approximately three years, which Rucker also denied at sentencing. Appellate Judge Jerry L. Smith supported Crigler's determinations, noting that since the age of 19, Rucker "has been convicted of one felony and five misdemeanors and has violated probation on at least one occasion," and concluding that Crigler "properly sentenced" Rucker.