By Catherine Hamilton and Wendy Moya
WOODLAND, CA — In a preliminary hearing here in Yolo County Superior Court Tuesday, Judge Peter Williams upheld four separate charges against Antoine Lemarc Cockerham, including possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and—after a healthy debate—the sale of the drug.
In addition to possessing methamphetamine, Cockerham faced charges on two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition by a person previously convicted of a felony. The complaints were filed July 28, 2020.
Cockerham was represented by Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson.
An officer testified they discovered a number of bags and boxes in a warehouse containing various objects, including a number of weapons, ammunition, and individually packaged bundles of a white substance the officer believed to be methamphetamine.
Though the officer is not a specially trained narcotics expert, he said he has encountered methamphetamine before on a number of occasions and thus bases his assumption that this white substance, linked to Cockerham, was methamphetamine.
PD Hutchinson suggested that, other than standard training, the officer involved had not received any special training in identifying substances and did not have the substance tested.
The individual packages of the substance were inside of another bag which the officer weighed. The gross weight of the bag was 24.9 grams. However, the individual bags of the substance themselves were not weighed.
The fact that the substance was distributed into individually wrapped bundles suggested that they were indeed intended to be sold, charged the prosecution, and at one point, Judge Williams stated, “What else could it have been?”
Despite Hutchinson’s attempt to discredit the witness’ extent of knowledge on controlled substances, Judge Williams sustained that Cockerham was in possession of methamphetamine with the intent to sell. Cockerham’s arraignment, prior to jury trial, is Oct. 12.
