09/16/2022 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs September 13, 2022 STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RYAN BENITO CALDERON SOTELO Appeal from the Circuit Court for Maury County No. 2019-CR-27828 Stella L. Hargrove, Judge ___________________________________ No. M2021-01269-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________ Defendant, Ryan Benito Calderon Sotelo, was convicted after a jury trial of the sale of twenty-six grams or more of cocaine and subsequently sentenced to twelve years in confinement. On appeal, Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that his sentence is excessive. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., and KYLE A. HIXSON, JJ., joined. William C. Barnes, Jr., Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ryan Benito Calderon Sotelo. Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Courtney N. Orr, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Brent A. Cooper, District Attorney General; and Jonathan W. Davis, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION Factual and Procedural History This case arises from a July 12, 2018 controlled drug transaction conducted in Spring Hill. The Maury County Grand Jury subsequently indicted1 Defendant for the sale of twenty-six grams or more of cocaine, a Class B felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-17- 408(b)(4), -417(a)(3), (c)(1) (2018). At trial, the “criminal informant” (CI) testified that he had previously been charged in Georgia with driving under the influence, domestic violence, and possession of a firearm. When the CI lived in Georgia, he met police officers while working at a restaurant; an officer asked the CI to work as an informant because the CI spoke Spanish, and the CI agreed. After the CI moved to Tennessee, he continued working as a CI with Tennessee police. The CI stated that the police paid him well and that he made more money as a CI than he did working in the restaurant. The CI was trained by the police to purchase drugs, including the “language” and the “clues” of drug transactions. The CI testified that on the morning of July 12, 2018, he bought drugs from Defendant. He noted that he had previously purchased drugs from Defendant’s “boss.” The CI met with Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) agents an hour before the sale, during which the agents searched the CI and his car and gave him $3,200 with which to buy three ounces of cocaine. They also gave the CI two cameras disguised as a cell phone charger and a cell phone with which to record the transaction. The CI drove his car to meet Defendant at the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant. The CI testified that during the transaction, he told Defendant to count the money; however, Defendant did not count the money because an unrelated police officer stopped nearby distracted him. The CI noted …
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