Com. v. Haskins
| Decision Date | 28 June 1996 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Anthony HASKINS, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Barbara A. Zemlock, Harrisburg, for appellant.
E. Christopher Abruzzo, Assistant District Attorney, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Before DEL SOLE, POPOVICH and OLSZEWSKI, JJ.
Appellant Anthony Haskins was convicted by a jury of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of a small amount of marijuana. He was sentenced to four to ten years imprisonment and a fine of $10,000.00. This direct appeal followed. We vacate the judgment of sentence and remand for a new trial.
On appeal, Appellant raises the following issues.
(1) The trial court should have suppressed the evidence found in the car during a warrantless search.
(2) The trial court should have suppressed evidence found in a jacket in the car during a warrantless search.
(3) The trial court should have suppressed the evidence because it was the fruit of an illegal detention.
(4) The trial court should have granted a mistrial because the court told the jury about the anonymous tip the police received even though this information was not admitted into evidence.
(5) The evidence was insufficient to establish that Appellant possessed the cocaine and paraphernalia.
(6) The court abused its discretion by sentencing Appellant outside the guidelines.
Because of our disposition, we need to reach only issues one, two and five.
Between 7:00 and 7:30 in the evening on September 14, 1994, Corporal Craig LeCadre of the Community Attack on Narcotics (C.A.N.) unit of the Harrisburg police received information that an anonymous citizen had called the dispatch center to report that there was a drug dealer in the 1700 block of North 5th Street wearing a black, gray and red shirt. This person also indicated that the individual was driving a gray Volkswagen Rabbit with the license plate ANK-6080. Ten or fifteen minutes later, the same person called again. This time Corporal LeCadre spoke directly to the person and was given the same information as had been given during the first call. Around ten minutes later, two unmarked C.A.N. Unit cars arrived in the area. They drove around the area but did not find either the alleged drug dealer or the car. Eventually, one of the officers saw Appellant's car, which had the same license plate number as the caller had given. Both police cars followed Appellant to the intersection of Third and Maclay Streets where Appellant stopped at a red light. Two officers left their car and approached Appellant's car and stated that they wanted to talk to him. Appellant then proceeded through the red light and the police followed. After a brief pursuit, Appellant got out of the moving car and fled. The car ran into a parked car. A passenger was in Appellant's car. Two officers chased Appellant on foot. The other two officers stayed with the car. During the foot chase, Appellant threw away a plastic sandwich bag containing marijuana. Once Appellant was caught, one officer retrieved the bag and radioed the other officers that Appellant was apprehended and that Appellant had thrown away the bag of marijuana. The officers who were still at Appellant's car searched it. In the glove compartment, the officers found money. In the rear hatch area, the officers found $200 in cash in a sock, razor blades and ziplock bags. In the pocket of a jacket which was in the middle of the two front seats, the officers found fifty ziplock bags of cocaine.
We must first determine whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that Appellant possessed the cocaine and the paraphernalia because if the evidence is not sufficient we would have to reverse the conviction and would not need to reach any other issues. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view all the evidence admitted at trial, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Jackson, 506 Pa. 469, 485 A.2d 1102 (1984).
When contraband is not found on the defendant's person, the Commonwealth must establish "constructive possession," that is, the power to control the contraband and the intent to exercise that control. Commonwealth v. Valette, 531 Pa. 384, 613 A.2d 548 (1992). The fact that another person may also have control and access does not eliminate the defendant's constructive possession; two actors may have joint control and equal access and thus both may constructively possess the contraband. Commonwealth...
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