Farmer v. State

• Decision Date: 08 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-3163,90-3163
• Citation: 588 So.2d 1051
• Parties: Clarence FARMER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. 588 So.2d 1051, 16 Fla. L. Week. D2881
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1051

588 So.2d 1051

Clarence FARMER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 90-3163.

588 So.2d 1051, 16 Fla. L. Week. D2881

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

Nov. 8, 1991.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, David P. Gauldin, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Charles T. Faircloth, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, Clarence Farmer, appeals his conviction for possession of cocaine. We affirm the conviction, and, in doing so, address appellant's argument that the evidence on which the conviction is based is legally insufficient to establish constructive possession of cocaine.

Appellant was the driver of a car driven to a parking lot in the 400 block of North Macomb St., Tallahassee. The parking lot was under the surveillance of a Tallahassee police officer. In the car with appellant were two passengers. The officer observed the two passengers exit the vehicle and engage in what he believed to be illegal drug transactions. As the two were conversing, one would walk to another area, return walking quickly, displaying what he had in his hand to the other, then walk to the car to show the objects, described by the officer as "whitish rocks," to the driver, appellant. Appellant stayed in the car during this period, and, at one point, took from one of the other men what appeared to be some whitish rocks, briefly inspected them, and returned them to the men. The passengers were observed exchanging money for the whitish rocks. Eventually, the two men got back into the car and drove off with appellant at the wheel.

Upon signal from the undercover officer, appellant's vehicle was pursued by a City of Tallahassee police cruiser. The pursuing officers observed the right front passenger throw eight to ten small objects from the window of the moving vehicle. After the vehicle was stopped, another officer saw what later proved to be three rocks of cocaine on the right front passenger's seat, near the leg of the passenger, in plain view. No other cocaine was found in the vehicle or in the possession of the other occupants of the car. A subsequent search led to the recovery of a number of pieces of crack cocaine thrown from the moving vehicle.

To establish appellant's constructive possession of cocaine, the state was required to prove three essential elements: (1) appellant's dominion and control over the contraband; (2) appellant's knowledge that the contraband was within his presence; and (3) appellant's knowledge of the illicit nature of the contraband. Brown v. State, 428 So.2d 250 (Fla.1983), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1209, 103 S.Ct. 3541, 77 L.Ed.2d 1391 (1983). On the present facts, the only prong of...