Lester v. State
| Decision Date | 04 February 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 2D04-1319.,2D04-1319. |
| Citation | 891 So.2d 1219 |
| Parties | William A. LESTER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Allyn M. Giambalvo, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Katherine Coombs Cline, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
William A. Lester appeals his conviction and sentence for possession of cocaine and argues the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal. We agree and reverse.
The essential facts are undisputed. On March 18, 2003, Lester was driving a car with Vanessa Schenkel in the front passenger seat. Lester drove to a location in St. Petersburg that is well-known for drug activity. Unbeknownst to Lester and Schenkel, a police officer was at that location watching a man sell narcotics to people in passing cars. The officer observed Lester's car drive up and saw an exchange between the front seat passenger and the seller. The seller had a small object in his hand, he gave it to the passenger, and the passenger gave currency to the seller. The officer did not see any activity by the driver.
The officer radioed other officers, who stopped Lester's car within three blocks of the location of the exchange. One of the officers went to the passenger side of the car, where Schenkel was sitting, and saw three small bulges in one of her socks. The officer testified that based on his years of experience, he knew the bulges were three pieces of crack cocaine. He asked permission to search Schenkel, and she agreed. He went to her sock and removed the crack. Schenkel handed to the officer two crack pipes that she had concealed in her pants.
With Lester's consent, one of the officers searched Lester and his car. The officer did not find any drugs or other contraband, but he found in the glove compartment a bag containing a new Brillo pad. Lester admitted that he had purchased the Brillo pad. The officer testified that Brillo is often used in crack pipes as a filter and that both pipes seized from Schenkel contained pieces of Brillo. Although Lester initially denied having any knowledge of Schenkel's intent to purchase drugs or that the above transaction involved the purchase of drugs, he ultimately admitted that he had smoked crack the day before, that Schenkel had just received a check and was going to buy crack cocaine, and that he intended to partake and smoke the cocaine.
Our review of the trial court's denial of Lester's motion for judgment of acquittal is de novo. Pagan v. State, 830 So.2d 792, 803 (Fla.2002). As we have previously stated:
A motion for judgment of acquittal is designed to challenge the legal sufficiency of the evidence. If the State presents competent evidence to establish each element of the crime, a motion for judgment of acquittal should be denied. A trial court should not grant a motion for judgment of acquittal unless the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the State, fails to establish a prima facie case of guilt.
State v. Odom, 862 So.2d 56, 59 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (citations omitted).
Because there was no evidence of Lester's actual possession of the crack cocaine, the State had to prove constructive possession in order to sustain a conviction for possession of the cocaine. See Isaac v. State, 730 So.2d 757, 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999)
. To prove constructive possession, the State had to prove that Lester had "dominion and control over the cocaine, was aware of its presence, and knew of its illicit nature." Id.; see also Odom, 862 So.2d at 58-59.
Our decision in State v. Snyder, 635 So.2d 1057 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), is instructive regarding cases involving constructive possession. There, an information charged Snyder with possession of methamphetamine. Snyder filed a motion to dismiss, alleging that he met a friend, Parker,...
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In re Thomas
...and constructive possession. Compare United States v. Cooper, 203 F.3d 1279, 1286 (11th Cir. 2000), with Lester v. State, 891 So. 2d 1219, 1220-21 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2005). Moreover, in July 2002 the respondent was sentenced to probation after entering a guilty plea to a charge of cocaine......
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Taylor v. State
...of an identifiable odor of a controlled substance. See, e.g., Culver v. State, 990 So.2d 1206 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008); Lester v. State, 891 So.2d 1219 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Hill v. State, 736 So.2d 133 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999); see also Earle, 745 So.2d at Because the State proved all the essential ele......
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Robinson v. State, 1D05-3046.
...cocaine and the drug paraphernalia, the State had to prove constructive possession to sustain the convictions. See Lester v. State, 891 So.2d 1219, 1220 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). "Proof based entirely on circumstantial evidence can be sufficient to sustain a conviction in Florida." Orme v. State,......
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Pizzo v. State
...the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the State, does not present a prima facie case of guilt. Lester v. State, 891 So.2d 1219, 1220 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). In this case, the State charged Mrs. Pizzo with organized fraud in violation of section 817.034(4)(a), Florida Statutes......