State v. Blagg

• Decision Date: 11 June 2021
• Docket Number: No. 261A20,261A20
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Charles BLAGG

858 S.E.2d 268

STATE of North Carolina

v.Charles BLAGG

No. 261A20

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Filed June 11, 2021

Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, by Nicholas R. Sanders, Assistant Attorney General, for the State-appellee.

Sean P. Vitrano, Wake Forest, for defendant-appellant.

MORGAN, Justice.

¶ 1 In this appeal, we consider whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss a charge of possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine. In the trial court as well as in the Court of Appeals, defendant argued that the evidence presented by the State, while sufficient to support a charge of possession of methamphetamine, was insufficient to send to the jury the greater charge of possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine. The majority of the Court of Appeals disagreed with defendant's position and found no error in his trial and conviction. Viewing the evidence adduced at trial in the light most favorable to the State and considering the totality of the circumstances presented in this case, we hold that the evidence here was sufficient to withstand defendant's motion to dismiss the greater charge and to permit the jury to resolve the question of whether the State met its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant possessed methamphetamine with the intent to sell or deliver. Accordingly, we affirm the majority decision of the lower appellate court.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

¶ 2 According to evidence presented at trial in this case, on the evening of 4 January 2017, Darrell Maxwell, a detective with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, joined two other deputies in the surveillance of a residence in Weaverville that had been the subject of complaints of illegal drug activity. Maxwell observed a vehicle arrive at the residence and park in the driveway. The detective then saw a man exit the vehicle and enter the surveilled home. Due to the encroaching darkness of the evening, Maxwell did not see the individual leave the residence, but after about ten minutes, Maxwell saw the lights of the vehicle illuminate as it departed from the driveway. Maxwell followed the vehicle in his unmarked patrol car, and after witnessing the vehicle cross the double yellow center line on a portion of the road described by the detective as a "blind curve," Maxwell initiated a traffic stop by activating his patrol car's blue lights. Defendant, who was identified by Maxwell as the operator of the vehicle he stopped, acknowledged having crossed the double yellow center line when Maxwell explained to defendant the reason for the traffic stop. Maxwell obtained defendant's driver's license, performed a records check, and then asked defendant to exit defendant's vehicle so that Maxwell could perform a pat-down of defendant's person. Defendant consented to the pat-down, during which Maxwell discovered a pocketknife.

¶ 3 By this point in the traffic stop, Deputy Jake Lambert, a K-9 handler with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, had arrived on the scene to assist. Maxwell asked defendant whether defendant had any contraband in his vehicle,¹ and Maxwell specifically named several controlled substances, including methamphetamine and marijuana. Defendant denied the presence of any such illegal drugs. When Maxwell asked defendant if Maxwell could search defendant's vehicle, defendant replied, "not without a warrant." Maxwell asked Lambert to employ the K-9 to conduct an open-air sniff of defendant's vehicle, while Maxwell issued defendant a warning citation for the traffic infraction. Lambert's K-9 alerted to defendant's vehicle in a manner which was consistent with the detection of the presence of controlled substances.

Lambert consequently began to conduct a search of the vehicle and discovered a bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine in the center console of the vehicle. After handcuffing defendant and placing him under arrest, Maxwell collected all of the apparent drug-related items found in defendant's vehicle, including one large bag and several smaller bags of a white crystalline substance; a bag of a leafy green substance which Maxwell believed to be marijuana; a baggie of cotton balls; several syringes; rolling papers; and a lockbox or "camo safe"² containing, inter alia , several smoked marijuana blunts and a number of plastic baggies. Upon defendant's arrest, Maxwell informed defendant of his Miranda rights. Defendant then offered to provide information about "Haywood[ County]’s most wanted," a woman whom defendant claimed was involved in heroin trafficking and whom defendant represented that he was supposed to meet.

¶ 4 On 10 July 2017, defendant was indicted on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana paraphernalia, and the attainment of habitual felon status. Defendant's case came on for trial during the 9 January 2018 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Buncombe County, Judge Gary M. Gavenus presiding. Defendant failed to appear when his case was called for trial, and as a result, his jury trial was conducted in absentia.

¶ 5 At trial, the State offered evidence from three witnesses: Maxwell, Lambert, and Deborah Chancey, a forensic analyst with the State Crime Lab. With regard to the charge of possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine, Chancey rendered expert testimony at trial that the white crystalline substance in the large plastic baggie was methamphetamine and that its weight was 6.51 grams. Maxwell testified that he had five years of law enforcement experience which was specifically focused on drug investigations. He further testified that a typical methamphetamine sale for personal drug use was usually between one-half of a gram to a gram, such that the tested amount of methamphetamine recovered from defendant's vehicle was somewhere between six and thirteen times the typical single use quantity. Maxwell also testified that he and Lambert had weighed two of the smaller baggies of the white crystalline substance on the date of defendant's arrest and measured the weights of those respective quantities—bags included—at 0.6 and 0.9 grams. The total weight of the methamphetamine and the untested crystalline substances recovered from defendant's vehicle was over 8 grams.

¶ 6 During his trial testimony, Maxwell opined that the baggies recovered from defendant's vehicle were consistent with those employed in drug sales. He and Lambert both acknowledged at trial that they did not recover cash from defendant's person or from defendant's vehicle, nor any cutting agents, scales, or business ledgers during the search of the vehicle. Both law enforcement officers also acknowledged that there was no evidence which they discovered during the vehicle search that would indicate that defendant was a high-level actor in the drug trade. With the admission into evidence of the lockbox or "camo safe" and its contents, which included an unspecified number of plastic baggies consistent with the illegal sale of controlled substances, the jury was able to observe and to consider the number of plastic baggies as well as the other items which were recovered from defendant's vehicle. At the close of the State's evidence, defendant moved to dismiss the possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine charge because the search of his person and his vehicle yielded "no cash, no guns, no evidence of a hand to hand transaction[,] ... [n]o books, notes, ledgers, money orders, financial records, documents, ... [and n]othing indicating that [defendant] is a dealer as opposed to a possessor or user[.]" Defendant also moved to dismiss the possession of marijuana paraphernalia charge and the charge of maintaining a vehicle. The trial court granted defendant's motion to dismiss the possession of marijuana paraphernalia charge but denied defendant's motion to dismiss the charge of possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine. Defendant did not present any evidence and renewed his motion to dismiss the possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine charge. The trial court again denied the motion.

¶ 7 On 11 January 2018, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on the charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and having attained habitual felon status. The trial court sentenced defendant on 29 January 2018 to concurrent sentences of 128 to 166 months and 50 to 72 months in prison. Defendant gave notice of appeal in open court.

¶ 8 Before the Court of Appeals, defendant argued that the State did not prove that he had the intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine. The panel of the lower appellate court was divided on this question, with the majority rejecting defendant's position. State v. Blagg , 271 N.C. App. 276, 277, 843 S.E.2d 684 (2020). In reaching this result, the Court of Appeals majority considered the various circumstances relevant to defendant's intent and noted that defendant

had more than six times, and up to 13 times, the amount of methamphetamine typically purchased. While it is possible that [d]efendant had 13 hits of methamphetamine solely for personal use, it is also possible that [d]efendant possessed that quantity of methamphetamine with the intent to sell or deliver the same. This issue is properly resolved by the jury.

Moreover, the evidence also tended to show that [d]efendant had just left a residence that had been under surveillance multiple times for drug-related complaints. Defendant also admitted that he had plans to visit an individual charged with trafficking drugs. While [d]efendant's actions may be wholly consistent with an individual obtaining drugs for personal use, the jury could also reasonably infer that he had the intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine because of the quantity of drugs, the other circumstantial evidence,

...