State v. Ray, 53466
| Decision Date | 29 March 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 53466,53466 |
| Citation | 747 S.W.2d 765 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Randy Clifton RAY, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
J. Andrew Walker, Clayton, for appellant.
William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Jared Richard Cone, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Defendant was convicted by a jury of possession of a controlled substance, § 195.020, RSMo 1986, for which he was sentenced as a persistent offender to a jail term of thirty years. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. We reverse.
On review of a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the record in the light most favorable to the State, accepting as true all evidence, and inferences therefrom, supporting the guilty verdict. State v. Barber, 635 S.W.2d 342, 343 (Mo.1982).
To sustain defendant's conviction the State must have established that defendant knowingly and intentionally possessed a controlled substance. Id. at . Possession must be intentional, although it can be actual or constructive, and defendant must know the nature of the substance he is charged with possessing. Id. Possession and knowledge may be shown by circumstantial evidence, Id. at ; however, if there is joint possession of the premises where the controlled substance was found more evidence than just defendant's presence on the premises is necessary to connect defendant to the controlled substance. Id. at 344 .
On June 9, 1986 at approximately 3 a.m., defendant was riding in the back seat of a car when it was pulled over for erratic driving. Defendant, the driver and the front seat passenger got out of the car and the car was searched. A syringe and a spoon were found laying on the backseat; a further search uncovered a piece of snowpaper (paper used to pack cocaine) underneath the rear seat. There was also a bottle cap and a spoon on the front seat, and in the glove compartment the police found another spoon and a package of brown envelopes. There was 0.04 grams of cocaine on the snowpaper, and there was a cocaine residue on the spoons and bottle cap. The syringes were not tested for the presence of cocaine. A search of defendant uncovered no drugs but defendant was carrying over $150 in cash.
There was no evidence defendant had actual possession of any cocaine. As to constructive possession, there was no evidence defendant owned the car, rode in it on a frequent basis, or even that he had been...
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