State v. Williams

• Decision Date: 11 January 1983
• Docket Number: No. 454A82,454A82
• Citation: 298 S.E.2d 372,307 N.C. 452
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Alexander WILLIAMS.

Page 372

298 S.E.2d 372

307 N.C. 452

STATE of North Carolina v. Alexander WILLIAMS.

No. 454A82.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Jan. 11, 1983.

Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen. by David Roy Blackwell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Barrington, Jones & Armstrong, P.A. by Carl A. Barrington, Jr., Fayetteville, for defendant-appellee.

BRANCH, Chief Justice.

A motion for directed verdict has the same legal effect as a motion for judgment of nonsuit and challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to go to the jury. State v. Glover, 270 N.C. 319, 154 S.E.2d 305 (1967). The motion presents to the Court the question of whether there is substantial evidence of each essential element of the crime charged or a lesser included offense, and the question of whether defendant was the perpetrator of the crime. "Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." State v. Smith, 300 N.C. 71, 78-79, 265 S.E.2d 164, 169 (1980); State v. Woods, 297 S.E.2d 574, at 577 (N.C.1982). If there is such substantial evidence, the motion for directed verdict should be denied. If, however, the evidence is sufficient to raise only a suspicion as to whether the offense was in fact committed or whether the accused committed the offense, the motion should be allowed. In ruling on this motion, the trial judge must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, and "the State is entitled to every reasonable intendment and every reasonable inference to be drawn therefrom." State v. Thomas, 296 N.C. 236, 244, 250 S.E.2d 204, 208 (1978).

Constructive possession exists when a person, while not having actual possession, has the intent and capability to maintain control and dominion over a controlled substance. State v. Baxter, 285 N.C. 735, 208 S.E.2d 696 (1974); State v. Spencer, 281 N.C. 121, 187 S.E.2d 779 (1972). In instant case, in order to withstand the motion for a directed verdict, the State was required to present substantial evidence that defendant (1) had either actual or constructive possession of the heroin and (2) possessed the heroin with intent to sell or deliver.

In State v. Allen, 279 N.C. 406, 183 S.E.2d 680 (1971), officers found heroin in a Fayetteville, North Carolina, residence in which the public utilities were listed in the defendant's name. Papers bearing his name were found in the bedroom where the heroin was found and there was evidence that a sixteen-year-old boy obtained heroin from the residence searched and was selling heroin at the defendant's direction. The defendant offered evidence that he was in Maryland at the time the heroin was seized and that he did not live in the residence where the seizure was made. Concluding that defendant was in constructive possession of the heroin, this Court stated, in part:

"Where narcotics are found on the premises under the control of the defendant, this fact, in and of itself, gives rise to an inference of knowledge and possession by him which may be sufficient to sustain a conviction for unlawful possession of narcotics, absent other facts which might leave in the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt as to his guilt."

Id. at 410, 183 S.E.2d at 683.

This Court applied the doctrine of constructive possession in upholding the defendant's conviction of feloniously growing and possessing marijuana in State v. Spencer, supra. In that case the evidence tended to show that 82.2 grams of marijuana were found in a pig shed located 20 yards directly behind defendant's residence and that marijuana seeds were found in defendant's bedroom. The defendant had been seen on many occasions around the outbuildings located directly behind his residence. We held that this evidence was sufficient to permit a reasonable inference that he was in constructive possession of the marijuana found in the pig shed. We further held that evidence of a path running from the shed to the cornfield, which was not adjoined by or intersected by other paths, was sufficient to support a reasonable inference that defendant was feloniously growing marijuana in the cornfield.

In the case before us, the State offered uncontroverted evidence that: (1) Defendant was seen in the yard at the residence located at 800 Deep Creek Road in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on at least four occasions within two weeks of the time the heroin was seized, one occasion being the night of 18 August 1980, or the early morning hours of 19 August 1980. (2) Two Public Works Commission bills addressed to defendant at 800 Deep Creek Road were found in the dwelling. The latest of these bills was dated 24 June 1980. (3) A trash service bill addressed to Alex Williams at 800 Deep Creek Road, dated 26 June 1980, was in the house. (4) A bottle of pills bearing defendant's name was found at the residence. (5) The mailbox...