State v. Young

• Decision Date: 05 May 1993
• Docket Number: No. 24734-KW,24734-KW
• Citation: 618 So.2d 1149
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Denny Dewitt YOUNG, Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 1149

618 So.2d 1149

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Denny Dewitt YOUNG, Appellant.

No. 24734-KW.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

May 5, 1993.

Rehearing Denied June 17, 1993.

James R. Phillips, Asst. Indigent Defender, Bossier City, for appellant.

Richard Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, James M. Bullers, Dist. Atty., Whitley R. Graves, Asst. Dist. Atty., Benton, for appellee.

Before NORRIS, VICTORY and BROWN, JJ.

VICTORY, Judge.

Defendant, Denny Young, filed this writ application following his convictions for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Because the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant was in possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia, we reverse the convictions and vacate the sentences imposed.

FACTS

The evidence at trial consisted entirely of the testimony of three police officers. On May 8, 1992, Sergeant Lott of the Bossier City Police Department obtained a search warrant for a residence located at 1169 Dudley Street. Officers set up surveillance of the residence at about 8:00 p.m. Soon after surveillance began, James "Bubba" Commander and Evelyn Renee Scott were observed leaving the residence, but returned soon thereafter. Later, Gary Bailey arrived at the premises for a short time, and then Bailey, Commander and defendant left. They stayed gone for approximately thirty minutes to an hour, after which time Young was dropped off at the residence. Bailey and Commander later returned to the residence, arriving well before the search warrant was executed.

Officers executed the search warrant at 1:12 a.m. on May 9, 1992. They encountered both Bailey and Commander in the living room; the defendant was found asleep in a bedroom. In plain view on the living room floor near Bailey and Commander, officers found a plastic tray containing marijuana, a plastic baggie containing marijuana partially concealed under a love seat, and marijuana cigarette butts and "roach clips". A syringe and three needles were found inside a bathroom cabinet and under the bathroom sink. There was no marijuana or drug paraphernalia seized from the person of the defendant, or in the bedroom where he was sleeping.

Evelyn Scott appeared on the scene after the search warrant had been executed. She told police that she rented the residence, that both Commander and Young lived there, and Young had been staying there for two to three weeks. Scott claimed to have purchased the marijuana, but it had been delivered to the residence at an unspecified time by someone she would not name.

At trial when asked if he had found any evidence to connect Young to the marijuana found in the residence, Officer Lott testified that it was clear to him that marijuana had been smoked in the residence over a period of time because the odor upon entering the residence was not overwhelming, as it would be if the officers had entered while it was being smoked. Lott also testified that Young was "glassy-eyed," and appeared "awkward or unstable" and that his speech was "slurred, loud, joking."

In finding Young guilty of possession of marijuana, the judge stated:

Every day or two I buy a gallon jug of sweet milk and put it in my ice box. I'm the one who buys it and I have folks that come and go in my house and stay there and they're just as much in possession of that gallon jug of sweet milk as I am, because it's in there and they can get it anytime they want to. And it's based on that reasoning that I don't find any problem finding you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The marijuana and paraphernalia was laying around all over the house. It had been there and it would test any reason at all to find you had been living there two or three weeks and that you didn't have access to it, whether you smoked it or not. But you had access to it.

DISCUSSION

Defendant's convictions rest on circumstantial evidence. In cases resting on circumstantial evidence, assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. LSA-R.S. 15:438. As an evidentiary rule, it restrains the factfinder in the first instance, as well as the reviewer on appeal, to accept as proven all that the evidence tends to prove, and then to convict only if every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is excluded. Whether circumstantial evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence presents a question of law. State v. Shapiro, 431 So.2d 372 (La.1982); State v. Hammontree, 363 So.2d 1364 (La.1978).

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court is controlled by the standard enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The appellate court must determine whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact that all of the elements of the crime had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Nealy, 450 So.2d 634 (La.1984); State v. Doby, 540 So.2d 1008 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989), writ denied, 544 So.2d 398 (1989). An appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence must resolve any conflict in the direct evidence by viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. When the direct evidence is thus viewed, the facts established by the direct evidence and inferred from the circumstantial evidence must be sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of every essential element of the crime. State v. Jacobs, 504 So.2d 817 (La.1987); State v. Lott, 535 So.2d 963 (La.App. 2d Cir.1988). The circumstantial evidence rule does not establish a stricter standard of review than the more general Jackson v. Virginia formula, but a hypothesis of innocence that is sufficiently reasonable and sufficiently strong must necessarily lead a rational fact finder to entertain a reasonable doubt. State v. Lott, supra.

To convict for the crime of possession of a controlled dangerous substance or drug paraphernalia, the state must present evidence that the defendant exercised actual or constructive possession of the substance. For a person to constructively possess a drug, it must be subject to his dominion and control, and he must have knowledge of its existence. State v. Alford, 323 So.2d 788 (La.1975). Guilty knowledge is an essential element of the crime and the determination of whether there is possession sufficient to convict depends on the facts of the particular case. State v. Trahan, 425 So.2d 1222 (La.1983); State v. Cann, 319 So.2d 396 (La.1975). The mere presence in the area where drugs are discovered, or the mere association with the person who controls the drug, is insufficient to support a finding of possession. State v. Cann, supra; State v. Moore, 490 So.2d 588 (La.App. 2d Cir.1986)

Since each case must be decided on its own facts, we review a number of cases from this court to give guidance in determining what facts constitute constructive possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia.

In State v. Matthews, 552 So.2d 590 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989), the defendant was found alone in his apartment. Contraband was found in plain sight, the smell of marijuana was prevalent, and marijuana cigarette butts were found in close proximity to the defendant. This court found that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for constructive possession.

In State v. Riley, 587 So.2d 130 (La.App. 2d Cir.1991), 33 bags of cocaine were found in a room that was registered to the defendant, and which also contained his wallet and driver's license. The defendant had the key to the room, and no one else was in the room. The defendant was also in possession of 12 grams of cocaine when arrested in his car. The court found the evidence sufficient to support a conviction for possessing the cocaine found in the room.

In State v. Hughes, 587 So.2d 31 (La.App. 2d Cir.1991), the defendant was walking out of a bedroom where a bag of marijuana was found in plain view, and paraphernalia and more marijuana were found hidden in the room and throughout the house. The defendant was an occupant of the house and admitted to selling drugs. The court found that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of constructive possession.

Other cases illustrate the circumstances in which the courts have found that the evidence was not sufficient to support a verdict of guilty. State v. Dunn, 446 So.2d 829 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984), involved a defendant who was not present on the premises at the time the search warrant was executed. The defendant had given the address of the searched apartment as his own, but he had not stayed there the day or night before the warrant was executed. The...