Tanksley v. State, 75-508
| Decision Date | 12 May 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75-508,75-508 |
| Citation | 332 So.2d 76 |
| Parties | Brandon TANKSLEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jack O. Johnson, Public Defender, Bartow, and Douglas A. Wallace, Assistant Public Defender, Bradenton, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Brandon Tanksley challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction for possession of heroin.
Apparently in response to an informant's tip relayed to them by radio, two uniformed St. Petersburg police officers went to the Little Club Tavern. Adjacent to the tavern was a litter-strewn, unpaved, parking lot measuring approximately 30 yards by 20 yards. Approximately ten to twenty people were on the lot when the officers arrived. Appellant and another man were seated on a couch in the lot. One of the officers asked the individuals in the area of the couch, 'Who is holding today?' Appellant replied, 'Not me, man.' The officers then proceeded to search the area. One officer's attention was attracted to a concrete block lying about 15 feet from the couch. Under it he found a brown paper bag. Inside the bag was part of an envelope which he could see contained some foil packets. The officers then left the lot. They noticed that appellant had begun to leave the area, but it was not unusual for people in that neighborhood to leave when a police cruiser appeared.
Laboratory tests showed that the foil packets contained heroin. Inside the piece of envelope a fingerprint was found which was later identified as appellant's. The state's fingerprint experts testified they could not determine how long the print had been on the envelope. While it was a 'recent' print, it could have been made five days or more before. At the close of the state's case appellant moved for a directed verdict on the basis of insufficiency of the evidence. The motion was denied. Appellant was found guilty and sentenced from 6 months to 3 years.
We agree with appellant's contention that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction for possession. To prove constructive possession the state had to show appellant knew of the presence of narcotics and had the ability to reduce it to his personal dominion. Spataro v. State, Fla.App.2d 1965, 179 So.2d 873. Appellant's presence on the lot and his denial of possession of narcotics are not sufficient circumstantial evidence to indicate the requisite knowledge of the drugs. Nor is the presence of his...
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Evans v. State
...fingerprint evidence was insufficient to prove that Mr. Evans knew of or had dominion and control over the cocaine. See Tanksley v. State, 332 So.2d 76, 77 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976) (reversing a conviction for possession of heroin where the defendant's fingerprints were found on an envelope holdin......
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Edwards v. State
...were others present, and there was no evidence Agee had touched the box. The court also discussed two similar cases, Tanksley v. State, 332 So.2d 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), and Diaz v. State, 467 So.2d 1061 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985).4 Collier was arrested while sitting on a concrete wall in a drug tra......
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Thompson v. State
...1st DCA 1976); Hively v. State, 336 So.2d 127 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); Nast v. State, 333 So.2d 103 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Tanksley v. State, 332 So.2d 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Moore v. State, 325 So.2d 466 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); Willis v. State, 320 So.2d 823 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975); Taylor v. State, 319......
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Davis v. State, 2D98-2631.
...and the drugs were discovered —a public area accessible to others. The public place was also an essential factor in Tanksley v. State, 332 So.2d 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), where the police discovered heroin in a brown paper bag approximately 15 feet from a couch on which the defendant was sitti......