Young v. Com.
| Decision Date | 18 April 2008 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 071436. |
| Citation | 275 Va. 587,659 S.E.2d 308 |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Angela L. YOUNG v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. |
Joseph A. Sadighian, Senior Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Joshua M. Didlake, Assistant Attorney General (Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: HASSELL, C.J., KEENAN, KOONTZ, KINSER, LEMONS, and AGEE, JJ., and RUSSELL, S.J.
OPINION BY Senior Justice CHARLESS. RUSSELL.
This appeal requires us to determine whether the evidence at trial was sufficient to support a conclusion, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant, while in possession of a controlled substance, was aware of its nature and character.
The facts will be stated in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party at trial. See e.g., Parker v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 150, 155, 654 S.E.2d 580, 583 (2008). In the pre-dawn hours of November 24, 2005, Officer S. Blystone, of the Portsmouth Police Department, stopped the driver of a maroon Oldsmobile for failing to stop at an intersection in Portsmouth. The driver and sole occupant was Angela L. Young, the defendant. She was cooperative with Blystone, who gave her a warning and told her she was free to leave. Blystone then told her that she was in a "high-crime, high-drug area" and asked for her permission to search her car before she left. She consented to the search. Blystone searched the car and found the defendant's purse. Among the contents of the purse, he found a prescription bottle labeled with the name of Stephanie Woody. The label identified the contents of the bottle as "OxyContin," which Blystone knew to be a controlled drug. The bottle contained two blue tablets and six white tablets. Blystone could not determine the nature of the pills, but nevertheless handcuffed the defendant and asked her about the bottle and its contents. She responded, but the trial court subsequently granted the defendant's motion to suppress her statements because she had received no Miranda warnings before making them. Subsequently, the blue tablets were identified as morphine, a Schedule II substance, and the white tablets were identified as Trazodone, a Schedule VI substance. No "Oxy-Contin" or its generic equivalent, oxycodone, was found in the pill bottle, notwithstanding its label.
The defendant was indicted for possession of a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance in violation of Code § 18.2-250. At a bench trial, she entered a plea of not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years, with six months suspended conditioned on supervised probation. The Court of Appeals granted her an appeal but affirmed her conviction. We awarded her this appeal.
At the trial on the merits, the only witnesses to testify about the events of November 24, 2005 were Officer Blystone and Stephanie Woody. The latter stated that she lived with her uncle, Andre Gatewood, who was the owner of the maroon Oldsmobile the defendant was driving, and that the defendant was Gatewood's girlfriend and would have had permission to drive his car. Stephanie Woody also testified that the pills were hers, that she had inadvertently left them in her uncle's car when they had fallen out of her purse, and that the defendant had called her, telling her that she had them. She stated that she carried different pills in one bottle so that she would not have to carry multiple bottles with her. She surmised that the defendant "must have picked them up to bring them to me." The court received in evidence an exhibit showing that Stephanie Woody had prescriptions for morphine, trazodone and oxycodone, along with a large array of other prescription drugs that she said she took for chronic migraine headaches.
The trial court found from the evidence that the defendant was in possession of the morphine at the time of her arrest. The court accepted Stephanie Woody's testimony that the pills were hers and that she had valid prescriptions for them, but refused to accept her speculation as to how the pills came into the defendant's possession. The court stated that the finding of guilt was based upon the defendant's undisputed possession of the morphine, coupled with the facts that she had no prescription for it, that it belonged to someone else, and that it was contained in a bottle labeled with a different drug that was also a controlled substance.
The Court of Appeals noted that the defendant did not contest the issue of her actual possession, dominion and control over the drugs at the time of her arrest, and concluded that the dispositive question was whether she was aware of the nature and character of the morphine found in the pill bottle. In affirming the conviction in an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals held that possession of a controlled drug gives rise to an inference that the defendant was aware of its character.
On appeal, great deference is given to the factfinder who, having seen and heard the witnesses, assesses their credibility and weighs their testimony. Thus, a trial court's judgment will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Walton v. Commonwealth, 255 Va. 422, 426, 497 S.E.2d 869, 871 (1998).
In a prosecution for possession of a controlled substance, the Commonwealth must produce evidence sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's possession of the drug was knowing and intentional. Burton v. Commonwealth, 215 Va. 711, 713, 213 S.E.2d 757, 758 (1975). Actual or constructive possession alone is not sufficient. Id. at 713, 213 S.E.2d at 759. "The Commonwealth must also establish that the defendant intentionally and consciously possessed it with knowledge of its nature and character." Id. (citations omitted) (emphasis added). That knowledge is an essential element of the crime.
Such knowledge may be shown by evidence of the acts, statements or conduct of the accused. Garland v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 182, 184, 300 S.E.2d 783, 784 (1983). Other circumstantial evidence may also support a finding of a defendant's knowledge of the nature and character of the substance in his possession, such as the drug's distinctive odor or appearance, or statements or conduct of others in his presence that would tend to identify it.
The issue in the present case is whether the record contains evidence from which...
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