State v. Edwards

9 P.3d 568, 27 Kan. App. 2d 754
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJuly 21, 2000
Docket80,641
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 9 P.3d 568 (State v. Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Edwards, 9 P.3d 568, 27 Kan. App. 2d 754 (kanctapp 2000).

Opinion

27 Kan. App.2d 754 (2000)
9 P.3d 568

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
CURTIS EDWARD III, Appellant.

No. 80,641.

Court of Appeals of Kansas.

Opinion filed July 21, 2000.

*755 Jennifer C. Roth, assistant appellate defender, and Jessica R. Kunen, chief appellate defender, for the appellant.

Jan Satterfield, county attorney, and Carla J. Stovall, attorney general, for the appellee.

Before LEWIS, P.J., ROGG, S.J., and JOHN J. BUKATY, JR., District Judge, assigned.

LEWIS, J.:

Defendant Curtis Edwards III was convicted by a jury of one count each of possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine without affixing a Kansas drug tax stamp, and possession of marijuana. This is a direct appeal from his convictions.

Defendant's predicament is the result of an automobile trip from Wichita to Parsons, where he attended Labette Community College. A police officer observed defendant drive left of center and decided to stop the vehicle for that violation. As he was following the vehicle, the officer observed conduct between defendant and his passenger that he considered to be somewhat suspicious.

The officer stopped the vehicle, approached it, and detected the unmistakable aroma of burnt marijuana wafting out of the driver's window. Defendant's speech was somewhat slow and his eyes were bloodshot, and the officer concluded that defendant had been using drugs. After a conversation with the officer, defendant admitted that he had, in fact, smoked marijuana before leaving Wichita. Defendant also gave permission for the officer to search his vehicle.

During the search, the officer found traces of marijuana in the ashtray and on the passenger side of the vehicle. In the back of the front seat, in the crack of the seat at the bottom, the officer observed a plastic bag. He removed that bag and observed that the contents appeared to be cocaine. In the bag were three rocks, which were later determined to be cocaine. One rock was fairly large, and the other two were small. The officer did not know whether the two smaller rocks had broken off when he removed the bag or whether the cocaine had been in that condition prior to its removal from the vehicle. After a conversation with the officer, *756 defendant removed a "dime bag" of marijuana and $35 in cash from his left sock and gave them to the officer, who also found approximately $475 in cash in the vehicle.

Defendant denied that he knew anything about the cocaine found in the vehicle and stated he had borrowed the car from someone named "Pops." At trial, the owner of the car was produced, who verified that he had loaned the vehicle to defendant. He also testified that he had loaned it to four or five other people in the 2-week period immediately preceding defendant's arrest.

After hearing the evidence, the jury found defendant guilty as charged. He was sentenced to an underlying term of 11 months in prison and 6 months in the county jail and was placed on 24 months' probation. The trial court also fined defendant $200 on the cocaine charge and $100 on the marijuana charge.

On appeal, defendant raises several issues.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Defendant first argues that his conviction for possession of cocaine is not supported by the evidence. We disagree.

Our standard of review in a case of this nature is well known:

"`"When the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged in a criminal case, the standard of review is whether, after review of all of the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the appellate court is convinced that a rational factfinder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Knighten, 260 Kan. 47, Syl. ¶ 1, 917 P.2d 1324 (1996).' State v. Claiborne, 262 Kan. 416, 425, 940 P.2d 27 (1997)." State v. Johnson, 266 Kan. 322, 326, 970 P.2d 990 (1998).

Defendant argues he had no knowledge there was cocaine in the automobile and that there was no evidence to show that he intended to exercise control over the cocaine found by the police officer. We find no merit in this argument.

In State v. Faulkner, 220 Kan. 153, 160, 551 P.2d 1247 (1976), our Supreme Court set out the standard to be applied in a case of this nature:

"Possession and intent, like any element of a crime, may be proved by circumstantial evidence. [Citations omitted.] An excellent annotation—Conviction of Possession of Illicit Drugs Found in Automobile of which Defendant was not Sole *757 Occupant, 57 A.L.R.3d 1319 [1974]—is instructive. The better view appears to be that when illicit drugs are found in an automobile containing more than one person, the defendant's mere presence in the vehicle, without more, would not sustain his conviction for possession. Other circumstances which have been held sufficiently incriminating to link a defendant with illicit drugs in a vehicle are his previous participation in the sale of drugs, his use of narcotics, his proximity to the area where drugs are found and the fact the drugs were found in plain view. While none of these circumstances, by itself, may be sufficient to support a conviction, taken together they provide a sufficient inference of knowing possession to support the verdict."

As required by our standard of review, we have viewed the evidence in this case in the light most favorable to the State. That review causes us to conclude that the evidence in this action was sufficient to satisfy the standard set down in Faulkner. There was evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant was in fact guilty of possession of cocaine.

There may have been no direct evidence that defendant intended to possess the cocaine found in his vehicle, but there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence. It was obvious that defendant had been using marijuana, and he admitted to the police officer that he had smoked marijuana in Wichita. The officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana in the car, he found marijuana in the ashtray, and defendant had a bag of marijuana in his left sock. The plastic bag containing the cocaine was in plain view. In our judgment, this circumstantial evidence is more than sufficient to support defendant's conviction of possession of cocaine.

In addition, the trial court instructed the jury on aiding and abetting. Our review of the evidence reveals that the instruction was not error and that defendant could certainly have been convicted under the aiding and abetting standard, which is as follows:

"It is the rule in this state that mere association with the principals who actually commit the crime or mere presence in the vicinity of the crime are themselves insufficient to establish guilt as an aider and abettor; however, when a person knowingly associates himself with the unlawful venture and participates in a way which indicates he willfully is furthering the success of the venture, such evidence of guilt is sufficient to go to the jury. [Citations omitted.]" State v. Burton, 235 Kan. 472, 477, 681 P.2d 646 (1984).

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Bluebook (online)
9 P.3d 568, 27 Kan. App. 2d 754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-edwards-kanctapp-2000.