State v. Johnson

784 A.2d 304, 2001 R.I. LEXIS 232, 2001 WL 1505924
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedNovember 21, 2001
DocketNo. 99-474-C.A.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 784 A.2d 304 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Johnson, 784 A.2d 304, 2001 R.I. LEXIS 232, 2001 WL 1505924 (R.I. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

This is a case involving the constructive possession of a controlled substance and the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction for possession of that substance with intent to deliver. While executing a search warrant at 10 p.m. on March 26, 1998, at the Providence apartment of the defendant, Frank Johnson, the police seized a clear plastic bag from the top of a dresser in the defendant’s bedroom. It contained what later testing confirmed to be crack cocaine. At the time of the search and seizure, the defendant was a seventy-year-old man living alone in the apartment. He appeals to this Court from a Superior Court conviction for possession [306]*306of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. After a prebriefing conference, a single justice of this Court ordered the parties to show cause why the issues raised should not be summarily decided. Upon reviewing their written submissions and considering their oral arguments, we conclude that they have failed to show cause, that the appeal can be decided at this time, and that the trial justice did not err in denying the defense motions for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial. Sufficient evidence existed to infer that the defendant knew about the presence of drugs in his apartment, exercised control over them, and intended to deliver the drugs to others.

Upon entering the apartment to execute the search warrant, the police observed three people in the living room area: one woman and two men. No one else was present in the apartment, including defendant. The police proceeded to search the bedroom, where they found 2.8 grams of crack cocaine in a clear plastic bag on the top of a dresser with a box of sandwich bags and a batch of “cutoffs,” or sandwich bags with the corners removed. According to one of the detectives, crack cocaine is usually packaged in small corners cut off from plastic sandwich bags. The police also found several pieces of paper on top of the dresser in the bedroom. They concluded that these papers constituted a crude form of a “ledger” containing names of drug customers and the amounts owed for drugs purchased. The police, however, found no evidence during their search of drug use at this site, such as pipes or other paraphernalia.

On appeal, defendant contends that there was insufficient evidence introduced at trial to show that he possessed the drugs that were seized or that he intended to sell them. Although he moved for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the state’s case and again at the close of all the evidence, the trial justice denied the motion on both occasions. Consequently, defendant contends the trial justice committed reversible error.

Denial of Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

In deciding a motion for judgment of acquittal, a trial justice “must determine whether the evidence offered by the state is capable of generating proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. LaRoche, 683 A.2d 989, 995 (R.I.1996) (quoting State v. Harnois, 638 A.2d 532, 536 (R.I.1994)). The trial justice views the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, without weighing evidence or evaluating the credibility of witnesses. Id. All reasonable inferences must be drawn in favor of the state. Id. If the evidence is sufficient to support proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the motion must be denied. Id. On review, this Court applies the same standard as the trial justice. Id.

Because defendant was not in actual possession of the drugs at the time of seizure, the state must show that he was in constructive possession. See State v. Jenison, 442 A.2d 866, 875 (R.I.1982). To show constructive possession of an illegal substance, the state must show that defendant had knowledge of the presence of the item and that he or she intended to exercise control over it. In re Vannarith D., 731 A.2d 685, 689 (R.I.1999). Here, the trial justice noted that the drugs were found in defendant’s bedroom, which was separate from the room in which the other three people had gathered. He determined that defendant could be found to be in constructive possession of everything on top of the dresser in his bedroom, a room the trial justice characterized as “very private.”

[307]*307The defendant argues that any one of the three other people who were present in the apartment that night could have placed the packet of cocaine on his dresser in his bedroom.1 But the police testified that they observed no evidence of drugs or drug use by any of the people who were present during the search. They also testified that, other than the detectives, no one else was in the bedroom when they conducted the search.

Under these circumstances, we hold, the presence of cocaine on the dresser in defendant’s bedroom, together with the other indicia of a drug-delivery operation that the police discovered on the premises, were sufficient to support a finding that defendant, who was the only person residing there, was in constructive possession of the cocaine and exercised control over it as the only tenant of the premises. In State v. Williams, 656 A.2d 975 (R.I.1995), the defendant was not at home when police searched his residence and discovered illegal substances. Based upon the evidence that defendant was living at the premises searched and that illegal substances were found there, the Court stated that “the evidence clearly supports a finding that defendant possessed and had control over the marijuana.” Id. at 978. The defendant seems to argue that because no other indicia of drug use or illegal activities were discovered in his apartment, the seizure of the cocaine alone was not sufficient to support a finding of constructive possession. In State v. Hernandez, 641 A.2d 62 (R.I.1994), the Court determined that defendant did not have exclusive possession of the premises upon which the drugs were discovered. Under these circumstances, the Court concluded, it was necessary to look to additional factors to prove that the defendant knew of the presence of the item and intended to exercise control over it. Id. at 70-71. In this case, however, defendant acknowledged that he lived alone in the apartment. In light of his exclusive possession of the premises, and the fact that the cocaine was found in his bedroom, a “very private” area of the home, we conclude that the trial justice was correct in finding sufficient evidence to show that defendant was in constructive possession of the illegal substance.

The defendant next argues that there was insufficient evidence that he intended to deliver the cocaine. The trial justice concluded that an intent to deliver could be inferred from the “ledger;” that is, the documents the police found on the dresser in the bedroom that contained entries consistent with a record of drug transactions. Also, we note that the police found no other drug paraphernalia in the apartment, suggesting that defendant did not intend to consume the drugs himself.

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Related

State v. Portes
840 A.2d 1131 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
784 A.2d 304, 2001 R.I. LEXIS 232, 2001 WL 1505924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-ri-2001.