State v. Winters

396 P.2d 872, 16 Utah 2d 139, 1964 Utah LEXIS 364
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1964
Docket10120
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 396 P.2d 872 (State v. Winters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Winters, 396 P.2d 872, 16 Utah 2d 139, 1964 Utah LEXIS 364 (Utah 1964).

Opinion

CALLISTER, Justice.

Defendant Herschel LeRoy Winters appeals from his conviction of the crime of unlawful possession of a narcotic drug in violation of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act of the State of Utah. 1

On September 1, 1963, the Sheriff and County Attorney of Washington County and the District Attorney of the Fifth Judicial District, picked up defendant Winters at the Las Vegas, Nevada, jail, where he was being held by Nevada peace officers, and physically transported him, handcuffed, to St. George, Utah, to answer to the then pending charges of burglary.

Upon arrival at St. George defendant was placed in cell No. 2 of the Washington County j ail. A few days later a woman, described at the trial as the defendant’s wife, was arrested on suspicion of using narcotics. Defendant was moved from cell No. 2 and was placed in cell No. 3 in order that the woman could be placed in cell No. 2.

At the trial the Sheriff testified that shortly after the woman had been placed in' cell No. 2 he heard the defendant tell the woman to “get the stuff out of the mattress out of the bed behind the door” and flush it down the toilet before the officers find it. The Deputy Sheriff testified that he heard the defendant say to the woman in cell No. 2, “you have got to find it * * * it is up toward the end of the mattress, and it is wrapped in a white cloth, and you have got to find it for me, Baby. You have got to get it before they find it.”

Thereafter, the woman was removed from cell No. 2, and the cell was searched. The searchers found a syringe and a rubber vial containing a white powder. Some of the powder was removed from the vial and sent to the state chemist’s office.

At the trial the state chemist testified that the powder sent to him was tested and results showed that the powder contained heroin, a derivative of opium. However, the state chemist stated that he did not know how much heroin the powder contained.

Sometime after cell No. 2 had been searched and the syringe and vial filled with powder had been found, the defendant became sick and said he needed a doctor. Upon being questioned defendant stated that the reason he was sick was because he was addicted to dope and needed a shot. *142 In response to a question asked by the county attorney as to where he had obtained the “stuff,” the defendant said he obtained the powder in Mexico, that “anybody can get it there,” and that he brought it up in his mouth.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty.

The defendant first contends that there was insufficient evidence of possession to support the jury’s verdict of guilty.

Before a jury verdict may be set aside “it must appear that the evidence was so inconclusive or unsatisfactory that reasonable minds acting fairly upon it must have entertained reasonable doubt that defendant committed the crime.” 2 It is not sufficient that the jury may have entertained reasonable doubt as to defendant’s guilt. 3 Applying the above quoted test, and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the party who prevailed in the trial court, 4 we cannot say that the jury must have entertained reasónable doubt that defendant unlawfully possessed narcotics.

In a prosecution for unlawful possession of narcotics the people must prove that the accused exercised dominion and control over the drug with knowledge of its presence and narcotic character. 5 Dominion and control by the defendant over the narcotic does not mean that the narcotic needs to be found on the person of the accused, 6 nor does it mean that the defendant must have had sole and exclusive possession of the narcotic. 7 After reviewing the facts of this case, we cannot say that the jury must have entertained reasonable doubt that defendant exercised dominion and control over the narcotic drug. Knowledge of the presence and narcotic character of the drug may be shown by the conduct and behavior of the defendant. 8 The jury was justified in finding that defendant had knowledge of the presence and narcotic character of the drug.

The second contention by the defendant that the State failed to prove that the substance found was a narcotic within the meaning of the statute has no merit. Uncontradicted evidence showed that there was a quantity of heroin in the powder found in the rubber vial. Both the statute, 9 and testimony from the state chemist confirm the fact that heroin is a derivative of opium and is a narcotic drug. Even though several courts have held that no particular *143 quantity of narcotics is necessary to sustain a conviction for possession of a narcotic drug 10 we need not determine the question at this time. The defendant’s actions and words, along with the testimony of the state chemist were sufficient to have justified the jury in concluding that the substance defendant possessed was a narcotic drug within the meaning of the statute. Even in a state where the narcotic possessed must be of such quantity as is capable of being applied to the use commonly made thereof, 11 the court held that where the defendant had made a written confession that he had brought marijuana from Mexico it was not necessary to allege that the quantity possessed was sufficient to be applied to the use commonly made thereof. 12 The jury was allowed to base its decision on the confession and use the confession in determining that there was a sufficient quantity of marijuana present to convict for illegal possession of marijuana. In the case before us we do not have a written confession, but we do have evidence of what the defendant did in trying to get rid of the syringe and vial filled with powder, and we have evidence of what the defendant told certain people, e. g., that he obtained the powder in Mexico, that anybody can get it there, that he brought it up in his mouth, and that he needed a shot as he was addicted to dope. We cannot say that the jury must have entertained a reasonable doubt that defendant did not pos-' sess a narcotic drug.

In following the line of reasoning discussed just previously, the third contention that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that, in order to convict, the amount of narcotic drug possessed must be found to be useable has no merit. The determinative test is possession 13 of a narcotic drug, and not useability of a narcotic drug.

The fourth contention that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that the burden of proof of lawfulness of possession of any narcotic drug was upon the defendant has no merit.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Burdick
2014 UT App 34 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2014)
State v. Campbell
2013 UT App 23 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2013)
C.P.B. v. State
2012 UT App 174 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2012)
In re C.P.B. (C.P.B. v. State)
2012 UT App 174 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2012)
State v. Vigh
871 P.2d 1030 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1994)
State v. Salas
820 P.2d 1386 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1991)
State v. McCarthy
595 A.2d 941 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1991)
State v. Warner
788 P.2d 1041 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1990)
State v. Hansen
732 P.2d 127 (Utah Supreme Court, 1987)
State v. Banks
720 P.2d 1380 (Utah Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Carlson
635 P.2d 72 (Utah Supreme Court, 1981)
State v. Vance
602 P.2d 933 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1979)
Moreau v. State
588 P.2d 275 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Eichler
584 P.2d 861 (Utah Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Mitchell
571 P.2d 1351 (Utah Supreme Court, 1977)
State v. Forrester
564 P.2d 289 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1977)
State v. Butler
560 P.2d 1136 (Utah Supreme Court, 1977)
State v. Bankhead
514 P.2d 800 (Utah Supreme Court, 1973)
State v. Reeves
209 N.W.2d 18 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
396 P.2d 872, 16 Utah 2d 139, 1964 Utah LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-winters-utah-1964.