New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
The issue before the court involves the petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision that the District Court of Appeal reported.
Case Background
The defendant was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. He was tried by a jury and found to be guilty of this crime. The defendant appealed the charge and the appeal was granted by the district court. The district court found that there was insufficient evidence to show that the defendant had possession and control of the marijuana.
In order to come to this conclusion the court determined that taking a drag from another person’s pipe that is filled with marijuana cannot be distinguished from taking a drink from another person’s bottle that is filled with illegal liquor.
Case Facts
The facts of the case show that the defendant along with the codefendants entered the home of another codefendant at approximately 1:30 in the morning. When the three men entered the home one of the codefendants had six bags of marijuana with him. This was placed in a footlocker at the home. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the occupants of the home along with the defendant and the other codefendant all sat around in a circle and smoked a pipe. The defendant smoked the pipe when it was passed to him.
Case Discussion and Decision
Possession is typically defined as having the personal charge or the right of ownership of the drug in question. There does not have to be an actual conscious possession of the drug that is distinguishable from superficial possession.
In this particular case the possession of the defendant holds as he did have actual physical possession of the drug.
After reviewing the facts of the case the court has determined that the defendant did have possession and that the district court reversing the conviction was in error. The court is reinstating the guilty verdict and the judgment for conviction.
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