Source: http://openjurist.org/83/f3d/423/united-states-v-payton
Timestamp: 2016-06-28 15:12:43
Document Index: 40010648

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 812', '§ 841', '§ 841', '§ 4', '§ 2', '§ 846', '§ 841']

83 F3d 423 United States v. Payton | OpenJurist
83 F. 3d 423 - United States v. Payton Home
83 F3d 423 United States v. Payton 83 F.3d 423
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Glen Thomas PAYTON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 95-5621.
A jury found the defendant Glen T. Payton guilty of manufacturing, growing and producing marijuana and of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 812 and 841(a)(1) (1988). The defendant makes three arguments for reversal. Upon consideration of the record on appeal together with the briefs and oral arguments of counsel, we conclude that no reversible error occurred and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of conviction. The defendant does not appeal his sentence.
Ten days after the officers discovered the marijuana and observed Glen Payton entering and leaving the first marijuana patch, a Kentucky State Police detective confronted the defendant. After advising Mr. Payton of his Miranda rights the detective asked the defendant what he knew about the marijuana. Glen Payton responded that he had "[n]o knowledge whatsoever" about marijuana growing on the farm and could offer no assistance with regard to how the marijuana got on the farm.
The case went to trial and after the government rested, the defendant made a motion for acquittal under FED.R.CRIM.P. 29. Following oral argument by counsel, the trial judge denied the motion. While acknowledging that the government had presented a "thin" case, the court stated that the evidence was sufficient to take the case to the jury.
The conviction in this case was based on circumstantial evidence. There is no requirement in such a case that the government must rule out every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt. United States v. Stone, 748 F.2d 361, 363 (6th Cir.1984). If the evidence is sufficient to support a finding that the defendant committed the charged offense, it is immaterial that the evidence might be construed also to implicate other uncharged persons.
Most of the cases relied on by the defendant are "mere presence" or "mere proximity" cases, where the prosecution proved nothing except that the defendant was present at the time and location of an illegal act. The defendant places principal reliance on our decision in United States v. White, 932 F.2d 588 (6th Cir.1991). In White, a police officer found marijuana growing three feet from White's trailer home. White did not own the property on which the marijuana was growing. There were two other residences on each side of the trailer within 100 feet. Id. at 589. White, who was partially disabled with a bad back and arm, acknowledged that he was aware of the marijuana, but denied that he had anything to do with it. The prosecution produced no evidence other than the presence of the marijuana close to the defendant's home, but on land owned by another, to link him to the plants. This court reversed White's conviction, finding the evidence of guilt insufficient. Id. at 590.
Finally, the defendant maintains that the trial court committed error by submitting both counts to the jury, inasmuch as both the charge of growing the marijuana and of possessing it with intent to distribute arose out of the same acts. This argument is foreclosed by our decision in United States v. Miller, 870 F.2d 1067 (6th Cir.1989), where we stated: "[W]e find that the manufacture of marijuana and the possession with intent to distribute marijuana are 'two statutory offenses [that] may be punished cumulatively,' ... as each offense 'requires proof of a fact which the other does not.' " Id. at 1071 (citations omitted).
The majority concludes that this evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, see Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979), permits a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Payton possessed the marijuana and intended to distribute it under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The complete absence of evidence that Payton himself ever actually possessed marijuana means that the prosecution's case rested on a theory of constructive possession. The issue is therefore whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, established beyond a reasonable doubt that Payton "knowingly ha[d] power and intention to exercise control" over the marijuana in question. See United States v. Critton, 43 F.3d 1089, 1096 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 115 S.Ct. 1987, 2004 (1995). Furthermore, in order to support a conviction, possession of a controlled substance must be both knowing and intentional. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(a).
In short, Payton was convicted because he knew that marijuana was being grown on the farm and because he "advised [police] that he was not aware that marijuana was growing on the farm property" and provided "no information to assist in determining how the marijuana got on the farm." Duncan Test., Trial Tr. at 120-21. From such evidence it is likely that someone who lived on or owned the farm constructively possessed the drugs, but Glen Payton could not be singled out beyond a reasonable doubt as possessing the marijuana with intent to distribute it. His conduct might comprise misprision of a felony, see 18 U.S.C. § 4,1 but he was not charged with or convicted of misprision. Nor was he charged with or convicted of any crime involving joint participation in an offense, such as conspiring with, aiding, or abetting another to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. See id. § 2; 21 U.S.C. § 846. He was convicted of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute. Section 841(a)(1) is not a vehicle for penalizing those who simply lie to police or who merely know of illegal drug cultivation on a farm where they live but which they do not own.
The majority also finds the evidence sufficient to sustain Payton's conviction for knowing and intentional manufacture of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). This holding is even more dubious than the first, because there is no broad concept like "constructive possession" to aid the prosecution on the manufacture count. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the jury could conclude that Payton knew about the marijuana plots and that someone in the house was likely to be cultivating marijuana, but this does not meet the prosecution's burden of proving knowing and intentional manufacture of marijuana by Glen Payton. In fact, one of the two individuals that Downey observed at the marijuana plot was apparently ignorant of the cultivation process because he asked when "it will be ready." Because the jury had no evidence that Payton was not the one who asked the question, it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he was responsible for the cultivation.