Case Name: Tyrone Thomas DEMPS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2001-08-24
Citations: 795 So. 2d 141
Docket Number: No. 5D00-3449
Parties: Tyrone Thomas DEMPS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: COBB and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 795
Pages: 141–142

Head Matter:
Tyrone Thomas DEMPS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 5D00-3449.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Aug. 24, 2001.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 24, 2001.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Susan A. Fagan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Anthony J. Golden, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Opinion:
HARRIS, J.
The issue in this case is whether the driver and sole occupant of a vehicle in which cocaine is found in "an ashtray cover in front of the drive shaft" (which places it immediately beside the driver) can be found to be in possession of that cocaine when there is testimony that others have occupied the vehicle earlier in the day.
As we have done before, we again say it is a jury question. In Parker v. State, 641 So.2d 483 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), we held in a ease in which the cocaine was found under the passenger seat of a vehicle in the sole possession of the driver that it was the jury's function to believe or not to believe testimony that others had previously occupied the vehicle and had left the cocaine -behind.
AFFIRMED.
COBB and PETERSON, JJ., concur.