Opinion ID: 1461836
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: On February 8, 1990, Higgins was arrested for PWID cocaine when he was stopped by Officers William Richardson and Victor Bruschnevewitz of the Metropolitan Police Department during a routine drug investigation. According to the officers, they were responding to a radio broadcast that indicated two men were selling drugs in front of 762 Lamont Street, N.W. The tipster who reported the drug activity to the police described one of the individuals selling drugs as wearing a maroon or burgundy sweater, blue jeans, and a black coat. When the officers arrived in the 700 block of Lamont Street, they spotted Higgins talking with the other individual they believed was selling drugs while standing in the open basement area of 762 Lamont Street. Higgins was wearing clothing that matched the description given by the tipster. The officers testified that they told the individual to whom Higgins was speaking to leave the area while they asked Higgins to step out of the basement. Officer Richardson then entered the basement area and recovered nineteen plastic bags of crack cocaine from the ground next to where Higgins had been standing at the time the officers arrived in the area. The officers arrested Higgins, and a search incident to that arrest revealed that Higgins had $651.00 in small bill denominations on him. In addition to the officers' testimony, eleven other witnesses testified that Higgins regularly sold drugs in the 700 block of Lamont Street, N.W., and one of those witnesses, Dianne Harrison, testified that she saw Higgins selling drugs from a brown paper bag in front of 762 Lamont Street earlier on February 8, 1990. Finally, the government presented expert testimony that the quantity of drugs recovered and the packaging in which the drugs were found, indicated that the drugs were intended for distribution. In reviewing sufficiency claims, we view the evidence and draw all inferences in the light most favorable to the government. Speight v. United States, 671 A.2d 442, 454 (D.C.1996). The prosecution need not negate every possible inference of innocence, see Irick v. United States, 565 A.2d 26, 30 (D.C.1989), and evidence is legally insufficient to support a conviction only where there is no evidence upon which a reasonable mind could infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Patterson v. United States, 479 A.2d 335, 338 (D.C.1984). In order to find Higgins guilty of PWID, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Higgins possessed the crack cocaine, that he did so knowingly and intentionally, and that when he possessed the cocaine he had the intent to distribute it. See D.C.Code § 33-541(a)(1) (1996 Repl.). To prove that Higgins constructively possessed the crack cocaine found near his feet, the government had to prove that he knowingly had both the power and the intention, at a given time, to exercise dominion or control over the cocaine. Bernard v. United States, 575 A.2d 1191, 1195 (D.C.1990) (internal citation omitted). See also United States v. Hubbard, 429 A.2d 1334, 1338 (D.C.1981). Gordon and Williams argue that the government failed to present sufficient evidence that Higgins intentionally possessed the nineteen bags of crack cocaine that the police found near him in the basement of 762 Lamont Street. They contend that the only probative evidence tying Higgins to the drugs recovered on the night of February 8, 1990, was his proximity to those drugs, and that mere proximity to contraband, without more, cannot support a conviction based on constructive possession. While we agree that Higgins' mere proximity to the drugs is not, by itself, sufficient evidence to support a conviction based on constructive possession, we are satisfied that the evidence in this case sufficiently established that Higgins possessed the drugs found at his feet on the night of February 8, 1990, as part of an ongoing criminal operation of which that possession [was] a part. Curry v. United States, 520 A.2d 255, 263 (D.C.1987) (citations omitted). See also Hubbard, 429 A.2d at 1338. In many respects, the evidence in this case is similar to the evidence that we found sufficient to withstand a motion for judgment of acquittal (MJOA) in Hubbard. In that case, two police officers testified that they saw the defendant engaged in what appeared to be two separate narcotic transactions in a high drug trafficking area. Hubbard, supra, 429 A.2d at 1338. Specifically, they testified that on one occasion they saw Hubbard exchange what they believed to be drugs for money, and on another occasion they saw Hubbard introduce a prospective buyer to another drug dealer. Id. Armed with this information, the police stopped Hubbard and the other individual they believed were selling drugs, and recovered from the area near them a white paper bag that they had seen the other drug dealer handling earlier in the day. Id. The paper bag contained drugs, and both Hubbard and her alleged accomplice were arrested and charged with PWID. Hubbard argued in her case, as Gordon and Williams argue here, that the only probative evidence presented tying her to the drugs found in the paper bag was her mere proximity to the drugs and that mere proximity is not enough to prove constructive possession. After the jury had convicted, the trial court agreed and granted Hubbard's MJOA. On appeal, we reversed and held that based on the evidence presented, a jury could reasonably conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Hubbard's conduct, in engaging in and assisting others in engaging in purported drug transactions, amply demonstrated her ability to guide the destiny of the drugs that were ultimately recovered from the paper bag found in close proximity to her at the time of arrest. Id. Thus, despite the fact that no one testified that they saw Hubbard handle the paper bag or its contents, we found that there was sufficient evidence in the record to conclude that she constructively possessed those drugs. In this case, as in Hubbard, there was substantial evidence presented that Higgins was seen selling drugs in the same location and on the same day that he was arrested. In addition, there was substantial evidence introduced that Higgins regularly and repeatedly sold drugs in and around that same area as part of an ongoing criminal operation of which possession of the drugs [was] a part. See Curry, supra, 520 A.2d at 263. That evidence, combined with the fact that the police recovered nineteen packages of crack cocaine, wrapped in plastic, in close proximity to where Higgins was standing, is convincing proof that there was sufficient evidence to support a finding that Higgins, like Hubbard, constructively possessed the recovered drugs. Consequently, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the government, there is sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable juror could infer appellants guilty of PWID beyond a reasonable doubt.