Opinion ID: 2335012
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Is the evidence relevant to prove intent?

Text: The arguments in this case are nearly identical to those raised in Boggs, 287 Kan. 298, 197 P.3d 441. And although we note that Preston was convicted of possession with intent to sell while Boggs was convicted of simple possession, the State does not argue this makes any difference in our analysis and argues Preston's case as if it were another nonexclusive constructive drug possession case like Boggs. Accordingly, we will address Preston's case based on the State's arguments as presented. The question then is whether Boggs is analogous and whether the Court of Appeals erred by following State v. Faulkner, 220 Kan. 153, 551 P.2d 1247 (1976) (when defendant's intent to possess drugs was substantially in dispute, evidence of defendant's prior conviction for possession of controlled substances was properly admitted). Admittedly, this court decided Boggs after Preston's trial concluded so the district court could not benefit from its analysis. But Boggs was issued before Preston's appeal was briefed and argued to the Court of Appeals, and yet the parties failed to cite the decision in their Court of Appeals briefs, and that court did not address it either. We therefore do not have the benefit of the Court of Appeals' analysis on this first critical issue in the case. We begin by summarizing Boggs and Faulkner. In Boggs, the defendant was the only passenger in a truck stopped on suspicion that the driver was under the influence of alcohol. Neither the driver nor Boggs owned the truck. A pipe containing burnt marijuana residue was discovered underneath the truck's passenger seat. Boggs admitted during the traffic stop that he had smoked marijuana the previous month. He was charged with possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. At trial, Boggs claimed the pipe and drugs were not his, so the issue was whether his statement that he used marijuana a month earlier was admissible under K.S.A. 60-455 to prove his intent, knowledge, or absence of mistake or accident to possess the drugs and paraphernalia. We focus on the allegation that it was relevant to prove Preston's intent in this case because the State contends it was relevant to prove that element of its charge against him. The State argued in Boggs that the defendant's intent is always a disputed, material fact in constructive possession casesthe same assertion the State makes in Preston's case. The Boggs court agreed that intent is an element of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, but that alone did not necessarily render it material in every case because intent is not always disputed. See 287 Kan. at 311, 315, 197 P.3d 441. This court then drew what amounts to a bright-line rule that intent is not disputed if a defendant claims he or she is innocent and did not possess the drugs. The Boggs court held that the defendant's admission of prior drug use was not admissible when the defendant denied ever having possessed the drugs. 287 Kan. at 315-16, 197 P.3d 441. We explained that under those circumstances, the only purpose for admitting Boggs's statement about prior use was to improperly establish his alleged propensity for using marijuana. We found: The only conceivable connection between the two events [prior use and possession] is an assumption that because [the defendant] used marijuana in the past, it was probable that he would use it again in the future and thus possess the pipe. This is propensity evidence and is precisely what K.S.A. 60-455 was designed to prevent.  (Emphasis added.) 287 Kan. at 317, 197 P.3d 441 (citing Gunby, 282 Kan. at 47-48, 144 P.3d 647). The arguments and facts in Preston's case seem to dovetail with the holding in Boggs because the district court held Preston's prior conviction was admissible to establish his intenteven though Preston claimed the drugs were not his. Under Boggs, the prior conviction evidence was not admissible. But we must also examine Faulkner since the Court of Appeals relied upon it. In that case, Faulkner was a passenger in a car containing a hypodermic needle, a small bag of pills on the passenger side floorboard, and another bag of amobarbital in the glove box. Faulkner was charged with possession with intent to sell. At trial, the State admitted evidence that Faulkner had a prior conviction for possession of a controlled substance. On appeal, Faulkner argued the prior conviction was inadmissible under K.S.A. 60-455, but this court held it was admissible because it was offered to prove the specific intent for possession when the intent to exercise control over the drugs was disputed. 220 Kan. at 157, 551 P.2d 1247; see Boggs, 287 Kan. at 312, 197 P.3d 441. The Boggs court distinguished Faulkner, holding that the critical difference was that prior crime or bad act evidence is only admissible if the defendant disputes the material fact in issue. See 287 Kan. at 311, 315, 197 P.3d 441. A comparison of the facts and defense theory raised in Preston's case leads us to conclude that this court's analysis in Boggs controls and the Court of Appeals erred by following Faulkner. In summary, this court has adopted a rule that distinguishes between cases in which the defendant acknowledges but attempts to provide an innocent explanation for his or her actions and those in which the defendant disputes the allegations outright. As we stated in Boggs: [T]he defendant's use of a controlled substance is not a factor that is automatically admissible as an exception to the specific mandates of K.S.A. 60-455. 287 Kan. at 318, 197 P.3d 441; see also Wells, 289 Kan. at 1231-32, 221 P.3d 561 (applying Boggs in an aggravated criminal sodomy case to hold prior bad acts were inadmissible since the defendant denied touching the victim); State v. Cook, 45 Kan. App.2d 468, 474, 249 P.3d 454 (2011) (following Boggs ); State v. Diaz, No. 100,735, 2010 WL 481258 (Kan.App.2010) (unpublished opinion) (following Boggs ), rev. granted 293 Kan. ___ (January 20, 2012) (pending). Applying that same analysis here, we hold that Preston's prior conviction was not admissible under K.S.A. 60-455 and Boggs because he disputed the drugs were his. The remaining issue is whether the admission of the prior conviction was harmless error.