Opinion ID: 852902
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Any other additional circumstances?

Text: The listed additional circumstances identified in Henderson are not exclusive. Rather, the State is required to show that whatever factor or set of factors it relies upon in support of the intent prong of constructive possession, those factors or set of factors must demonstrate the probability that the defendant was aware of the presence of the contraband and its illegal character. In this case the State argues that the drugs were found in a common area, the cabinets of the laundry [room] to support its view that Gee had constructive possession of the cocaine and marijuana. Br. of Appellee at 6. [T]he place where the contraband is found has been identified as an additional circumstance from which a trier of fact could conclude that the defendant had the requisite intent in a non-exclusive constructive possession case. Carnes v. State, 480 N.E.2d 581, 586 (Ind.Ct.App.1985), trans. not sought. In Carnes police discovered a large bag of marijuana in the kitchen refrigerator. The court observed, Human experience tells us that adult members of a household are in and out [of] a kitchen refrigerator as a matter of course.... [I]t is factually unlikely that a large container of marijuana located in a kitchen refrigerator in the residence of adults would go unnoticed by those adults. Id. at 587. Here, by contrast, the drugs were found in a basement laundry room. Unlike a kitchen, which in many households serves as a gathering place for social and familial interaction, a laundry room is usually frequented only by whomever has the task of washing clothes. Similarly, unlike a refrigerator nothing in human experience tells us that anyone in particular, as a matter of course, is in and out of laundry room cabinets. In essence, although the place where the contraband is found may serve as an additional circumstance to support the inference that a defendant knew of the presence of the contraband and its illegal character, the location of the contraband in this case supports no such inference. In sum, the evidence was not sufficient to show that Gee was in constructive possession of the marijuana and cocaine found in the Mutz Court residence. We therefore reverse his convictions.