Opinion ID: 2441541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Deliver

Text: When we review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we will affirm the conviction if there is substantial evidence to support it, when viewed in the light most favorable to the State. See Freeman v. State, 331 Ark. 130, 131-32, 959 S.W.2d 400 (1998). Substantial evidence is that which is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the other, without resort to speculation or conjecture. Id. When viewed in the light most favorable to the State, we hold that the trial court had substantial evidence to support the possession-with-intent-to-deliver conviction. First, the evidence demonstrated that Fultz had at least constructive possession over the drugs. According to Darrough v. State, 330 Ark. 808, 811, 957 S.W.2d 707 (1997), the State need not prove that the accused physically possessed the contraband to sustain a possession conviction. Indeed, if the location of the contraband was under the dominion and control of the accused, it is deemed constructively possessed. Id. (citing Heard v. State, 316 Ark. 731, 876 S.W.2d 231 (1994); Crossley v. State, 304 Ark. 378, 802 S.W.2d 459 (1991)). Although constructive possession can be implied when the contraband is in the joint control of the accused and another, joint occupancy, alone, is insufficient to establish possession or joint possession. Under the instant facts, the State must prove some additional factor linking the appellant to the contraband. See id. Specifically, the State must prove that the appellant exercised care, control, and management over the contraband, and that she knew the matter possessed was contraband. See id. (citing Darrough v. State, 322 Ark. 251, 908 S.W.2d 325 (1995); Plotts v. State, 297 Ark. 66, 759 S.W.2d 793 (1988)). Here, the State offered evidence showing that Fultz helped her husband transport, conceal, and sell methamphetamine. For example, Roger Brown testified that appellant sold him methamphetamine in the earlier part of 1996, and that appellant told him that she was going to pick her husband up at the airport when he returned to Arkansas from a drug pick-up in California. Jason Smith testified that appellant sold him methamphetamine six to seven months prior to appellant's trial. Additionally, Tiffany Cox testified that she held some of appellant's methamphetamine for four days while Mrs. Fultz went to California to get her husband, who had been met there by Drug Enforcement Agency officers. Cox also testified that when appellant returned, she gave Cox an eight-ball of methamphetamine in exchange for holding the drugs. Cox's testimony regarding the temporary concealment also demonstrated that appellant knew that the methamphetamine was contraband. Accordingly, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction.