Opinion ID: 1188928
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constructive Possession of the Heroin and Firearm in the Cirrus

Text: The search warrant executed at 707 Albert also authorized the search of two vehicles, one of which was the Chrysler Cirrus that Morris drove to the house the day of the raid. From storage areas in the Cirrus's driver's-side door, police recovered two small bags of an off-white powdery substance, later identified as 0.09 grams of a mixture containing heroin; a handgun; and a document with Morris's name on it. Again, because the government does not claim that Morris was ever seen handling either the drugs or the gun, Morris challenges the sufficiency of the evidence demonstrating that he constructively possessed the items found in the car. We find this to be a much simpler question than Morris's initial challenge concerning the drugs in 707 Albert's basement. Morris's arguments again rest on the mere presence doctrine. The car was registered in another person's name, and there was evidence that other people drove the vehicle during the days and weeks preceding the search on June 2. Morris's fingerprints were found on neither the firearm nor the bags containing the drugs. That, however, is where the evidence favorable to Morris ends. Detective Gambini testified that he had seen Morris driving the Cirrus on multiple occasions during his surveillance of 707 Albert. On June 2, the day of the raid, Gambini observed Morris in the Cirrus near the house. As Gambini watched, Morris engaged in three separate exchanges with individuals approaching the car, the third of which occurred in 707 Albert's driveway. After the final exchange, Morris exited the car and entered 707 Albert, which authorities raided shortly thereafter. Gambini testified that no one else accessed the car in the interim. This evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury's finding that Morris constructively possessed both the drugs and the firearm found in the Cirrus. Although Gambini did not see what Morris exchanged with his three visitors, it was reasonable for the jury to conclude, particularly given the drugs, the gun, and the document in Morris's name later found in the car, that Gambini witnessed three drug transactions. See Brown, 328 F.3d at 355 (noting that authorities need not catch a defendant red-handed to satisfy the possession requirement); Starks, 309 F.3d at 1021-22 (commenting that juries may use common sense to reach reasonable inferences from circumstantial evidence). That Morris was dealing drugs from the Cirrus and possessed the drugs and gun found in the car is certainly a reasonable inference jurors could draw from these facts. This case bears notable similarity to United States v. Garrett, 903 F.2d 1105 (7th Cir.1990), where we upheld a conviction on a firearms charge when police apprehended a man who was suspected of soliciting a prostitute. Id. at 1107, 1110. The man was arrested just before he entered a vehicle that contained both drugs and a gun; neither the car nor the gun was registered to the defendant. Id. at 1107-08. That the defendant had keys to the car, and that the gun and drugs were on the floor of the driver's side, were facts sufficient to support the conviction. Id. at 1110-12; cf. United States v. Moralez, 964 F.2d 677, 680 (7th Cir.1992) (finding facts even more incriminating than [those] in Garrett  when the defendant, who was apprehended driving a car containing nearly thirty pounds of marijuana, was in complete control and possession of the vehicle). Here, where Morris was seen driving the vehicle on multiple occasions in the days prior to the raid, where he was seen conducting probable drug transactions from the car on the day of the raid, and where he was the vehicle's last known driver, the evidence was sufficient to find that he constructively possessed the heroin and the firearm found in the storage compartments of the car's door. Given these circumstances, that the car was not registered in Morris's name, that other people occasionally had access to the vehicle, and that there were no fingerprints found on the drugs or the gun do nothing to change that conclusion.