Opinion ID: 2174661
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: was grant entitled to an instruction on possession?

Text: We now consider Grant's requested instruction in light of the two-part, or two-step, analysis to determine whether Grant was entitled to that instruction. In Moore v. State, 471 N.E.2d 684 (Ind. 1984), the defendant was convicted of dealing in cocaine. In Moore's trial, the evidence showed that he personally sold and delivered cocaine to an informant, Karnes. However, the trial court refused to give a jury instruction on possession of cocaine as a lesser-included offense of the delivery charge. The Supreme Court of Indiana, in affirming Moore's conviction, concluded that the trial court properly rejected Moore's requested instruction on possession of cocaine as a lesser offense of delivering cocaine and stated: We agree with Defendant that possession of cocaine is an inherently included lesser offense of delivering cocaine, inasmuch as it is impossible to commit the greater offense without committing the lesser offense.... However, our inquiry does not end there. We must next determine whether there was evidence of probative value from which the jury could properly find the defendant guilty of such lesser included offense. [Quoting from Hash v. State, 258 Ind. 692, 284 N.E.2d 770 (1972).] ... In the case at bar, the element distinguishing the lesser and greater offense is delivery. We, therefore, look to see if there was probative evidence that the Defendant committed the crime of possessing cocaine.... Substantial evidence was produced that Defendant delivered cocaine to Karnes. Karnes testified that Defendant sold cocaine to him; a tape recording of the transaction demonstrated that he did so, and Defendant himself testified that he sold cocaine to Karnes. This evidence is not disputed, notwithstanding that Defendant raised the defense of entrapment; hence, there was no error in refusing to give the tendered instruction on lesser included offenses. 471 N.E.2d at 687. Because all the elements for illegal possession of a controlled substance are contained within the elements of a person's unlawfully delivering a controlled substance, illegal possession of a controlled substance is a lesser-included offense of unlawfully delivering a controlled substance. However, at Grant's trial, the evidence showed that Grant and Roddy flagged down passing motorists to inquire if occupants had crack for sale. When D.J. happened on the scene, Grant and Roddy obtained cocaine from him as a vendor of the controlled substance. Immediately thereafter, Roddy, carrying the cocaine obtained from D.J., and Grant left D.J.'s car, and the women walked directly to Edwards' pickup. Inside the pickup, Roddy handed the cocaine to Grant, who wrapped all the cocaine and, in turn, passed the wrapped cocaine to Haiar in exchange for the $250 which Haiar then handed to Roddy. The cocaine identified and introduced as physical evidence at Grant's trial was the same cocaine that was manually moved from D.J. to Roddy and then from Roddy to Grant, who immediately wrapped the cocaine, which she then handed directly to Haiar. Therefore, the only cocaine involved in the charge against Grant was the crack that, for practical purposes, moved in a virtually unbroken and steady course from D.J., the seller, through the hands of intermediaries, Roddy and Grant, to the eventual recipient, Haiar. Thus, Grant and Roddy were human instruments for the exchange of cocaine and money between D.J. and Haiar. In that factual setting, a jury could not rationally conclude that Grant possessed the crack for her personal use vis-a-vis delivery in a cocaine sale. Rather, Grant's only possession of the crack formed a link in a chain for delivery of the cocaine from a distributor to a recipient and ostensible consumer other than Grant. Hence, under the evidence, Grant possessed the cocaine for transmission to another, not for her retention and personal consumption. Consequently, the trial court properly refused to give an instruction on Grant's illegal possession of cocaine for her personal use. Grant's case is easily distinguished from State v. Massa, 242 Neb. 70, 493 N.W.2d at 175 (1992). Massa was charged and convicted of intending to deliver marijuana in his possession. During a search with a warrant, police discovered several baggies of marijuana in a house where Massa was present. Additionally, while searching Massa's person, police found a large quantity of cash, a pipe, and a baggie of marijuana in his jeans pocket. We concluded that [f]rom these facts, the jury could reasonably find that the amount of marijuana found on Massa, coupled with the pipe, was consistent with possession for personal use and contradictory to possession of an amount held for sale. Id. at 76, 493 N.W.2d at 180. In contradistinction from Massa, Grant's case contains only evidence that the cocaine was moved from D.J., through Grant, to Haiar; hence, nothing indicates that, while the cocaine was moving from D.J. to Haiar, Grant intended to retain the cocaine for her personal use and consumption.