Opinion ID: 664742
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence on count ii (manufacture)

Text: 22 Lennick also challenges the jury's finding that he manufactured more than fifty plants. In support of this argument, he notes that police found only forty-eight plants in the crawl space of his home, that two of these plants were dead, and that twenty were immature, starter plants. He argues that this evidence is insufficient to support a conviction of manufacturing of in excess of fifty plants. We disagree. 23 The government presented clear evidence showing that Lennick had possessed marijuana from other plants on other occasions dating back to a year before his arrest. In addition to the plants seized from the crawl space, police found ninety-seven grams of harvested marijuana in Lennick's kitchen. Photographs admitted into evidence show Lennick and other individuals with marijuana and drug paraphernalia and, according to the government, depict other marijuana plants growing in the crawl space. Police found scissors with marijuana residue in Lennick's house. Pots and other materials found in Lennick's home, as well as Lennick's electric bill, suggest that Lennick had grown and harvested other crops of marijuana. Several individuals, including Lennick himself, admitted that he had provided marijuana to other individuals on other occasions. 24 Certainly, Lennick may have possessed marijuana that he did not grow. However, circumstantial evidence, including Lennick's electric bill and the materials present in the crawl space, supports the government's argument that Lennick had been growing and harvesting marijuana for some time. Circumstantial evidence and inferences drawn from it may be sufficient to sustain a conviction. United States v. Reyes-Alvarado, 963 F.2d 1184, 1187-188 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 258, 121 L.Ed.2d 189 (1992). Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the government, the jury could have properly concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Lennick had grown at least fifty plants over the past year. 7