Opinion ID: 1743617
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: AMCI 6414 Jury Instructions.

Text: Dixon asserts that the trial court erred in instructing the jury with regard the simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms charge. Dixon has failed to preserve this issue for appellate review. The instruction at issue provided as follows: Bobby Dixon is charged with the offense of Simultaneous Possession of Drugs and Firearms. To sustain this charge, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that: First: Bobby Dixon possessed a controlled substance (methamphetamine); Second: He committed this offense while in the possession of a firearm. As used in this instruction there are two kinds of possession, actual and constructive. Actual possession of a thing is direct physical control over it. Constructive possession exists when a person, although not in actual possession of a thing, has the right to control it and intends to do so, either directly or through another person. Dixon objected to this instruction because it omitted an element of the offense, namely continuing criminal activity and/or gang related activity. Record at 216. However, even though he objected to the instruction, he failed to proffer an instruction containing what he saw as the correct elements of the offense. This failure to proffer or abstract the proposed instruction precludes this court from considering the issue on appeal. Plotts v. State, 297 Ark. 66, 759 S.W.2d 793 (1988); Shockley v. State, 282 Ark. 281, 668 S.W.2d 22 (1984); Orsini v. State, 281 Ark. 348, 665 S.W.2d 245 (1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 847, 105 S.Ct. 162, 83 L.Ed.2d 98 (1984). Affirmed.