Court Opinion

ID: 9609413
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:26:53.628406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:53:34.713273
License: Public Domain

Justice Mitchell
dissenting.
I believe the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge of felonious possession of marijuana. The testimony at trial was to the effect that the two bags of marijuana seized from the defendant were long enough to extend four inches above the top of his shirt pocket. Those bags of marijuana were received into evidence and before the jury for its examination. Like the trial court and the majority in the Court of Appeals, I believe that North Carolina jurors of average intelligence could view and handle such bags of marijuana and conclude beyond a reasonable doubt whether the defendant had possessed more than one and one-half ounces of marijuana and, as a result, was guilty of felonious possession of marijuana. Members of the jury were entitled to rely on their common sense and the knowledge they had acquired through everyday life experiences. 1 Kenneth S. Broun, Brandis and Broun on North Carolina Evidence § 248 (4th ed. 1993). Accordingly, I believe that the Court of Appeals was correct in affirming the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss that charge and that the majority errs in holding to the contrary.
I also believe that the majority errs in holding that the State’s evidence was not sufficient to support the defendant’s conviction, under N.C.G.S. § 90-108(a)(7), for keeping or maintaining a vehicle used for the keeping of a controlled substance. Although the State’s *37evidence was by no means overwhelming in this regard, I believe that the evidence tending to show that the defendant had two bags of marijuana while he was in the car and that a marijuana cigarette was located in the car amounted to substantial evidence that the vehicle was “used for the keeping” of marijuana.
For the foregoing reasons, I believe that the majority errs in reversing the decision of the Court of Appeals which affirmed the defendant’s convictions for felonious possession of marijuana and for maintaining a vehicle used for keeping marijuana. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority.
Justice Meyer joins in this dissenting opinion.