Court Opinion

ID: 9491031
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:02:00.101605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:28.470651
License: Public Domain

DUBINA, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
While I agree with the majority’s well-reasoned opinion insofar as it affirms the convictions of defendants Moore and Peterson, I respectfully dissent concerning the majority’s reversal of Leonard’s convictions and sentences on Counts I, II and III of the indictment. In my view, a reasonable jury could have found under the circumstances that Leonard, together with the other defendants, knowingly possessed a controlled substance with intent to distribute. The majority acknowledges that a jury *912could have inferred that Leonard knew the cocaine and gun were in the ear. I disagree, however, with the majority’s conclusion that “[t]he evidence is insufficient to show either that Leonard possessed the cocaine or the Glock pistol, or that he aided or abetted their possession.”
Possession may be actual or constructive, and constructive possession “may be shared with others, and can be established by circumstantial or direct evidence.” United States v. Montes-Cardenas, 746 F.2d 771, 778 (11th Cir.1984). In this case, the jury could have inferred, based on circumstantial evidence, that Leonard shared constructive possession of the cocaine with Moore and Peterson. When asked by Deputy Sellers, Peterson stated that the defendants were traveling from Orlando. He later changed his story and said that they had come from Miami. In either case, the evidence-indicated that the three defendants had been on a road trip from some location in central or south Florida. Both Moore and Leonard stated that they did not know where they had been in Florida because they had slept through the trip. Peterson, who was driving the car at the time Deputy Sellars pulled it over just north of the Georgia-Florida border, claimed to have been asleep until the trio reached the state line.
Clearly, the car did not drive itself through the state of Florida. Considering that all of the defendants denied driving the car through Florida, a reasonable jury could have inferred that at some point during the journey, Leonard took a turn behind the wheel. This is sufficient circumstantial evidence of Leonard’s constructive possession of the vehicle and the cocaine it contained. This evidence of possession, combined with evidence of Leonard’s guilty knowledge, constitutes significantly more than “mere presence” in the vehicle. See United States v. Stanley, 24 F.3d 1314, 1320 (11th Cir.1994) (“courts will affirm convictions when the defendant’s presence in the car is combined with other evidence of guilt”). The same analysis demonstrates that there is sufficient evidence that Leonard transported the handgun. I do not think that we should reverse Leonard’s convictions and sentences merely because he happened to be sitting in the back seat of the car at the time of the arrest. Accordingly, I would affirm Leonard’s convictions and sentences in all respects.