Court Opinion

ID: 9857085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 07:15:23.617678+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:59.168359
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Chief Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur with all of the Court’s opinion except that part which reverses the conviction of Sue Ernst on the charge of manufacture of marijuana. The Court’s opinion acknowledges that there was sufficient evidence of the manufacture (growing) of marijuana, but holds that “there is no evidence in the record as to which of the two was guilty of the act of manufacture.” The Court arrives at that conclusion by isolating the evidence of manufacture in the attached greenhouse from the evidence inside the house.
The Court’s opinion acknowledges, however, that “the quantity of marijuana found in a baggie in Sue Ernst’s purse is sufficient to tie her as an individual to the marijuana found throughout the residence.” If the marijuana in the baggie in Sue Ernst’s purse was sufficient to tie her to the rest of the marijuana found through*351out the residence, as the Court’s opinion acknowledges, there is no reason why the marijuana found in the baggie in Sue Ernst’s purse was not sufficient to tie her to the marijuana found growing in the greenhouse attached to the house. The reason for the Court’s reversing the judgment of conviction of Gary Randles was that he could not personally be tied to any of the marijuana. However, Sue Ernst has been tied to the marijuana, as acknowledged by the majority opinion which affirms her conviction for possession with intent to deliver. Once the baggie was found in the defendant Sue Ernst’s purse, there was not only sufficient evidence “to tie her as an individual to the marijuana found throughout the residence,” but there was sufficient evidence to tie her to the marijuana found in the greenhouse attached to the residence. I see no distinction between holding her responsible for “the marijuana found throughout the residence,” and the marijuana found in the greenhouse attached to the residence.
I would affirm the conviction of Sue Ernst for the manufacture of marijuana, as well as the charge of possession with intent to deliver.