Court Opinion

ID: 9778518
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:10:58.380209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:11.079929
License: Public Domain

OPINION
FARRIS, Judge.
Kellye Marie McCarty was convicted by a jury of aggravated possession of a controlled substance to-wit: amphetamine. Formerly TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 4476-15, sec. 4.041(a), (c) (Vernon Supp. 1989), and sec. 4.02(d)(1)(A) (Vernon 1976) (now codified at TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. secs. 481.116(a), (c) and 481.103(a)(3) (Vernon Pamph.1990)). The jury sentenced McCarty to seven years in the Texas Department of Corrections, probated, and a suspended $5,000 fine.
McCarty raises three points of error on appeal. We will discuss only her first point of error regarding the sufficiency of the evidence because that point alone warrants reversal of the case and a judgment of acquittal.
During the morning on January 16,1986, officers of the Tarrant County Narcotics Task Force obtained a search warrant and that same evening, conducted a search of the residence occupied by appellant, Kellye McCarty, and Robert “Bubba” Smith. At the time of the search, four persons were located in the house. While the search was being conducted, all four were handcuffed and detained in the living room. A search of a laundry hamper in the bathroom off the master bedroom revealed a red nylon bag containing 50.95 grams of amphetamine. There was mostly women’s clothing in the hamper and mostly women’s cosmetics in the bathroom. McCarty had $293 on her when she was arrested for possession of amphetamine.
In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence in either a direct or circumstantial evidence case, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and consider whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. State, 672 S.W.2d 801, 803 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d 455, 456 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) (opinion on reh’g); Wilson v. State, 654 S.W.2d 465, 471-72 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (opinion on reh’g). “This familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979). However, a conviction based on circumstantial evidence cannot be sustained if the circumstances do not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except that of the guilt of the defendant. Johnson v. *215State, 673 S.W.2d 190, 195 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Jackson, 672 S.W.2d at 803.
In order to sustain a conviction for possession of a controlled substance, the State must meet at least two evidentia-ry requirements: (1) the accused exercised care, control, and management over the substance, and (2) the accused knew that what he possessed was contraband. Humason v. State, 728 S.W.2d 363, 364 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). However, knowledge of something’s existence does not constitute control of it. Brady v. State, 771 S.W.2d 734, 736 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1989, no pet.). Furthermore, where the accused is not shown to be in exclusive control or possession of the place where the contraband is found, it cannot be concluded that he had knowledge and control over the contraband unless there are additional independent facts and circumstances which affirmatively link the accused to the contraband. Deshong v. State, 625 S.W.2d 327, 329 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1981). In addition, the circumstances affirmatively linking the accused to the contraband must also exclude alternative reasonable hypotheses beyond a reasonable doubt, because a finding of guilt is not rational if the evidence supports an inference other than appellant’s guilt. Wilson v. State, 654 S.W.2d 465, 471 (Tex.Crim.App.1983); Winter v. State, 725 S.W.2d 728, 731 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, no pet.).
At the time the search was executed, McCarty resided in the house with Smith; therefore, additional facts to show an affirmative link are necessary. Neither appellant nor Smith testified during the guilt/innocence stage of trial; however, both testified during the punishment stage. McCarty testified that: she did not know the drugs were in there; Smith kept his dirty clothes in the hamper in the bathroom connected to her bedroom because it was the only hamper in the house; Smith did not do drugs in front of her but she suspected he smoked pot; and no one else stayed in the bedroom with her.
Smith testified that he and McCarty both used the bathroom; McCarty did not know about the amphetamine; he put the amphetamine in the hamper; he always moved the drugs around; there were a lot of drugs and drug paraphernalia all over the house; he would sell dope to ten to fifteen people a day at the house; and he pleaded guilty to aggravated possession because he was guilty.
While the evidence presented at the punishment stage of the trial strongly supports the conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to support a guilty verdict for McCarty, we will not consider this evidence because of the holding in Winter, 725 S.W.2d at 730. In Winter, the court wrote:
Generally, the law in Texas is that if a defendant does not testify at the guilt stage of the trial, but does testify at the punishment phase of the trial and admits his guilt to the crime for which he has been found guilty, he has for legal purposes entered the equivalent of a plea of guilty. Such a defendant waives a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, and waives any non-jurisdictional error that might have occurred during the trial. DeGarmo v. State, 691 S.W.2d 657, 661 (Tex.Crim.App.1985).
In this case, the appellant did not testify at the guilt stage of the trial, but did testify at the punishment phase of the trial. However, he did not admit guilt to the crime for which he had been found guilty. Therefore, the appellant has not waived the error complained of, nor has he waived his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Thus, we will consider only the evidence introduced at the guilt stage of the trial to determine if there is sufficient evidence to support the verdict.
Id. at 730 (emphasis in original).
In the present case, McCarty testified at the punishment stage of trial but did not admit her guilt, therefore, we will only consider the evidence presented at the guilt/innocence stage of the trial. That testimony revealed: McCarty was at the residence when it was searched; the amphetamine was found in a clothes hamper in the bathroom connected to the master bedroom which she occupied and which could only be reached by going through her *216bedroom; the hamper contained mostly women’s clothing while her roommate was a male; mostly women’s cosmetics were found in the bathroom; women’s clothing was found in the closet of the master bedroom; there was no evidence of drug use by McCarty; and she had $293 on her person when she was arrested. The State further contends the affirmative links between McCarty and the amphetamine eliminate any reasonable hypothesis that she was not aware the amphetamine was in her bathroom. We disagree. The State has failed to show that McCarty exercised care, control, and management over the substance.
The facts, which the State claims establish an affirmative link between McCarty and the amphetamine, do not exclude as a reasonable hypothesis that there were men’s clothing in the hamper and/or men’s toiletries in the bathroom and it was Smith who put the amphetamine in the hamper. To put it another way, the possibility that Smith put the amphetamine in the hamper is reasonably consistent with all of the evidence upon which the State relies to prove its circumstantial case.
We cannot say the evidence is sufficient to affirmatively link McCarty to the amphetamine. McCarty’s attack on the sufficiency of the evidence is sustained.
We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand it with an instruction to enter a judgment of acquittal.
MEYERS, J., dissents.