Court Opinion

ID: 9702922
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:32:28.609423+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:43.502696
License: Public Domain

*542HOFFMAN, Judge,
dissenting:
“Absent literal possession, the Commonwealth may sustain its burden by showing constructive possession, which requires the Commonwealth prove that the accused had the power to control the contraband and the intent to exercise that control.” Commonwealth v. DeCampli, 243 Pa.Superior Ct. 69, 74, 364 A.2d 454, 456 (1976). Here, because the Commonwealth has utterly failed to show that appellant either knew of or in any way intended to exercise control of the contraband, I must dissent.
The contraband was found in clothes near appellant’s unlocked cell door. “In view of the fact that it is admitted that prison garb is standard and bears no separately identifiable marks, there is no direct evidence that in fact the clothes belonged to [appellant].” Lower Ct.Op. at 2. Moreover, appellant had been away from the cell during the “free time” immediately prior to the search and the cell had remained unlocked and unattended. The Commonwealth’s evidence thus proved that marijuana was found in unidentified clothes near the door of appellant’s unlocked and unattended cell during a time when other prisoners were free to walk about the cell block. Contrary to the majority, I find that insufficient to establish appellant’s conscious dominion over the contraband and, accordingly, I dissent.