Court Opinion

ID: 9585199
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:57:26.523939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:34:37.815763
License: Public Domain

Banke, Judge,
dissenting.
I cannot agree that the evidence in this case did not authorize the inference that the appellant knew that heroin was present in his automobile. He was, after all, sitting next to his companion as the latter stuffed the 12 plastic bags into the car window. It defies reason to *376imagine that the appellant was oblivious to this activity. Furthermore, it appears from the officer’s testimony that the appellant took evasive action only long enough for the process of hiding the heroin to be completed, whereupon he stopped the car. Viewed in their totality, these circumstances evidence more than mere presence at the scene of a crime and subsequent flight. They also evidence a direct connection between the appellant and the crime being committed in his vehicle. For this reason, Greeson v. State, supra, and the other cases cited by the majority are inapposite.
I find that the evidence, when construed in support of the jury’s verdict, as we are required to do on appeal, excludes every reasonable hypothesis other than the accused’s guilt. Consequently, the jury’s verdict was fully authorized and should be upheld.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen and Judge McMurray join in the dissent.