Court Opinion

ID: 9710139
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:02:55.578891+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:54.505404
License: Public Domain

Otis, Justice
(dissenting).
In my opinion, there is no evidence, let alone evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, to support a finding defendant had any part in “manufacturing” a controlled substance. When apprehended, he was simply packaging what had already been processed. The evidence makes it equally plausible to speculate that the informant was the one who manufactured the marijuana and thereafter sold it to the defendant, or that some third person, having discovered it, led defendant to the spot where it was drying out. To hold that a jury could find that because of the remote location no one but the manufacturer could have been aware of where the marijuana was located is, in my opinion, a conclusion wholly unsupported by the evidence. I would hold defendant was guilty only of illegal possession.