Court Opinion

ID: 9739887
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:22:55.215673+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:14.487695
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the judgment of the Court wherein it affirms the conviction of appellant Dennis Watson. The evidence that he knowingly aided the offense of dealing in cocaine is:
(1) He was present at his mother’s house when the informant and his brother were there.
(2) Upon leaving the house he said either “I think its best if you leave the women behind” or “I think its best if we leave the women behind.”
(3) He said “Be careful.”
(4) Dennis Watson pulled into the restaurant parking lot next to the car in which his brother’s girlfriend and the informant, her brother, were sitting and started talking to them.
(5) Several officers later testified they may have seen Dennis’ car in the lot earlier.
The theory of the prosecution was that Dennis Watson was behaving like a lookout for the dealers. In any view, this is exceptionally sparse evidence of aiding in the transaction. No matter how far it is stretched, it fails to have that substantial probative character which can support the conclusion of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I would reverse that conviction.