Court Opinion

ID: 9731969
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:03:11.263552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:22.233157
License: Public Domain

OLSZEWSKI, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
While I agree with Judge Cercone’s well-reasoned conclusion that this Court may exercise jurisdiction over the instant matter, I believe that the Commonwealth has satisfied its burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the currency was used to facilitate a drug transaction. The majority is correct in finding that due to the fact that the currency was found in close proximity to the marijuana, a rebuttable presumption exists that such currency is the product of the sale of the controlled substance. Unlike the majority, however, I would not find that appellee herein has introduced sufficient evidence to rebut this presumption and would hold that the funds are subject to forfeiture.
Trooper Daniel Venick testified that the other state troopers seized various prepared bags of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia from the home of appellee.1 Incident to that seizure was the discovery, in separate bundles, of *30$850.00 and $411.00. Trooper Earl Roberts, present at the scene, testified that he observed appellee attempt to hide the bundle containing $850.00 in the couch. Trooper Maharowski testified that a nasal lineup, consisting of four envelopes, one of which contained the seized money, was conducted at the police station. A police dog, trained in the detection of narcotics, examined the envelopes and reacted to the envelope containing the money. Trooper Maharowski testified that the dog’s reaction indicated the presence of narcotic odor on the money in that envelope.
Appellee attempted to rebut the presumption that the funds seized were proceeds from the sale of the marijuana, by alleging that she received the sum of $1,000.00 from her paramour’s brother, with which she planned to buy an automobile.2 She also testified that the $411.00 found was from a welfare check that she cashed two days before the arrest.
I do not believe that the proffered attempt made by appellee to advance other sources from which she received the two bundles of money seized sufficiently rebuts the presumption that it is proceeds from the sale of a controlled substance. The result reached by the majority would set a poor precedent for overcoming this presumption, as one would need to merely articulate an alternative source of the money seized in order to successfully rebut the presumption. The Commonwealth’s presentation of more than sufficient evidence that the funds seized were derived from the sale of contraband should not be so easily discounted.

. Additionally, Trooper Venick was of the opinion that the marijuana bags were packaged for sale.

. The discrepancy between the $850 seized during the search and the $1,000 that appellee testified she received from another source was explained by appellee at trial. She testified that she used the difference of the money for rent and household supplies. Appellee’s paramour and his brother both corroborated the fact that appellee received the $1,000 from the latter.