Court Opinion

ID: 9492944
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:53:52.685451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:33.885876
License: Public Domain

SAND, District Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I dissent from so much of the majority opinion as holds that there was insufficient corroboration to support the conviction on the possession count. The majority cites (slip op. at 349, 356) an August 11 conversation as evidence that no sale occurred on August 6 (“Johnson called Bryce on August 11 and asked him whether he still had ‘it.’ ”). The majority assumes that the “it” refers to the same drugs which were to have been sold on August 6. But the word “still,” which is critical to this analysis, nowhere appears in the record of that conversation.
All of the circumstances support the inference that the August 11 conversation *357refers to narcotics Bryce received after August 6. The August 11 conversation is evidence only of the fact that Bryce and Johnson continued their drug dealings after August 6. The fact that drug dealers require a rapid turnover of inventory negates the inference drawn by the majority and supports the conclusion reached by the jury and district judge that the August 6th sale was in fact consummated. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.