Kier v. State

663 S.E.2d 832 (2008)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Sergeant Tanner observed a vehicle traveling at a very low rate of speed while flashing its emergency lights. Tanner conducted a traffic stop to see if the driver needed assistance. The car was owned and driven by Cory Dixon. A juvenile was sitting in the front passenger seat next to Dixon. D was seated in the rear seat behind Dixon. D's friend, Chiquita Baker, was seated next to D in the back seat. Tanner approached the driver's side door. Dixon rolled down his window, and Tanner noticed both the scent of marijuana coming from the vehicle and smoke inside of it. Tanner found a bag containing 16 'rocks' of crack cocaine in the compartment of the driver's door. Tanner arrested Dixon, and he asked the other occupants of the car to exit the same. Tanner observed a hand-rolled marijuana cigarette on the rear floorboard, just behind the center console, and observed that the same had been recently smoked. Based on this cigarette, Tanner arrested all three passengers for possession of marijuana. Baker testified that she and D had gone to a local nightclub, where she encountered Dixon, whom she knew from school. Baker asked Dixon if he could give D and her a ride home, and Dixon agreed. During that ride, Dixon and his juvenile passenger smoked a marijuana cigarette, which they disposed of when the police stopped the car. Baker did not see what they did with that cigarette, because she was preoccupied with hiding her personal marijuana, obtained at the nightclub, in her underwear. Baker stated that D did not smoke the marijuana cigarette belonging to Dixon and his juvenile passenger. Baker did not see D in possession of any marijuana that night. D was convicted of possession and appealed.