Wells v. Commonwealth

347 S.E.2d 139 (1986)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Officers executed a search warrant at the apartment of Nancy Meadows. This apartment was occupied by Meadows and her two small children. D, a friend and frequent visitor of Meadows, was present when the officers entered the apartment. While other officers searched the apartment, one stayed in the living room filling out information cards about the two women. The police found a brown bag in a dresser drawer. This bag contained seven sandwich baggies, each containing ten baggie corners, for a total of seventy plastic corners containing marijuana. The total weight of the marijuana was 4.2 ounces. The total value of the marijuana was $700. No unusual amounts of money or marijuana-related paraphernalia were found during the search of the apartment or on the person of D upon her arrest. D concedes that the evidence was sufficient to prove that she possessed the marijuana. P offered Meadows as its witness and established a reasonable inference that the marijuana possessed by D was for her personal use. No evidence of intent to distribute was produced by this witness based on activities within the apartment. Meadows testified that she did not know that the marijuana was there. Officer Day testified that the mode of packaging was as consistent with purchase as with distribution. He further testified that while it was unusual to find this quantity for personal use, he did not testify that it was totally inconsistent with personal use over a period of time. At the conclusion of P's evidence, D moved to strike the evidence on the ground that it was insufficient to prove possession with intent to distribute. The motion was overruled. D presented no evidence.