State v. Rogers

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The Supreme Court held that the trial court correctly denied Defendant’s motion to dismiss as to the charge of keeping or maintaining a vehicle which is used for the keeping or selling of controlled substances, holding that it can be reasonably be inferred from the evidence that Defendant had kept the car that he was driving and that he was using that car to store crack cocaine when he was arrested.Defendant was pulled over by law enforcement officers during a drug investigation. The officers discovered two bags of crack cocaine hidden behind the gas-cap door of the car that Defendant was driving. Defendant was indicted for several offenses. The trial court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss as to the possession-of-cocaine charge but denied the motion as to all other remaining charges. The jury found Defendant guilty of all of these charges. The court of appeals reversed Defendant’s conviction for keeping or maintaining a vehicle which is used for the keeping or selling of a controlled substance, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to support the charge. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and drawing all reasonable inferences from that evidence, a reasonable jury could find that Defendant committed the crime at issue. View "State v. Rogers" on Justia Law