Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Rodelo, 231 N.C. App. 660 (Jan. 7, 2014)
(1) In a trafficking by possession case, there was sufficient evidence of constructive possession. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the State’s evidence showed only “mere proximity” to the drugs. Among other things, the defendant hid from the agents when they entered the warehouse; he was discovered alone in a tractor-trailer where money was hidden; no one else was discovered in the warehouse; the cocaine was found in a car parked, with its doors open, in close proximity to the tractor-trailer containing the cash; the cash and the cocaine were packaged similarly; wrappings were all over the tractor-trailer, in which the defendant was hiding, and in the open area of a car parked close by; the defendant admitted knowing where the money was hidden; and the entire warehouse had a chemical smell of cocaine. (2) Conspiracy to traffic in cocaine is not a lesser-included offense of trafficking in cocaine. The former offense requires an agreement; the latter does not.