Alleyne v. State(4th District Court of Appeals, September 1st, 2010).

At 9:15 a.m., a number of police cars pulled up to a convenience store. ^FN2Alleyne started to run away. A police car pulled in front of Alleyne and an officer tasered him. As he stopped, a brown bag flew out of his hand and landed on the police car. Inside the bag were 18 individual plastic Ziploc bags containing marijuana and a rolled up $20 bill. The total weight of all the marijuana was less than 20 grams. The officer found $36 in Alleyne's pocket. The state offered no testimony as to Alleyne's conduct outside of the store before the police arrived.

The Defense at the trial moved the Court to dismiss the case which was denied by the Judge.  The Defendant was convicted of Possession with Intent to Sell within a Thousand Feet of a School(which carries a mandatory Minimum of 3 years in prison).

On appeal the Appellate Court found that the officer's opinion was unsupported by facts that would give it credence; the Defendant did nothing outside the convenience store before the police pulled up which indicated he was selling drugs. Neither the total amount of marijuana nor the amount of cash recovered was inconsistent with personal use. His flight from the police was as consistent with possession of illegal drugs as it was with the intent to sell them.

Therefore, trial court erred when it denied the Defense's motion for judgment of acquittal at the end of the state's case, because the evidence of his intent to sell was circumstantial and the evidence did not exclude his reasonable hypothesis of innocence-that he possessed the marijuana only for personal use.  The Court then reduced the charges to simple Possession of Cocaine.