Watkins v. State
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Cite as 2009 Ark. App. 131 (unpublished)
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION III
No.
CACR08-730
HENRY MIKE WATKINS JR.,
APPELLANT
Opinion Delivered 25
FEBRUARY 2009
APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
[NO. CR07-2432]
V.
THE HONORABLE JOHN W.
LANGSTON, JUDGE
STATE OF ARKANSAS,
APPELLEE
AFFIRMED
D.P. MARSHALL JR., Judge
After a bench trial, the circuit court convicted Henry Watkins of possessing less than
ten pounds of marijuana and possessing Clonazepam. The court sentenced him as a habitual
offender to four years’ imprisonment.
Watkins’s sole argument for reversal, a sufficiency challenge, lacks merit. Benitez v.
State, 99 Ark. App. 140, 142–43, 257 S.W.3d 902, 905 (2007); Ark. Code Ann. § 5-64-401
(Supp. 2007). In so holding, we view the evidence supporting the conviction in the light
most favorable to the State. Law v. State, 375 Ark. 505, 508, 292 S.W.3d 277, 280 (2009).
This case involves joint occupancy of a minivan. So the State had to link Watkins and the
illegal drugs. Benitez, 99 Ark. App. at 143, 257 S.W.3d at 906. Our supreme court has
described five factors for consideration in these cases: (1) whether the contraband was in
plain view; (2) whether the contraband was found with Watkins’s personal effects; (3)
Cite as 2009 Ark. App. 131 (unpublished)
whether the contraband was found on the same side of the minivan as Watkins or in near
proximity to him; (4) whether Watkins was the owner of the minivan, or exercised dominion
and control over it; and (5) whether Watkins acted suspiciously before or during arrest. Ibid.
Further, in Miller v. State, 68 Ark. App. 332, 335, 6 S.W.3d 812, 814 (1999), this court
analogized an officer smelling a strong odor of marijuana when he approached a stopped
vehicle to the marijuana being in plain view. “It is the knowledge of the existence of the
contraband that provides substantial evidence of constructive possession.” Ibid.
Sergeant Theodore Haase of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office testified that, while
he was on patrol one evening, he stopped a minivan for a traffic violation. When he made
contact with the driver, he smelled the “overwhelming odor” of burnt marijuana coming from
the vehicle. He asked the driver and the front-seat passenger to exit the vehicle. Both denied
possessing any marijuana.
Haase then made contact with Watkins, the only other passenger. He was sitting on
the third-row bench seat. Haase instructed Watkins to “hand [him] the marijuana.” Watkins
then pulled a small baggie out of a black and tan leather bag sitting next to him on the seat.
The baggie contained a green leafy substance, which Haase suspected was marijuana. A
further search of the leather bag revealed eight small baggies and one large baggie of the
green leafy substance and thirteen pills. Tests later confirmed that the substance in the
baggies was marijuana. The eight smaller baggies had a combined weight of twenty-eight
grams and the one larger baggie weighed thirty-two and a half grams. Tests also revealed
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Cite as 2009 Ark. App. 131 (unpublished)
that five of the pills were Clonazepam.
Watkins testified that the leather bag was not his and that it was in the minivan when
he got in the vehicle. He didn’t move it because his mother told him “don’t put no woman’s
purse on the floor,” and he didn’t know whose bag it was. Watkins testified that the only
reason he knew what was in the bag was because he “was a little nosy” and had looked in it.
The circuit court, however, was the fact-finder charged with weighing the evidence and
determining Watkins’s credibility. Law, 375 Ark. at 508, 292 S.W.3d at 280.
On appeal, Watkins argues correctly that some of the enumerated linking factors are
not present in this case. But the factors that are present link Watkins to the marijuana and
Clonazepam. First, Haase smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the
minivan. Second, Watkins was close to the illegal drugs: they were right beside him; he was
the only person sitting on the third-row bench seat; and the other two passengers were in the
front of the minivan. Lastly, when asked by Haase to hand over the marijuana, Watkins did.
He reached into the leather bag and pulled out one of the small baggies. We therefore hold
that substantial evidence supports Watkins’s possession convictions. Benitez, 99 Ark. App.
at 142–43, 257 S.W.3d at 905; Ark. Code Ann. § 5-64-401.
Affirmed.
R OBBINS and B ROWN, JJ., agree.
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