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Court overturns drug, firearm conviction Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state failed to prove a man was in possession of contraband at the time of his December 2005 arrest on drug and firearms charges, the state Court of Appeals said Wednesday in overturning his conviction and 10-year sentence. The court dismissed all charges against Phillip B. Jones, 42, who had been serving in the Department of Correction's work-release program in Benton. Police arrested Jones after serving a search warrant at a North Little Rock residence and finding him and a woman in a bedroom that also contained two bags of crack cocaine, a bag of marijuana, three glass smoking devices and a loaded handgun. Police also found two other people in other parts of the residence. At his April 2007 trial, Jones was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm by a felon and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms. He was sentenced as a habitual offender because of previous convictions. Jones argued on appeal that the state never proved he possessed the drugs or the handgun, a point the Court of Appeals sited in its ruling Wednesday. There was no evidence that Jones lived at the residence, and the items were not in plain view, the court said. "Joint occupancy is not sufficient in itself to establish possession - there must be some additional factor linking the accused to the contraband," Judge Josephine Linker Hart wrote. Although it was possible Jones owned the items, it was equally possible that someone else owned them, the court said. The court rejected the state's argument that Jones showed consciousness of guilt by initially giving a false name to police. Giving a false name to police can corroborate other proof of guilt, but it was not enough in Jones' case to prove he possessed contraband, the court said. |
