Birdsong v. Commonwealth

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding evidence need not establish defendant knew combination to safe containing cocaine where direct evidence linked him to other evidence in safe and circumstantial evidence established his constructive possession of drugs
• noting the Commonwealth must exclude every reasonable inference of innocence arising from the evidence
• relying upon evidence showing that appellant alone used the room where drugs were found
• noting, in holding that the defendant constructively possessed contraband found in a safe, that the defendant’s papers were found in and on top of a dresser that was positioned directly next to the safe in the defendant’s bedroom closet
• affirming a constructive possession conviction where the contraband was found in a safe in the closet of the room owned and occupied by the defendant who was “the ‘exclusive or primary’ occupant of the room and was in the home shortly before the execution of the search warrant”
• defendant’s DNA used as evidence to convict defendant of possession of cocaine and possession of firearm

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).