Coward 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 that mere occupancy and proximity, although factors to be considered among the totality of the circumstances, are insufficient standing alone to prove a defendant’s guilty knowledge of illegal drugs
• noting that although the officer was able to see the contraband with illumination from his flashlight, “there was no evidence that the baggie would have been visible in the darkness of the passenger compartment without such additional lighting”
• reversing a passenger’s conviction for cocaine possession based on his proximity to drugs found on the center console of a car stopped for a traffic violation at night, when a police officer illuminated the interior of the car for a “quick scan”
• noting Coward exhibited no signs of guilty knowledge

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).