State v. Rhodes

Citations

• 335 Conn. 226

Syllabus

Convicted of, among other crimes, criminal possession of a firearm and having a weapon in a motor vehicle, the defendant appealed. The defen- dant had been driving a car with a passenger, S, a drug dealer with whom the defendant had a long-standing relationship. They drove around for approximately forty-five minutes, stopped at a gas station-conve- nience store, and then drove for another forty-five minutes. The defen- dant then stopped the car in the lane of travel as they approached a large, outdoor social gathering, and S exited the car and fired multiple gunshots from a gun he had been carrying. S then reentered the car and instructed the defendant to drive. Police officers witnessed the shooting, and a high-speed police chase ensued, after which the defen- dant and S were ultimately apprehended. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she possessed a firearm and, therefore, that there was insufficient evi- dence to sustain her conviction of criminal possession of a firearm. The defendant also contended that there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction of having a weapon in a motor vehicle. Held: 1. There was sufficient evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant constructively possessed the firearm that S used in the shooting, as the record contained sufficient circumstantial evidence that the defendant knew that the firearm was in the car and that she was in a position to and intended to control the firearm, and, accordingly, this court upheld the defendant's conviction of criminal possession of a firearm: the jury reasonably could have inferred that, by the time of the police chase, the defendant knew that the firearm was in the vehicle, the defendant likely knew that S was a drug dealer and that he, therefore, often carried a gun, the fact that the defendant was driving and thereby controlling the car suggested that she was able to and intended to control the