United States v. Brenda C. Pena

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 presence in a place where drugs were discovered is not enough to sustain a conviction for aiding and abetting in possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs
• holding that defendant’s presence as a passenger in a car was insufficient to establish aiding and abetting liability because defendant took no steps to assist in the transportation or delivery of the drugs found in the car
• “A generalized belief or suspicion that something illegal is going on is not sufficient for a rational jury to find that a mere passenger in an automobile is aiding and abetting the delivery of cocaine”
• “guilt by association” not sufficient to sustain a conviction for possession

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).