Opinion
No. 454, 1998.
June 22, 1999.
Appeal from the Family Court, JN93-2002.
AFFIRMED.
Unpublished Opinion is below.
THOMAS SIMPSON, Respondent Below, Appellant, v. STATE OF DELAWARE, Petitioner Below, Appellee. No. 454, 1998. Supreme Court of Delaware. Submitted: May 4, 1999. Decided: June 22, 1999.
Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 7(d) a pseudonym has been assigned to this appeal by the Court.
Court Below: Family Court of the State of Delaware, in and for New Castle County: File No. JN93-2002.
Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, and HARTNETT, Justices.
ORDER
This 22nd day of June 1999, upon consideration of the briefs of the parties, it appears to the Court that:
1. Thomas Simpson, a juvenile, appeals his conviction in Family Court of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, a felony, in violation of 16 Del. C. § 4751(a) and loitering in violation of 16 Del. C. § 7321(a). He appeals only the intent to deliver cocaine charge. The appeal is without merit.
2. At the close of the state's case in chief, Simpson unsuccessfully moved for judgment of acquittal on the charge of intent to deliver cocaine. After denial of the motion, Simpson rested without presenting evidence. The judge then found Simpson guilty of both charges.
3. The applicable standard of review is whether viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the prosecution, there was sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find that Simpson had committed the charged offense. Davis v. State, Del.Supr., 706 A.2d 523, 524 (1998); Monroe v. State, Del. Supr., 652 A.2d 560, 563 (1995).
4. In addition to other evidence, it was adduced at trial that Simpson, a juvenile, was arrested for loitering at a street corner in the evening. The street corner is well-known for drug activity. He had been previously warned not to loiter in the area and refused an order to move just before being arrested. He was placed in the back of a police patrol car. The back seat area of the police car had been inspected at the beginning of the police shift and there was no evidence of drugs. No one occupied the car before Simpson that shift. After Simpson got out of the police car the police officers found a plastic bag containing four individual rocks of cocaine.
5. From a careful review of the entire record, we find that the State presented evidence sufficient to have permitted the trier of fact to have found that Simpson possessed the drugs with the intent to deliver them.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS SO ORDERED that the judgment of the Family Court is AFFIRMED.
BY THE COURT:
s/ MAURICE A. HARTNETT, III, Justice