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Hicks v. State

An investigator's testimony that drug dealers frequently keep their drugs in disposable containers like pill bottles and usually buy one piece of crack cocaine was insufficient to prove the defendant's intent to distribute cocaine.

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The jury found Daniel Hicks, Jr. guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.1 Hicks appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. Because the state failed to prove that Hicks intended to distribute the cocaine he possessed, we reverse his conviction, remand the case, and direct the trial court to enter a judgment of conviction on the lesser included offense of possession of cocaine. Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that on the night of December 1, 2006, the police were conducting a roadblock and safety checkpoint in Decatur County. The roadblock was clearly visible to approaching cars. Late that night, Hicks was driving in the direction of the roadblock with his girlfriend riding in the front passenger seat. As he neared the roadblock, Hicks suddenly pulled his vehicle into a culvert on the side of the road near the woods and stopped.

A sergeant with the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department activated the blue lights on his patrol car and quickly pulled up to Hicks’s vehicle. The sergeant was joined by a police investigator, and Hicks and his girlfriend were instructed to get out and stand at the front of the vehicle. Both complied. Hicks, however, appeared extremely nervous and began to pace in circles and fidget with his mouth. He stated that he had pulled off the road because the panel lights on his vehicle were not working, but the sergeant and investigator observed that all of the vehicle’s lights appeared to be functioning properly. While the sergeant ran a check on Hicks’s drivers license, Hicks consented to a search of the vehicle.

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