Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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State v. Bice, ___ N.C. App. ___, 821 S.E.2d 259 (Oct. 2, 2018)
The trial court did not err by failing to instruct the jury on an exemption to a drug trafficking charge. The defendant argued that he was exempt from prosecution as an “ultimate user” pursuant to G.S. 90-101(c). The statute defines an ultimate user as a person who lawfully possesses a controlled substance for his own use, or for the use of a member of his household. The defendant was found in possession of 54 dosage units of oxycodone weighing 6.89 grams. The defendant argued that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury sua sponte on the ultimate user exception. The court found however that the record lacked substantial evidence by which a jury instruction on this exemption would have been required. The evidence showed that the defendant did not lawfully possess his father’s oxycodone pills solely for his father’s prescribed use, as required to fall within the ultimate user exemption. Rather, the record reflects overwhelming evidence that the defendant possessed his father’s oxycodone for his own purpose of unlawfully selling the pills. Although the defendant presented evidence that the oxycodone was prescribed to his father, that the defendant drove his father to and from appointments related to his care, and that the defendant lived with and cared for his father, “no reasonable person could conclude that Defendant was in lawful possession of his father’s oxycodone at the time of his arrest.” Among other things the defendant gave a written confession admitting that he was selling the pills to make money. Because the defendant failed to present substantial evidence that he possessed the pills solely for his father’s use, he was not entitled to the instruction.