Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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State v. Miller, ___ N.C. App. ___, 826 S.E.2d 562 (Mar. 19, 2019)
In this maintaining a dwelling case on remand from the state Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of State v. Rogers, __ N.C. __, 817 S.E.2d 150 (2018), the court held that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction. The State’s evidence showed that the drugs were kept at the defendant’s home on one occasion. Under Rogers, “the State must produce other incriminating evidence of the ‘totality of the circumstances’ and more than just evidence of a single sale of illegal drugs or ‘merely having drugs in a car (or other place)’ to support a conviction under this charge.” Here, the State offered no evidence showing any drugs or paraphernalia, large amounts of cash, weapons or other implements of the drug trade at the defendant’s home. The State offered no evidence of any other drug sales occurring there, beyond the one sale at issue in the case. It stated: “Under ‘the totality of the circumstances,’ ‘merely having drugs in a car [or residence] is not enough to justify a conviction under subsection 90-108(a)(7).’” It concluded, stating that Roger was distinguishable because it involved keeping of drugs in a motor vehicle, where other drugs and incriminating evidence of ongoing drug sales were present.