{"id":1576,"date":"2020-10-12T20:24:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T20:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=1576"},"modified":"2020-10-12T20:24:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T20:24:08","slug":"permissive-inference-of-drug-possession","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=1576","title":{"rendered":"Permissive Inference of Drug Possession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>CR40-801.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-801.htm\">Permissive Inference of Drug Possession<\/a> (presence in automobile), 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4221(b) (10\/12\/20)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">Reporter&#8217;s Note<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In drug possession cases, \u201c[t]he presence of a regulated drug in an automobile . . . is presumptive evidence of knowing possession thereof by each and every person in the automobile at the time such drug was found . . . .\u201d 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4221(b). While the statute uses the term \u201cpresumption,\u201d this is better described as a \u201cpermissive inference.\u201d <em>See<\/em> <u>State v. Goyette<\/u>, 156 Vt. 591, 600 (1991) (citing V.R.E. 303; <u>State v. McBurney<\/u>, 145 Vt. 201, 205 (1984)). \u201cA permissive inference . . . allows rather than requires the trier of fact to find the inferred fact and places no burden on the defendant; this is not unconstitutional.\u201d <u>McBurney<\/u>, 145 Vt. at 205.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The model instruction CR40-801 largely derives from the trial court\u2019s instruction as quoted in <u>Goyette<\/u>, 156 Vt. at 600\u201304, and also includes language from <u>State v. Scales<\/u>, 2019 VT 7, \u00b6\u00b6 11\u201313. Note that the statute provides three exceptions for which the inference does not apply. 18 V.S.A. \u00a7\u00a04221(b)(1)\u2013(3). It might not be necessary to instruct on all three exceptions in every case.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CR40-801.\u00a0 Permissive Inference of Drug Possession (presence in automobile), 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4221(b) (10\/12\/20) Reporter&#8217;s Note In drug possession cases, \u201c[t]he presence of a regulated drug in an automobile . . . is presumptive evidence of knowing possession thereof by &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=1576\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1576","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1582,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1576\/revisions\/1582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}