English

Criminal Code Section 16: When a term describing a kind of intent or knowledge appears in a

statute defining a crime, that term applies to every element of the crime unless the definition of

the crime indicates that the term is meant to apply to only certain elements and not others.

Section 220: A person is guilty of criminal sale of a controlled substance when he knowingly

sells any quantity of a controlled substance.

Section 221(a): As used in section 220, “sell” means to exchange for goods or money, to give, or

to offer or agree to do the same, except where the seller is a licensed physical dispensing the

controlled substance pursuant to a permit issued by the Drug Enforcement Commission or where

the seller is a licensed pharmacist dispensing the controlled substance as directed by a

prescription issued by a licensed physician pursuant to a permit issued by the Drug Enforcement

Commission.

(b): As used in section 220, “controlled substance” includes any of the following…cocaine…

You have interviewed Nansen, who lives with Byrd. Neither is a licensed physician or a licensed

pharmacist. At about noon on July 15, both were arrested and charged with criminal sale of a

controlled substance. Nansen has told you the following:

Byrd keeps a supply of cocaine in our apartment. He had been out of town for a month,

and I had used his stash while he was gone. I knew that was going to bend Byrd completely out

of shape, but I thought I was going to get away with it. I had replaced it all with plaster. When

you grind plaster down real fine, it looks like coke. For other reasons, I had decided to go to

Alaska on an afternoon flight on July 15 and not come back. Byrd was supposed to get back into

town on July 16, and by the time he figured out what had happened, I'd be in the Tongass Forest.

But on the morning of the 15th, Byrd opened the door of the apartment and walked in,

saying he had decided to come back a day early. I hadn’t started packing yet – I wouldn’t have

much to pack anyway – but I didn’t know how I was going to pack with Byrd standing around

because of all the explaining I’d have to do. I also didn’t want Byrd hanging around the

apartment and working up an urge for some cocaine that wasn’t there. So I said, “Let’s hang out

on the street.”

We had been on the sidewalk about ten or fifteen minutes when a guy came up to us and

started talking. He was dressed a little too well to be a regular street person, but he looked kind

of desperate. I figured he was looking to buy some drugs. Then I realized that that was a solution

to at least some of my problem. I took Byrd aside and said, “This guy looks like he’s ready to

buy big. What do you think he’d pay for your stash?” Byrd looked reluctant, so I turned to the

guy and said, “We can sell you about three ounces of coke, but we have to have a thousand for

it.” When the guy said, “Yeah,” Byrd said, “Wait here” and ran inside the apartment building. A

thousand was far more than the stuff was worth.

Byrd walked out onto the stoop with the whole stash in his hand in the zip-lock bag he

kept it in. While he was walking down the steps, about ten feet away from me and the guy who

wanted to buy, two uniforms appeared out of nowhere and arrested Byrd and me.

The “guy” turned out to be Officer D’Asconni, an undercover policeman who will testify

to the conversation Nansen has described. The police laboratory reports that the bag contained

2.8 ounces of plaster and 0.007 ounces of cocaine. When you told Nansen about the laboratory

report, he said the following:

I didn’t think there was any coke in that bag. What they found must have been residue. I had

used up every last bit of Byrd’s stuff. I clearly remember looking at that empty bag after I

had used it all and wondering how much plaster to put in it so that it would at least look like

the coke Byrd had left behind. I certainly didn’t see any point in scrubbing the bag with

cleanser before I put the plaster in it.