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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

"Bong" Found Under Passenger's Seat Insufficient for Conviction of Drug Possession

An Henrico County judge dismissed a marijauna possession charge against the passenger of a car in which marijuana was found in the console. The officer lawfully stopped the car for a traffic violation and testified that when he approached the driver, he detected "a strong odor of marijuana" inside the car. He ordered the driver and passenger out of the vehicle and had them go to the rear of the car to wait while he conducted a search of the interior. The driver did not object to the search. The officer found a plastic baggie containing marijuana in the console between the front passenger seats, and a marijuana "bong" pipe  containing residue on the floorboard near the front edge of the passenger seat. The passenger denied knowledge of the bong, though the officer testified that "incriminating" statements were made by the passenger to him.

Under cross-examination, the officer could not produce any facts or other evidence (such as admissions by the passenger, or fingerprints), to establish that the passenger "possessed" the "bong."

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