Com. v. Phillips, D., 388 EDA 2017

Police executed a search warrant at Tiesha Spriggs’ Chester home on April 5, 2016; officers found Derrick Phillips hiding in a first-floor bedroom closet.
A jacket in that closet contained 16 small baggies of cocaine (total 7.89 g); additional cocaine (11.35 g) was found in the kitchen. Phillips’ wallet and two cell phones were also found in the first-floor bedroom area.
Phillips told officers he had “a little bit of cocaine.” An expert testified the packaging in the jacket indicated distribution-level intent. Phillips denied ownership at trial.
A jury convicted Phillips of possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and conspiracy; the conspiracy conviction was later vacated on post-sentence motion.
Phillips appealed arguing (1) the prosecutor’s peremptory strikes of the two remaining African‑American jurors violated Batson, and (2) the evidence was insufficient to prove actual or constructive possession of the cocaine and paraphernalia.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether prosecutor’s peremptory strikes violated Batson	Commonwealth: strikes were race-neutral because jurors had close relatives with drug-related problems which could bias them in a drug case	Phillips: strikes eliminated the only remaining African‑American panelists and were pretextual racial exclusions	Court: Batson challenge rejected—trial court credited Commonwealth’s race‑neutral reasons and found no purposeful discrimination
Whether evidence was sufficient to prove constructive possession of cocaine and paraphernalia	Commonwealth: totality of circumstances (Phillips hiding in the closet, being sole person in room, his admission he had cocaine, jacket in the same closet containing baggies) supports conscious dominion and intent	Phillips: evidence did not establish actual or constructive possession of the drugs/paraphernalia	Court: evidence sufficient—constructive possession established by conscious dominion and Phillips’ statements; convictions affirmed (conspiracy vacated earlier)

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) (peremptory strikes motivated by race violate Equal Protection)
Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765 (1995) (prosecutor need not provide persuasive or plausible race‑neutral explanation at step two of Batson)
Miller‑El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322 (2003) (trial court credibility determinations on Batson receive great deference on appeal)
Commonwealth v. Cook, 597 Pa. 572, 952 A.2d 594 (Pa. 2008) (Pennsylvania restatement of Batson framework and burden allocations)
Commonwealth v. Cruz, 21 A.3d 1247 (Pa. Super. 2011) (defines constructive possession as conscious dominion; may be proven by totality of circumstances)
Commonwealth v. Walker, 874 A.2d 667 (Pa. Super. 2005) (contraband not found on person requires proof of constructive possession)