Defendant was tried, convicted, and sentenced
for
having unlawfully possessed a narcotic
I would purposely refrain from determining the merit of defendant’s presented claim of error, there being no need for such determination considering the prosecutor’s confession. The confession instead should be accepted as fair basis for the latter’s motion and grant thereof. In that view the cause should be remanded to circuit for entry of an order or orders accordingly. I vote accordingly.
Notes
The prosecutor requested that the trial judge charge the jury as follows. Such request was granted.
“You do not need to undertake to determine whether or not Ronnie Miles knew that the cigarette contained marijuana. If you find the other two points and that you don’t have any doubt or any reasonable doubt that he had the cigarette in question in his hand, in his possession, and that you have no reasonable doubt it contained marijuana, you would bring in- a verdict of guilty whether or not he knew that there was any marijuana in the cigarette or not.”
By his confession the prosecutor has agreed with defendant’s counsel that such charge constituted reversible error.
