{1} Defendant Gerardo Ramos Lopez appeals his convictions of possession with intent to distribute marijuana (over 100 pounds) and conspiracy to commit possession with intent to distribute marijuana (over 100 pounds). Border Patrol Agents observed Defendant driving a red Ford Mustang in apparent tandem with a maroon Nissan in which police ultimately found the drugs. At trial, there was testimony by a narcotics agent that Defendant owned the Nissan. The agent’s testimony was based on her observations of a registration document in the glove box of the Nissan and a printout of a registration check through the National Law Enforcement System. On appeal, Defendant argues that the testimony was inadmissible hearsay and also that the State failed to introduce the documents relied on by the agent. We conclude that the district court committed reversible error in admitting the testimony in the absence of the original documents or an explanation from the State justifying their unavailability. As a result, we reverse Defendant’s convictions and remand for a new trial.
{2} We note that Defendant’s single point on appeal is that the State established an essential element of the charges on which Defendant was convicted solely on this inadmissible evidence and, therefore, in its absence the convictions were not supported by sufficient evidence. The State argues that there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions even without the evidence Defendant attacks as being erroneously admitted. The manner in which the parties have phrased the issues on appeal, concentrating on sufficiency of the evidence to convict, have the tendency to lead the reader astray because the determinative issues are whether the court’s admission of the evidence was erroneous and, if so, whether the error was harmless and therefore not reversible error.
BACKGROUND
{3} Hidalgo County in Southwest New Mexico, where Defendant was arrested, is a very remote and sparsely populated area close to the Mexico-United States border. The town of Hachita is about forty-five miles north of the Mexico-United States border port town of Antelope Wells. To disrupt drug smuggling, United States Border Patrol Agents in Hachita pay special attention to vehicles traveling to and from the border. The agents are familiar with the people who live in the area and are familiar with the vehicles they drive.
{4} At trial, law enforcement witnesses testified about a common method of drug smuggling activity by the use of vehicles to pick up drugs that have been carried across the border on foot. When drugs enter the United States, it is not uncommon for the pickup people to use two vehicles in the operation, driving together from a pickup area to a distribution center. This cooperative operation is known in law enforcement as using “tandem vehicles” and, as testified to in this case, involves one vehicle serving as a “load vehicle” while the other functions as a decoy or “heat vehicle.” There are many different factors that law enforcement agents consider in arriving at a suspicion of a tandem-vehicle drug operation.
{5} On the morning of Defendant’s arrest, agents observed a red or maroon Nissan followed by a red Mustang, traveling close together, both with Arizona license plates, and with one occupant in each car. The cars appeared to be traveling together, they were not familiar to the agents, and they headed south toward Antelope Wells. About two hours later, Agent Michael Leyba observed the same two cars traveling together northbound, close to Hachita. As Agent Leyba tamed his patrol unit around, the Nissan, which was in front, immediately sped off at a
{6} Meanwhile, New Mexico State Police Officer George Lopez had spotted the Nissan traveling over 100 miles an hour. After a pursuit and a failed attempt by Officer Daniel Calderon to use a spike belt to stop the Nissan, Officer Lopez and Officer Calderon observed the Nissan parked with the driver door open in front of a truck stop near Lordsburg, New Mexico. The officers found large bundles of marijuana in the Nissan. The driver of the Nissan was Jesus Arredondo, who was arrested after being escorted by a truck driver toward Officer Lopez who had begun to look for the driver of the Nissan. Narcotics Agent Lisa Diaz arrived at the location of the Nissan and questioned Arredondo. Arredondo told Agent Diaz that the Nissan did not belong to him. In order to determine who owned the Nissan, Agent Diaz ran a registration check through Arizona and the National Law Enforcement System and also looked at the Arizona registration document inside the glove box in the Nissan. Agent Diaz drove the Nissan to the Border Patrol station, and Arredondo was apparently transported by another agent to the same location. Defendant and Arredondo were ultimately transported from the Border Patrol station to the State Police office.
{7} While Defendant was being transported from the State Police office to jail, he noticed the Nissan parked in front of the office and remarked that the Nissan did not belong to him. With the assistance of the agent who transported Defendant to the office, Defendant completed and signed a disclaimer of ownership form that requested name, social security number, birth date, driver’s license, and address.
{8} During trial, Agent Diaz was permitted to testify, over objection, that a printout of the registration check received from dispatch and the registration she saw in the glove box of the Nissan indicated that Defendant was the owner of the Nissan. The agent testified that the biographical information on Defendant’s disclaimer was the same as that included in the printout and the same as that on the registration in the glove box. The disclaimer was admitted into evidence, but neither the printout nor the registration documents were introduced in evidence during trial.
DISCUSSION
{9} We first address the State’s claims that particular arguments made on appeal were not properly preserved below. We then discuss Defendant’s arguments that Agent Diaz’s testimony was erroneously admitted, followed by a discussion regarding the State’s argument that, even without the challenged testimony, there was sufficient evidence to support Defendant’s convictions. Finally, because we reverse Defendant’s convictions, we conduct a sufficieney-of-the-evidence analysis in order to determine whether the case should be retried or dismissed.
Preliminary Preservation Issues
{10} Before we reach the merits of this case, we discuss two preliminary preservation issues. The first issue is whether an objection was made in the district court by defense counsel about the admission of testimony as to the contents of both the printout and the registration document found in the glove box of the Nissan. The State asserts that defense counsel only objected to Agent Diaz’s testimony regarding the registration document in the Nissan and not the registration-check printout that she received from dispatch. We disagree. At trial, Agent Diaz testified that she established ownership of the Nissan based on “a registration from the State of Arizona inside the car and also a registration check through the State of Arizona,
Well, what I would ask is maybe if on the record, so that I don’t have to interrupt [opposing counsel] while [the agent is] testifying, I’d like some objection with regard to the evidence on the registration and [Defendant’s] name on the registration of the car, the Nissan and basically I’d object to the, basically, just because, it’s double hearsay, it’s hearsay one from the document and two from what was on the document. What she saw, you know, so I mean, based on hearsay, it was based on the fact that we don’t have the documents[.]
The court allowed the State to ask Agent Diaz whose name was on the registration that she found in the glove box, and defense counsel once again objected “with regard to hearsay and double hearsay that the documents were not disclosed.” We conclude that the issue was preserved for appeal as to both documents since the district court had the “opportunity to consider the merits of, or to rule intelligently on, the argument [the] defendant now puts before us.” State v. Lucero,
{11} The second preservation issue relates to the specificity of defense counsel’s objection as to which rule of evidence precluded the admission of the testimony about the contents of the documents. On appeal, Defendant argues in his brief in chief that admission of the testimony about the contents of the writings, without production of the actual documents, violated the best-evidence rule. See Rules 11-1002, 11-1004 NMRA. In its answer brief, the State does not object to Defendant’s best-evidence rule argument on the ground the argument was not preserved. This Court nevertheless asked the parties to address this issue in oral argument. While defense counsel’s objection at trial was not as specific as it might have been, he did point out that the testimony concerned what was on the documents and that the documents were not disclosed or produced, and he did request foundation. We conclude that this objection was enough to alert the district court that an objection was being made to testimony that defense counsel believed required secondary evidence in violation of the best-evidence rule. See Frost v. Markham,
Erroneous Admission of Agent Diaz’s Testimony About Ownership of the Nissan
{12} We review claimed error in the admission of evidence for abuse of discretion. State v. Woodward,
{13} While Defendant and the State extensively argue the admissibility of testimony under the hearsay rule as to the content of documents not introduced at trial, the main and determinative evidentiary issue in this case is not hearsay. Rather, it is the
{14} Pursuant to Rule 11-1004, the State was required to either produce the original writings or explain why they were unavailable. See Rule 11-1004 (providing that the original is not required and other evidence of the contents of a writing is admissible if the original was lost or destroyed, not obtainable, in possession of opponent, or not closely related to a controlling issue); Palatine Ins. Co. v. Santa Fe Mercantile Co.,
{15} Defendant contends that without the erroneously admitted evidence, the remaining evidence was insufficient to convict Defendant. Defendant’s approach is to argue that the case must be reversed because without Agent Diaz’s testimony relating to ownership there was insufficient evidence to establish the essential elements of the crimes. We reject this approach as a basis for reversal of Defendant’s convictions. Assuming that the evidence was erroneously admitted, the issue for reversal is whether the admission of the evidence of ownership was prejudicial because it likely contributed to the jury’s verdict or, instead, was not prejudicial because it constituted harmless error. See State v. Stampley,
The State’s Sufficiency-of-Evidence Response
{16} In its answer brief, the State argues that the tandem-vehicle evidence alone, without the testimony of Agent Diaz as to the ownership of the Nissan, sufficiently established that Defendant shared Arredondo’s intent of smuggling the marijuana for distribution and that Defendant was in constructive possession of the drugs. The State further argues that Defendant manifested his intent by actively participating as a scout vehicle for Arredondo, which would support a conviction of possession under an accessory theory.
{17} To support its position, the State relies heavily on a substantial evidence case in the Tenth Circuit, United States v. IsaacSigala,
{18} “For an error to be deemed harmless, there must be: (1) substantial evidence to support the conviction without reference to the improperly admitted evidence, (2) such a disproportionate volume of permissible evidence that, in comparison, the amount of improper evidence will appear so minuscule that it could not have contributed to the conviction, and (3) no substantial conflicting evidence to discredit the State’s testimony.” State v. Duffy,
{19} Defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana (over 100 pounds) and conspiracy to distribute marijuana (over 100 pounds). To obtain a conviction for possession of marijuana, the State had to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) Defendant had marijuana in his possession, (2) Defendant knew it was marijuana, (3) Defendant intended to transfer the marijuana to another, and (4) this happened in New Mexico on or about September 30, 2004. UJI 14-3104 NMRA. Proof of possession of illegal drugs may be established by circumstantial as well as direct evidence. State v. Barber,
{20} There were no drugs found in the Mustang that Defendant was driving. However, as indicated by the State, the jury may have convicted him for possession under a constructive-possession theory or accessory liability. To be convicted of constructive possession, exercise of control over the drugs is an essential element because neither a person’s presence in the vicinity of nor knowledge of the existence or location of the drugs is, by itself, possession. The district court gave the jury a constructive-possession jury instruction that states:
A person is in possession of Marijuana when he knows it is on his person or in his presence, and he exercises control over it.
Even if the substance is not in his physical presence, he is in possession if he knows where it is, and he exercises control over it.
Two or more people can have possession of a substance at the same time.
A person’s presence in the vicinity of the substance or his knowledge of the existence or the location of the substance, is not, by itself, possession.
UJI 14-3130 NMRA.
{21} Ownership was a very important consideration at trial. The district court specifically asked Agent Diaz, “And who was the owner of that car?” The State relied on the testimony about ownership of the Nissan to show that Defendant had control over the marijuana. During closing argument and precisely in the context of control over the marijuana, the prosecutor told the jury that “[W]hat we have presented to you today is full proof that here is a defendant before us today who is in possession in that he has exercised control.... The automobile [is] in his name----So, [he is] in physical control.” The prosecutor also used the ownership evidence
{22} The jury was also instructed under a theory of aiding or abetting/aceessory to crime liability and conspiracy to possess marijuana. For a possession with intent to distribute conviction under an aiding or abetting theory, the State had to establish that: (1) Defendant intended that the crime be committed, and (2) the crime was committed. UJI 14-2822 NMRA. “[A]n accessory must share the criminal intent of the principal^ which] can be inferred from behavior which encourages the act or which informs the confederates that the person approves of the crime after the crime has been committed.” State v. Carrasco,
{23} In addition to the prosecutor’s arguments set out earlier in this opinion, the prosecutor described the joint plan as “going down to the isolated area, ... operating in tandem, operating ... [a] decoy car to deflect focus of the law enforcement officers on the load car.” The prosecutor goes on to state that “it’s early in the morning before the Border Patrol station opens____There’s two cars going down there____[0]ne of the drivers, Arredondo, driving a car, registered to this [Defendant.” To further the joint-plan argument, the prosecutor described how “the one car really jumps and runs when ... Agent Leyba ... makes [a] U turn [to] get[ ] behind them,” and Defendant continues slowly in the Mustang doing just “what he’s supposed to do,” that is distract law enforcement while the Nissan speeds away. The prosecutor argued that the circumstances showed intent and that Defendant helped and encouraged the commission of the crime and that Defendant conspired with Arredondo to “work together and they by their actions ... showed that there was an agreement to commit this possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.” The State claimed that Defendant manifested his intent by actively participating as a scout vehicle for Arredondo which would support a conviction of possession under an accessory theory. On appeal, the State also argues that the concerted action of the two drivers supports Defendant’s conspiracy conviction.
{24} Without the testimony pertaining to the ownership of the Nissan, the only evidence remaining was the tandem-vehicle activity testimony. However, that evidence alone in this ease paled in the face of evidence of the connection to the crime provided by the registration document in the Nissan and the registration-check printout. See United States v. McMahon,
{25} We conclude that the testimony of Agent Diaz with regard to the registration documents was erroneously admitted, and it was significant, if not compelling, evidence of Defendant’s connection to the crime; whereas the tandem-vehicle evidence alone was barely, if at all, sufficient to support Defendant’s convictions. Therefore, under the Duffy harmless-error analysis, we hold that the tandem-vehicle evidence was not of such a disproportionate volume as to render the inadmissible evidence “so minuscule that it could not have contributed to the conviction[s].” Duffy,
{26} Establishing the ownership of the Nissan was necessary in this ease to support Defendant’s convictions of possession under either a constructive-possession or an accessory-liability theory and to establish conspiracy to possess. We hold that the admission of the testimony of Agent Diaz with regard to the registration documents, without submission of the supporting documents or an explanation regarding unavailability of those documents, constituted reversible error. We reverse Defendant’s convictions for possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute.
Retrial or Dismissal
{27} Defendant requests that we reverse his convictions and dismiss the case against him with prejudice or, in the alternative, grant him a new trial. When determining whether a case should result in dismissal or retrial, we must determine whether the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and in doing so, we consider all the evidence, including evidence that was improperly admitted. State v. Post,
CONCLUSION
{28} We reverse Defendant’s convictions for possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and remand for a new trial.
{29} IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. The sufficiency of cause for the stop is not an issue in this case.