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Criminal Law Keyed to Dressler
State v. Miles
Citation:
421 S.C. 154, 805 S.E. 2d 204Facts
Law enforcement against were checking FedEx packages for illegal drugs, and became suspicious of a package intended for Lance Miles (defendant). They set up a deliver to watch Miles retrieve the package, and arrested him for drug trafficking. Miles confessed to receiving illegal drugs, but he claimed he did not know what drugs were in the package.
At trial, the court instructed the jury that the prosecutions only had to prove that Miles knowingly brought over four grams of an illegal drug into the state and knowingly possessed them or attempted to possess them. According to the court’s instructions, the jury did not have to find that Miles knew what drugs were in the package in order to find him guilty. The jury convicted and Miles appealed, claiming that the court’s instruction was improper and the prosecution must prove he knew which drugs were in the package.
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