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Servis v. Commonwealth7/5/1988
nsisted of purchasing large quantities of shrimp for sale and distribution to restaurants and roadside stands. Copies of his commercial trading licenses were placed in the record. Servis' testimony concerning his employment and his reason for having the money was uncontradicted, was supported by documentary evidence, and was not inherently improbable, contradictory, or inconsistent with the evidence.
When the Commonwealth's evidence is wholly circumstantial, "'all necessary circumstances proved must be consistent with guilt and inconsistent with innocence and exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.'" Dukes v. Commonwealth, 227 Va. at 122, 313 S.E.2d at 383 (quoting Inge v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 360, 366, 228 S.E.2d 563, 567 (1976)). "Where inferences are relied upon to establish guilt, they must point to guilt so clearly that any other conclusion would be inconsistent therewith." Dotson v. Commonwealth, 171 Va. 514, 518, 199 S.E. 471, 473 (1938). "There is no stronger presumption afforded than that an accused is presumed to be innocent, which cannot be overthrown except by proof of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. at 517, 199 S.E. at 473.
The evidence establishes possession beyond a reasonable doubt; however, the evidence and any inferences to be drawn from the evidence do not point so clearly to guilt of possession with intent to distribute as to make unreasonable a conclusion that Servis possessed the substances for his personal use. Thus, the evidence in this record, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, fails to exclude that reasonable hypothesis of innocence. See Dukes, 227 Va. at 123, 313 S.E.2d at 384.
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