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People v. Ash2/23/2004
the back, reaching under the outer jacket, grasping the back of the inner jacket, and pulling the side pocket around to the back. Perhaps the Baggie was ripped open because of the difficulty of pulling it out of a pocket of the twisted inner jacket. Alternatively, Ash could have slipped off his shoe and dumped out the Baggie or pulled it out of the seat of his pants, without being a contortion artist. He had 10 to 15 minutes to do so.
Pilkington testified he thoroughly inspected the back of the squad car after letting the woman out. One might at first feel inclined to remark, "How convenient," but, on further reflection, one could understand why a police officer would, even should, make a point of inspecting the back of the squad car immediately after letting passengers out. A passenger could leave something of value and accuse the officer of theft or extortion. Often, passengers are associated with illegal drugs or other unsavory activities and, as the present case demonstrates, pat-down searches are not foolproof.
In short, we will not retry Ash. Instead of asking ourselves whether we ourselves would have returned the same verdict, we will view the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution and ask whether any rational jury could have found Ash guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of possession of a controlled substance. See People v. Hagberg, 192 Ill. 2d 29, 33-34, 733 N.E.2d 1271, 1273 (2000). To quote a case on which Ash relies, we do not find the evidence to be "contrary to human experience and unworthy of belief." People v. Cunningham, 333 Ill. App. 3d 1045, 1050, 777 N.E.2d 478, 483 (2002), appeal granted, 202 Ill. 2d 679, 787 N.E.2d 176 (2003) (No. 94971). Just because of the plenitude of "dropsy cases," we will not require, as a matter of law, the corroboration of a police officer's testimony.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
Affirmed.
KNECHT, P.J., and STEIGMANN, J., concur.
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