State v. Sercovich

SUMMERS, Justice.

The defendant Sercovich, twenty-two years of age, was charged in one count of a bill of information with unlawful possession of nine marijuana cigarettes and in a second count with unlawful sale of nine marijuana cigarettes to Merlin Flair, who was over twenty-one years of age. (LSA-R.S. 40:961.)

The defendant’s entire case was based on a sympathy defense, which the trial court likened to a confession in avoidance. Both the attorneys for the defendant and the defendant himself conceded that the defendant had possession and made the sale of marijuana cigarettes.

The jury…