Thomas v. State

The defendant, Herman Thomas, was convicted of possession of cocaine and possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis. His appeal challenges only the cocaine conviction under count one of the information.

The facts show that Thomas was sitting in the driver’s seat of an automobile, parked near an elementary school in a field. Police officers parked behind the vehicle and approached it on foot, and a person sitting in the passenger seat exited the vehicle. The officers observed a home made pipe on the floor of the car from their vantage point outside the vehicle. After both occupants exited the…