Alex v. State

OPINION

MANNHEIMER, Judge.

Timothy G. Alex was convicted of weapons offenses after the police recovered a pistol from under the passenger seat of the vehicle in which Alex was riding. At trial, Alex claimed that he had no idea that the pistol was there.

Toward the close of the trial, Alex’s trial judge proposed to instruct the jury that a person is in “constructive possession” of an item if the person has “the power to exercise dominion or control” over that item. Alex’s defense attorney argued that proof of a person’s power to exert dominion or control over an object was not enough — that the…