Jordan v. State

MAASSEN, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

The police entered the defendant's property and found 15 marijuana plants, which when stripped and dried yielded over a pound and a half of marijuana. At trial the court excluded the defendant's testimony that he believed he possessed less than four ounces of marijuana-the statutory limit-and failed to instruct the jury that it had to find a culpable mental state with regard to the marijuana's weight. The jury convicted the defendant of possessing at least four ounces, a class C felony. On appeal, the court of appeals held that the trial court erred both by…