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I’m Steve Kramer. I’m a Florida criminal defense lawyer. Today we’re going to talk
to construction possession versus actual possession. And let’s just say construction versus actual
possession of marijuana. So let’s say that a police officer stops your vehicle and does
a legitimate authorized search of the vehicle. We’re not going to get into how they made
that search, let’s just assume it’s a legitimate search. And let’s assume that
you were in the car with 3 other passengers and in the middle console – sitting on that
console – is a bag of marijuana. Nobody is holding it, it’s sitting right there.
That is a perfect example of constructive possession. It’s in nobody’s hands and
the question then becomes is who’s zone of control is it in? And that’s what the
court is going to be looking to and that’s what the police officer is going to be looking
to. So if you, if we were sitting at a table and we had the keys in between us and we put
it exactly in between us, whose keys are they? Now, let’s put them right in front of me.
Let’s move them within a couple inches of my body. Well, whose keys are they now? Let’s
put them within a couple inches of your body, whose keys are they now? And that’s what
we’re going to be looking at in that situation. And that’s an example of dealing with zones
of control and constructive possession. Now actual possession is let’s assume that the
police search the car and as you get up they happen to notice there’s a bag of marijuana
sitting in your hand. That is an example of actual possession. And these terms can be
very important in proving a possession case for the state of Florida and it’s also very
important in a contra positive in defending your case. So you want to sit down with an
attorney that understands the difference between constructive possession and actual possession,
and how constructive possession works. And really it’s a little bit more in depth than
we can address in this video, but I deal with this stuff every day. So if you have any questions,
call me at the number below. I’d love to talk with you. If you’re watching this video
on YouTube or Facebook, go ahead and click the “Like” button. That way we can share
this information with your friends and family. I appreciate you watching. I’m Steve Kramer.