Constructive Possession in a Bucks County Case
There is "actual" possession and "constructive" possession. This typically involves cases involving drugs, weapons, or items stolen.
Actual possession is a lot more obvious. You have "something" in your possession -- i.e. your hand or your pocket. Constructive possession is a lot less obvious. Perhaps the Bucks County DA's office is alleging that the items they found in your car or home is "constructively" your property. These cases are more difficult to prove, especially if there are multiple people around or the alleged items are not within reach. Your criminal lawyer in Bucks County should be ready to review the facts and circumstances closely, at throughout the entire criminal justice process in Bucks County.
As Commonwealth v. Aviles discusses,
Constructive possession is a legal fiction, a pragmatic construct to deal with the realities of criminal law enforcement. Constructive possession is an inference arising from a set of facts that possession of the contraband was more likely than not. The supreme court has defined constructive possession as conscious dominion. The court subsequently defined conscious dominion as the power to exercise that control.
Details of Constructive Possession
The Aviles court goes on to state,
To aid application, we have held that constructive possession may be established by the totality of the circumstances. Commonwealth v. Fortune, 456 Pa. 365, 318 A.2d 327 (1974). We took a further step toward resolving these problems in Commonwealth v. Macolino, supra.