The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling that said the passing of drugs from one person to another in an effort to conceal them from law enforcement does not constitute a sale, reversing decisions by two lower courts.
The ruling helped provide post-conviction relief for Abshir Barrow, who got into a sticky situation when he handed a bag of cocaine to his wife during a traffic stop so she could conceal it from authorities. Barrow allegedly told his wife to hide the bag in her bra, but it was later discovered by police.
Barrow was charged with selling cocaine, and he later pleaded guilty to the charge. He was sentenced to one year in jail, but he later applied for post-conviction relief, citing that there was no factual basis for his guilty plea because his actions did not constitute the sale of drugs.
Appeals Denied
Barrow’s argument fell on deaf ears in a lower court, as they denied his petition, but he didn’t stop there. He argued his case in an appeal’s court, but they upheld the lower court’s decision, citing the state’s statute on drug sales which define a “drug sale” as “selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing or disposing of to another.”
Once again, Barrow didn’t stop there. He took his petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court, arguing that although he gave the cocaine to his wife, he always planned that she’d return the bag to him after the traffic stop. The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed with Barrow, citing that the appellate analysis was incomplete. The appeal’s court cited the word “give” in their report, but the Supreme Court argued they needed to look at the context of the whole phrase, “give away.” They ruled that “give away” implies a permanent separation, which was not Barrow’s intent.
“The limited-purpose handoff here — done, as Barrow testified, so that police would not find the cocaine — does not constitute a delivery for purposes of the definition of a drug sale,” Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea.
The state Supreme Court sent the case back to the district court with a recommendation that Barrow’s plea be withdrawn.
Related source: Pioneer Press
