2002
United
States v. Angone, 57 MJ 70 (an innocent possession
defense
to a military drug possession charge includes a defense based on
inadvertent
possession; this requires inadvertent possession (that the drugs had
been
"planted" or left in the accused’s possession without his knowledge
of the drug), coupled with certain subsequent actions taken with an
intent to
immediately destroy the contraband or deliver it to law enforcement
agents).
(returning contraband drugs to a prior possessor or owner will not
entitle
an accused to claim innocent possession; however, there is a single
exception
to this rule if a person inadvertently comes into possession of
contraband and
reasonably believes that he would be exposing himself to immediate
physical
danger unless he returned it to the prior possessor, then his
possession and
return of the property are innocent).
(there was no substantial basis to overturn appellant’s guilty plea
for an
innocent possession defense where: (1) appellant does not claim, nor do
the
facts of this case suggest, that the marijuana cigarette in question
was
planted in his medicine cabinet; (2) appellant admitted that he
knowingly took
possession of a contraband drug which he discovered unattended; (3)
even assuming
such possession be treated as inadvertent, appellant also admitted that
he did
not deliver the half-inch long marijuana cigarette to his command
escorts, nor
did he immediately destroy this contraband item; and (4) appellant did
not
maintain temporary possession of this contraband under the reasonable
belief
that he would be exposing himself to immediate physical danger if he
did not
return it to its prior possessor).
(appellant’s positive acts of seizing and attempting to conceal the
contraband from available law enforcement personnel, where immediate
physical
harm was not threatened, did not constitute innocent possession