State v. Agee

In State v. Agee, 326 N.C. 542, 391 S.E.2d 171 (1990), a police officer pulled over the defendant after he observed the defendant's car weaving on the road. Id. at 545, 391 S.E.2d at 173. After the defendant pulled over, the officer observed the defendant throw something red into the back seat. Id. When the officer approached, he believed the defendant to be inebriated, ordered him out of the car, and placed him under arrest. Id. In a search incident to that arrest, the officer found "a plastic bag with a green vegetable matter inside of it in the defendant's pocket, and that in the officer's opinion the bag contained marijuana." Id. The officer proceeded to search the vehicle. Id. On the back seat, the officer found only one red item, a Marlboro cigarette package which contained "a small square piece of aluminum foil, which he thought to be a blotter acid hit of LSD." Id. The defendant was tried separately and acquitted of the charge of misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Id. at 544, 391 S.E.2d at 172. The issue before the Supreme Court of North Carolina was whether "the defendant's acquittal on a charge of misdemeanor possession of marijuana precluded the State from introducing, in a subsequent prosecution for felonious possession of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), evidence that defendant possessed marijuana at the time of his arrest on both charges." Id. The Court upheld the admission of evidence regarding the defendant's possession of marijuana reasoning that "such evidence is admissible if it forms part of the history of the event or serves to enhance the natural development of the facts." Id. at 547, 391 S.E.2d at 174.