Possession of a Firearm During Drug Offense

X argued that the court must reverse his convictions for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony drug offense (AS 11.61.195(a)(1)). In Collins v. State, we held "that AS 11.61.195(a)(1) requires proof of a nexus between a defendant's possession of a firearm and the defendant's commission of the felony drug offense. " In Collins, we found plain error because "the indictment returned against Collins did not allege this element of the offense and the jury at Collins' trial made no finding with respect to this element." The state asks us to reconsider Collins, but we reaffirm that decision. the state also argues that the state presented sufficient evidence to prove a nexus between the drugs and the two handguns which were found in X residence. But, as we stated in Collins, since the state never presented evidence of this element of the offense to the grand jury and the trial jury never was asked to evaluate this evidence at trial, there is no basis to sustain the convictions. We accordingly REVERSE X indictment and convictions for possession of a firearm during a felony drug offense.