Does Giving Drugs ''on Credit'' Constitute Possession in New York ?

In People v. Manini (79 NY2d 561, 594 NE2d 563, 584 NYS2d 282 [1992]), Manini gave cocaine in California, "on credit," to a New York drug dealer. That individual, one Paige, took about four ounces of that cocaine to Rochester, where he and a third man were arrested and the cocaine was seized. Manini was indicted for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second and third degrees on account of the cocaine taken from Paige. The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the charges against Manini, reasoning that a seller who gives drugs to a buyer is not an accomplice to the possessory crimes thereafter committed by the buyer--even if the sale had been made on consignment. (See Penal Law 20.10.)