Commonwealth v. N.T.

Police on routine patrol spotted a parked car being occupied by three males and N.T., a female with no criminal record. The police claimed that they smelled marijuana and saw clouds of smoke emanating from the car. As a result, they removed all of the occupants and in doing so observed a firearm protruding from a purse in the back seat that was in between two of the males. Police retrieved the gun out of the purse, which was allegedly wrapped up in N.T.’s work ID and lanyard. As a result of that recovery, police arrested N.T. on the basis of illegal gun possession in Philadelphia. At trial, the defense produced a facebook photo of one of the males in the backseat that depicted him pointing an imaginary gun at the camera. At trial, the defense argued that this male, who also happened to be sitting inches away from the gun when the police approached the car, was the true owner of the firearm.