Commonwealth v. J.N.

Philadelphia police officers set up a narcotics surveillance on a house on Limekiln Pike, and observed several men enter a property with an empty shopping bag and then exit with the same bag now appearing to be full. These individuals were stopped where police found a large amount of marijuana from the shopping bag. Based on those observations and recoveries, police applied for and obtained a search warrant for the house on Limekiln Pike.

Upon entry, police went upstairs and saw J.N. coming out of a bedroom. From that room, police recovered a small amount of marijuana to make this a drug offense. From another bedroom they discovered a loaded firearm. In that same room, police found mail addressed to J.N. With this evidence, they charged J.N. with a gun possession charge in PA. At trial, the defense presented evidence that another individual. who was present at the house at the time the warrant was executed, also lived at the property and had a prior conviction for an illegal firearm. In addition, the defense successfully argued that the Commonwealth failed to prove that J.N. knew the gun was present in the house and/or that he exercised dominion and control over the gun. J.N. was found not guilty.