Bar Mock Trial Competition 201 · 2019-08-22 · scrunched up, small clear plastic bag. I am aware that clear plastic and cling film are often used to package illegal drugs. I watched

Bar Mock Trial Competition 2019/20Case 1: R v Acosta

Mock Trials

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Bar Mock Trial CompetitionCase 1: R v Acosta

Queen v Acosta

Summary of Events

On Thursday 5th May 2019 at about 2.30 in the afternoon, officers were on duty and driving a marked police car. They noticed a grey Toyota pass in front of them. The officers decided to stop the car. They pulled in front whilst signaling for the driver to stop. There were two people in the car, the driver and a front seat passenger. Initially, the car did not stop. Then the driver pulled off the road onto the pavement and both of the occupants got out of the car and began to sprint away. The police gave chase following them down a slip road, which led to the Arnoldstown Ring Road.

The driver of the car was Danny Acosta. Whilst Acosta was fleeing the scene running, PC Oreland witnessed her/him reaching into her/his trouser pocket. S/he removed a package that looked like a scrunched up, small, clear plastic bag. S/he ripped off some of the plastic packaging, stopped briefly and then threw the package down a drain. Both Acosta and the passenger continued to run across the carriageway of the ring road and into a residential street. The passenger jumped over the hedge but Acosta ran into a residential street and when a police dog was released Acosta was found trying to hide behind a shed. Acosta was then arrested by PC Fisher.

PC Oreland stopped chasing and returned to the drain where the item had been thrown. On top of the drain cover was a clear bit of plastic – the plastic that had been ripped off the bag; in the drain, floating in water was the package that had been thrown down.

PC Oreland moved the cover from the drain and retrieved the package which was a grip seal plastic bag containing a lump of a white, waxy solid material, later found to be 6.69 grams of cocaine.

PC Oreland returned to the Toyota car – and retrieved 4 phones – 3 IPhones and a small black Nokia. All the phones were PIN locked, so it was not possible to access the contents. There was also a piece of paper with 3 different names and a number 10 along with what appeared to be a phone number in the central console.

The drugs represent a ¼ of an ounce, which is a wholesale trading unit. At street level cocaine is most commonly sold in amounts weighing in the region of 0.1 gram or less – which costs the user £10.00. The drug found on Danny Acosta was 6.69 grams, which would make at least 67 units to sell.

Danny Acosta was previously arrested in 2014 for possession of 5.14 grams of cocaine and 2.57 grams of heroin. Danny Acosta pleaded guilty to being in possession of the drugs, and was convicted on the issue of intent to supply. This conviction, known as bad character evidence, is not in dispute. It is agreed between the parties that Danny Acosta has a conviction of a very similar nature.

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Bar Mock Trial Competition

Law

The offence of possession of a controlled drug is committed when a person is unlawfully in physical possession or in control of any substance that is specified in Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. C"Crack" cocaine is a Class A controlled drug – so there is no issue here about the type of drug or the quantity of it..

Danny Acosta must know he/ she was in possession of the item even if he / she did not know it was a controlled drug. This includes anything subject to his control, so here in the car, even if it was in the custody of another. So if it belonged to the passenger, but he / she was looking after it, or had it in the car.

Did Danny Acosta have the drugs in his /her possession? Here Danni accepts possession. He / she says they have a reason for having the drugs.

The more serious offence is that of possession with intent to supply – supply meaning giving or handing them over to someone else, or selling them to someone else. Supplying includes distributing and does not require proof of payment or reward. Supply requires more than mere transfer of physical control. A return of drugs to the original supplier would be a supply.

An intention to supply may be proved by direct evidence in the form of admissions or witness testimony, for example, surveillance evidence. Another method of proving an intention to supply is by inference. Evidence from which intent to supply may be inferred will include at least one or, more usually, a combination of the following factors:

1. Possession of a quantity inconsistent with personal use.

2. Possession of uncut drugs or drugs in an unusually pure state suggesting proximity to their manufacturer or importer.

3. Possession of a variety of drugs may indicate sale rather than consumption.

4. Evidence that the drug has been prepared for sale. If a drug has been cut into small portions and those portions are wrapped in foil or film, then there is a clear inference that sale is the object.

5. Drug related equipment in the care and/or control of the suspect, such as weighing scales, cutting agents, bags or wraps of foil (provided their presence is not consistent with normal domestic use).

6. Diaries or other documents containing information tending to confirm drug dealing, which are supportive of a future intent to supply, for example, records of customers' telephone numbers together with quantities or descriptions of drugs.

7. Money found on the defendant or an extravagant life style can be of use [not in this case]

Case 1: R v Acosta

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INDICTMENT

IN THE EVERYTOWN CROWN COURTDANNY ACOSTA is charged as follows:

Count 1 STATEMENT OF OFFENCE

POSSESSING A CONTROLLED DRUG OF CLASS A WITH INTENT, contrary to section 5(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE

DANNY ACOSTA on the 5th day of May 2019 had in his/her possession a quantity of cocaine, a controlled drug of Class A with intent to supply it to another in contravention of section 4(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Count 2

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE

POSSESSING A CONTROLLED DRUG OF CLASS A, contrary to section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE

DANNY ACOSTA on the 5th day of May 2019 had in his / her possession a quantity of cocaine, a controlled drug of Class A, in contravention of section 5(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

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Statement of Prosecution Witness 1Name:Age of Witness:Occupation:Address:

PC OrelandOver 18Police Officer2 Mill Lane, Arnoldstown

This statement (consisting of 2 pages signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

Dated the 6th day of May 2019

This statement relates to an incident in which two people decamped from a vehicle and ran off from me and then discarded a quantity of Class A drugs.

On Thursday 5th May 2019, At approximately 14:30hrs, PC 7752 and I were driving in a marked police car onto Tabley Street from the Arnoldstown Station forecourt. PC 7752 noticed a grey Toyota with index TUB88Y. It was heading towards the junction of Crown Street, and the ring road. As it did so, I saw the driver who I recognized from previous encounters as Danny Acosta. There was also someone sat in the passenger seat. The passenger appeared to be was about 20-30 years of age, however I didn’t get a good look at him/her as I was focused on the driver.

We decided to conduct a routine stop check of the vehicle to establish if Acosta was insured to drive it. As the vehicle approached the traffic lights, it was forced to stop and I pulled directly alongside the Toyota. I gestured Acosta to stop as there was enough room to do so. Initially the car did not stop. However, when they did stop and pulled up onto the pavement, both the driver and the passenger left the vehicle and began to run.

PC 7752 shouted ‘THEY’RE GOING, THEY’RE GOING’. I leapt out of my car and gave chase. They ran away from Crown St. towards the ring road, using a slip road that does not have any pedestrian access.

I could see that Acosta was wearing a white T-shirt and black tracksuit bottoms which had a white stripe down the leg. Acosta was approximately 10 – 15 meters in front of me and I saw her/him reach into her/his right trouser pocket and pull out a package which looked like a scrunched up, small clear plastic bag. I am aware that clear plastic and cling film are often used to package illegal drugs. I watched as s/he ripped some of the plastic off the package before briefly stopping and throwing the package down a drain.

Acosta then continued running, following the other occupant of the vehicle over the dual carriageway. I stopped as I decided it was too dangerous to follow. PC 7752 had called for back up. Acosta was arrested and cautioned by crew who backed us up.

Case 1: R v Acosta

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I decided to check the drain. It was only a few meters away from me and at no point was there any other persons nearby. I saw a piece of clear plastic which was on top of the drain cover, which appeared to be what I saw being ripped off by Acosta. When I looked into the drain, I could see a plastic package floating in water.

I remained at the drain until officers arrived to assist me in removing the cover and retrieving the package. When I removed the package, I could see that it was a lump of a white, waxy solid material consistent with the appearance of cocaine. I seized the following items and exhibit them as follows: JO/1 RIPPED PLASTIC FROM TOP OF DRAIN COVER – J0/2 PACKAGE FROM WITHIN DRAIN.

I searched the grey Toyota car TUB88Y and in the central console I found 3 iPhones and one small black Nokia. I also found a piece of paper with what I believe to be a phone number, various names, a reference to a payment, reference to "2 trees" and two entries noting £10. I seized these items and exhibit the list as JO/3 PAPER FOUND IN TOYOTA CAR. The phones were unable to be accessed as they were PIN locked.

At approximately 1900hrs on the same day, I attended the forensic department and gave exhibit JO/2 to Jane Downs, a forensic drug expert, who tested the contents of the package and confirmed that the substance was cocaine. The dry weight of the drug was placed onto a set of zeroed, digital scales and found to be 6.69 grams in weight.

At 21:00 I interviewed Acosta at Arnoldstown police station. S/he declined the option of legal representation and answered no comment to all questions put in that interview.

Signature of Witness: PC Oreland

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Statement of Prosecution Witness 2Name:Age of witness:Occupation:Address:



I am the Drugs Support Officer for Arnoldstown Police. I have been asked to comment upon the nature and quantity of the cocaine seized and to provide a likely value for it.

Cocaine is a class “A” controlled drug. Wholesale quantities of cocaine in the UK are commonly encountered in ounce size deals suggesting that ‘wholesalers’ and ‘producers’ engage an ounce as their initial trading unit weight. Street units remain common as small ‘rocks’ which tend to represent to be 0.1g and 0.2g units.

The local supplier will commonly be linked to a regional supplier and has ties with the local area, or can infiltrate an area and control a customer base of either sub dealers or street dealers.

Street dealers are the individuals that are conducting the street face to face business of passing the drugs to the users, and collecting the money. It is not uncommon to find young children, habitual drug users, and low level criminals being utilised to conduct this business. They will have a quantity of individually wrapped user size deals and a dealer phone or ‘dirty’ phone, which will be used to contact the buyers, or vice versa. Dealers may have more than one mobile phone. The street dealer may package the deals (wraps, folds) and as stated may be a user themselves. Dealers may possess scales, tick lists (or dealer lists), bags, torn plastic carrier bags and other drug dealing paraphernalia.

Exhibit JO/2

This consisted of a piece of cocaine wrapped in cling film, weighing 6.69 grams. In my experience this weight is most likely representative of an ounce (7 grams) wholesale trading unit. At street level the drug is most commonly sold in end-user deals weighing in the region of 0.1 gram (100mg) or less, for £10. It is likely that the intention was for the drugs to be manipulated into such deals for onward trade.

In my experience the quantity of cocaine recovered in this case most likely represents a wholesale / mid-market quantity representing a substantial financial outlay. It has the

Charlie MyersOver 18Drugs Expert5 Park Road, Arnoldstown

Case 1: R v Acosta

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ability to create around 70 ‘end-user’ street deals and is far in excess of that which could reasonably be considered suitable for personal consumption only.

Signature of Witness: Charlie Myers

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Statement of Prosecution Witness 3 (Section 9 Statement)Name:Age of Witness:Occupation:

This statement (consisting of one page signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.


On the 5th of May 2019, at approximately 14.40 hrs, I was on duty in full uniform in a marked police vehicle, in company with PC Denning. We accepted a call to assist officers.

On arrival we saw two people running and then jumping over the fence, which stops entry to the ring road. One went over a hedge and we lost sight of her/him. The other ran into a residential street. I released Police Dog Sid and he sniffed out a person I now know as Danny Acosta who tried to hide behind a shed.

I arrested Danny Acosta at 14:55. S/he made no reply to caution. I transported Acosta back to the police station.

I am aware that Danny Costa has a previous conviction for possession of drugs with intent to supply. The circumstances of that conviction are that he was arrested in 2014 for possession of 5.14 grams of cocaine and 2.57 grams of heroin. He pleaded guilty to being in possession of these drugs and he was convicted on the issue of intent to supply. This is a conviction of a very similar nature.

Signature of Witness: PC Hailsham

PC FisherOver 18Police Officer

Case 1: R v Acosta

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Statement of Defence Witness 1 (Defendant)Name: Age of witness: Occupation: Address:



I make this statement in relation to an incident on the 5th May 2019 when I was arrested for possession with intent to supply cocaine.

I have lived at 25 Valley Gardens for 5 years. I live there on my own; my mum threw me out of the family home when I got done for dealing drugs before. I went to a young offender institute and whilst I was there I got off coke.

On the 5th I had been out with my friends, and we were returning to Arnoldstown city centre. I had some shopping to do, and I dropped off two mates at the bus station. The bus station is not far from where I was stopped by the police.

When I was letting them out of the car I saw my cousin Quinn. S/he had just got out of a black Mercedes car with tinted windows. I know this car as it belongs to the local drugs baron, or one of his boys. My cousin looked very ‘shifty’ and s/he was looking around him, and did not look comfortable. S/he would not have expected to see me, and s/he would not recognise my car, as I have only just bought it.

My cousin looked like s/he was hiding something in his pocket. I had not seen her/him in a while so I got out of the car to speak to her/him. S/he looked even more shocked when s/he saw me, and her/his hand was on her/his pocket. I grabbed her/his hand and tried to get what s/he had been trying to hide. It was a package. I was not sure what it was, but thought it might be drugs.

I took it from her/him, and told her/him s/he was an idiot and that s/he should not be hanging out with these people. I also grabbed her/his phone – it was the one the police found in the car. I thought it was how s/he would contact the dealers, and I wanted to stop her/him. I told her/him this and then left with the package and the phone. I intended to destroy the drugs, to flush them or get rid of them when no one was around.

Danny AcostaOver 18Store assistant25 Valley Gardens, Arnoldstown



I ran when the police stopped the car, because I had the drugs and the phone, and I thought I would get done if they caught me with them. I could not hand them over to the police, because they would not believe I had only got them minutes before from my cousin. I did not want to drop her/him in it.

I have a previous conviction for dealing, so why would they believe me? The police could search my home, car, my mum’s place and maybe my sister’s, where I sometimes stay. My parents and I have just started talking again, and this would destroy their trust in me.

The police ruined my life before, and I don’t want them poking into my life now that I am clean. I don’t trust the police; they lie and make stuff up.

I did not want to expose my cousin, s/he has mates in high places, and the police would put pressure on me to grass her/him and them up. I saw the piece of paper in interview, I had never seen it before – my cousin must have dropped it in the car.

I declined the option of legal representation as I thought it would just hold things up so I just said no comment, as I did not know what to do. Last time this was what my solicitor advised. I realise now I should have come clean with the police.

Signature of Witness: Danny Acosta

Case 1: R v Acosta



Statement of Defence Witness 2Name: Age of witness: Occupation: Address:

This statement (consisting of 1 page signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything, which I know to be false, or do not believe to be true.


My name is Prof Avery Lessels and I have obtained a Degree of Master of Science in Drug Use and Addiction. I am a former police officer. I am extremely experienced in the compilation and review of evidential statements and files involving drug related offences and investigations from offences of simple possession through to complex conspiracy charges.

I have been asked to comment upon the prices and circumstances of this case.

The discarded package was recovered and submitted for forensic analysis. This analysis confirmed the package to contain 6.69 grams of cocaine.

The cocaine recovered was found contained within a single package consistent with a partially underweight ¼. It is however most commonly encountered at end user level being purchased and supplied in £10 “deals” typically weighing in the region of 100 milligrams. It is apparent that Item JO/2 had not been apportioned into multiple individual “Street deals” and was recovered as a single package.

I do not dispute the evidence provided by C. Myers regarding quantity of the drugs found. I stress that this would represent a larger than typical purchase for somebody simply using the drug. However, viewed in isolation, it is my opinion that the quantity alone is not automatically indicative of onward distribution or that it was so great that the only realistic conclusion that can be drawn is that onward distribution was inevitable.

Following an episode of use the user will feel low mood and there is therefore a compulsion to continue using the drug, often until the available amount is exhausted. Users may therefore consume several grams of the drug in a single episode of consumption over a period of hours with little attempt at self-control due to the compulsion to continue using.

Signature of Witness: Prof Avery Lessels

Signature of Witness: Taz Le-Roche

Prof Avery LesselsOver 18Substance Misuse Lecturer 2a Queen Street, Arnoldstown



Exhibit One: Paper found in Toyota Car

Doddy 95128776 £10 Cassie paid

Aussie Pete [the vine] £10 Tanya 2 trees?

Dave 1?

Case 2: R v Wallace

Documents

Bar Mock Trial Competition 201 · 2019-08-22 · scrunched up, small clear plastic bag. I am aware that clear plastic and cling film are often used to package illegal drugs. I watched