State V. Maghee

This case presents a twist in the war on drugs: a "reverse sting" operation in which the police are doing the selling rather than the buying. The defendant, Valentino Maghee, was one of the targets in this operation. A jury convicted him of possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver, and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. He raises numerous issues in his appeal from his convictions and sentences, some of which we address and others we preserve for postconviction relief. Some of the issues we do address concern whether the district court correctly (1) allowed the State to amend the trial information to charge an offense carrying a higher penalty, (2) submitted conspiracy as a separate offense, and (3) defined "constructive possession" in a jury instruction. The remaining issues we address deal generally with whether there was sufficient evidence to support convictions on all-three offenses.