State v. Sparling

2024 UT App 59

THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

STATE OF UTAH,
Appellee,
v.
TRUE SPARLING,
Appellant.

Opinion
No. 20220390-CA
Filed April 18, 2024

Seventh District Court, Monticello Department
The Honorable Don M. Torgerson
No. 201700244

K. Andrew Fitzgerald, Attorney for Appellant
Sean D. Reyes and Lindsey Wheeler,
Attorneys for Appellee

JUDGE RYAN M. HARRIS authored this Opinion, in which
JUDGES GREGORY K. ORME and JOHN D. LUTHY concurred.

HARRIS, Judge:

¶1 During a traffic stop, law enforcement officers discovered
a large “rock” of methamphetamine in a car that True Sparling
had been driving. The State later charged Sparling with various
drug and traffic offenses. After a bench trial, the district court
acquitted Sparling of two of the three drug-related charges but
convicted him of possessing the methamphetamine. Sparling now
appeals that conviction, asserting that insufficient evidence
existed to support it. We disagree and therefore affirm.
State v. Sparling

BACKGROUND 1

¶2 One night, two police officers on patrol on Main Street in
Monticello, Utah, passed a “small black car” with mismatched
headlights. One of the officers (Officer 1) noticed that the car “did
not have a license plate.” The officers followed the car, watching
as it made a right turn followed by an immediate left, then entered
a parking lot only to quickly exit the lot and pull back onto Main
Street. Officer 1 found this driving pattern to be “suspicious” and
had the impression that the car was “trying to avoid” the officers.
The officers also observed that one of the car’s brake lights was
out. Eventually, they decided to initiate a traffic stop.

¶3 At the traffic stop, the officers found two individuals in the
car. The driver identified himself as Sparling and told the officers
that he and his passenger (Friend) were coming from Salt Lake
City, where Sparling had just purchased the car, and that they
were headed home to Blanding, Utah. When Officer 1 asked
Sparling for his driver license, Sparling said he had lost it; he also
advised Officer 1 that there was a warrant out for his arrest.

¶4 After checking on both Sparling and Friend in the law
enforcement database, Officer 1 learned that Sparling’s driver
license was suspended and that Friend’s was expired. Given that
no one in Sparling’s vehicle was licensed to drive it, Officer 1
made the decision to impound it, and he instructed Sparling and
Friend to get out of the vehicle.

¶5 While the officers were preparing to inventory the vehicle,
Friend asked them if she could have “a cigarette and her purse.”
The other officer (Officer 2) then retrieved Friend’s purse, which

1. “On appeal from a bench trial, we view and recite the evidence
in the light most favorable to the trial court’s findings; we present
additional evidence only as necessary to understand the issues on
appeal.” Bountiful City v. Sisch, 2023 UT App 141, n.1, 540 P.3d
1164 (quotation simplified).

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was “still on the passenger’s seat,” and took a look inside. In the
purse, Officer 2 found a crystallized “pink rock” that Officer 1
“immediately” identified as methamphetamine; in fact, Officer 1
later described it as the “largest methamphetamine rock” he had
ever seen during his eleven years of working in law enforcement.
Also in Friend’s purse, Officer 2 found “a black tar substance,”
some “marijuana flake,” and a “glass pipe,” as well as Sparling’s
driver license, which had been “broken in half.” A few minutes
later, when the officers searched the vehicle’s glove box, they
located more “marijuana flake” and “a THC vape pen.”

¶6 At that point, the officers informed Sparling and Friend
that they were being “detained for suspicion of possession of
narcotics.” The officers then seized Friend’s cell phone and
conducted field tests on the substances; the rock tested positive
for methamphetamine, and the black tar substance tested positive
for heroin. When the officers questioned Sparling, he denied any
knowledge of the drugs, stating that they did not belong to him,
and he claimed that the last time he used drugs had been either
“days” or “weeks” earlier.

¶7 Friend, on the other hand, claimed full ownership of the
substances, asserting that “they were hers and hers alone” and
that Sparling “had no idea” she had them. Upon further
questioning, however, Friend admitted that the previous day—
while they had been in Salt Lake City—she and Sparling had
“consumed” a portion of the drugs that Friend had purchased; in
particular, she stated that Sparling had “smoked a bowl” with her.
Seeking further clarification, Officer 1 then asked, “A bowl of
what?,” and Friend responded, “The meth” and “the pot.” Later,
in reaffirming the timeline of events, Officer 1 asked Friend again
whether she was “sure” that Sparling “used with [her]
yesterday,” and Friend confirmed that he had. Indeed, at trial,
Friend testified that the reason she had accompanied Sparling to
Salt Lake City was so that she could “purchase some more drugs,”
something she did on a monthly basis, and that she had been

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State v. Sparling

using Sparling’s broken driver license as a tool to “chop up” the
methamphetamine rock.

¶8 Later, the State charged Sparling with three counts of
possession or use of a controlled substance—filed as third-degree
felony charges because Sparling had prior drug convictions—for
the methamphetamine and heroin found in Friend’s purse and the
THC found in the glove box. 2 The State also charged Sparling with
one traffic-related misdemeanor count and two traffic infractions.

¶9 The case proceeded to a bench trial. In support of its case-
in-chief, the State called Officer 1, Friend, a forensic scientist, and
an individual who had performed a forensic download of Friend’s
phone. Sparling’s primary defense to the drug charges was that
the drugs belonged to Friend and not to him. The State’s theory of
the case was that Sparling had, at a minimum, “constructively
possessed” the drugs.

¶10 To support its case, the State relied, in part, on text
messages found on Friend’s phone. Although the messages were
all sent from or received on Friend’s phone, some of the messages
indicated that Sparling and Friend sometimes shared the device;
some of the messages were apparently even written and sent by
Sparling, who indicated his presence by typing “Hi this is true” at
the beginning of such messages. One message from Friend,
apparently sent to a potential customer, stated that “we can get
some for you my guy said it’s really good and same price,” and “I
can see if true can get that for you and you can pay him back when
we get home.” Another message, sent just a few hours before
Sparling and Friend were detained at the traffic stop, asked a
potential customer to “come to blanding cause true is really tired
and plus we don’t have scales to weigh so he said to come over.”

2. Following the incident, Friend was charged in another case with
possessing controlled substances and she later entered a guilty
plea to some of those charges.

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State v. Sparling

Officer 1 testified that a recipient of some of the messages was an
individual known to law enforcement as a “user dealer supplier
of narcotics”; one message to this recipient asked “how much” for
“three.” Some of the messages discussed “insurance money,”
with one such message stating, “I got my insurance money today
so I’m all excited I’m like a kid on x-mas morning.” Officer 1
testified that, based on his investigation, Sparling was the one
who had received insurance money around that time, not Friend.

¶11 At the end of the trial, the court made an oral ruling
acquitting Sparling of the heroin and marijuana possession
charges but convicting him of the methamphetamine possession
charge and all the traffic charges. With regard to the drug charges,
the court noted that it was required “to find not just that [Sparling]
knew that there were substances in the vehicle, [but] also that he
intended to either possess or use or control those substances.” The
court relied on several pieces of evidence in concluding that
Sparling had constructively possessed the methamphetamine.
First, the court noted Sparling’s “evasive driving pattern,” which
the court found “compelling” and indicative that Sparling knew
there were drugs in the car. Next, the court noted that Sparling’s
broken driver license had been found in Friend’s purse under the
methamphetamine, which the court viewed as “one factor that
matters” and that connected Sparling “directly to the
methamphetamine.” The court also relied on the fact that the
methamphetamine had been found “within reach” of the driver’s
seat where Sparling had been sitting. In addition, the court relied
on Friend’s testimony, which it found credible; in particular, the
court relied on Friend’s account that part of the reason for their
trip to Salt Lake City was so that she could buy
methamphetamine, as well as her statement that Sparling had
used some of that methamphetamine with her in Salt Lake City.
Finally, the court discussed the text messages, which it found at
least “slightly helpful” and which showed that Sparling had a
role, with Friend, in attempting to sell the methamphetamine.

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State v. Sparling

¶12 The court later sentenced Sparling to prison on the drug
charge, but it suspended that sentence and placed Sparling on
probation for thirty-six months.

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶13 Sparling appeals his conviction on the drug possession
charge, asserting that there was insufficient evidence to support
it. “We review a claim of insufficient evidence at a bench trial for
clear error, meaning we must sustain the district court’s judgment
unless it is against the clear weight of the evidence, or if we
otherwise reach a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has
been made.” State v. Schroeder, 2023 UT App 57, ¶ 15, 531 P.3d 757
(quotation simplified). While this standard is “less deferential”
than our review of a court’s denial of a directed verdict motion
after a jury trial, see State v. Washington, 2021 UT App 114, ¶ 8, 501
P.3d 1160, cert. denied, 509 P.3d 198 (Utah 2022), we nevertheless
“accord deference to the [district] court’s ability and opportunity
to evaluate credibility and demeanor,” and “we defer to its
findings unless the record demonstrates clear error,” State v.
Finlayson, 2014 UT App 282, ¶ 32, 362 P.3d 926 (quotation
simplified), cert. denied, 362 P.2d 926 (Utah 2015). A finding is
against the clear weight of the evidence if it is “without adequate
evidentiary support,” and we will find that a mistake has been
made “only if” the court’s finding is “induced by an erroneous
view of the law.” State v. Walker, 743 P.2d 191, 193 (Utah 1987)
(quotation simplified).

ANALYSIS

¶14 This appeal presents a single issue: whether the State
presented sufficient evidence to support Sparling’s conviction on
the methamphetamine charge. The parties agree that this question
turns on whether the State presented sufficient evidence to
support the district court’s finding that Sparling constructively

20220390-CA 6 2024 UT App 59
State v. Sparling

possessed the methamphetamine. In our view, the evidence
presented at trial was sufficient to support the court’s constructive
possession finding.

¶15 “Constructive possession is a legal fiction whereby a
person is deemed to possess contraband even when he or she does
not actually have immediate physical control of the object.” State
v. Gallegos, 2020 UT App 162, ¶ 18 n.2, 479 P.3d 631 (quotation
simplified), cert. denied, 496 P.3d 717 (Utah 2021). To prove
constructive possession under Utah law, the State must show a
“sufficient nexus between the accused and the contraband to
permit an inference that the accused had both the power and the
intent to exercise dominion and control over the contraband.”
State v. Ashcraft, 2015 UT 5, ¶ 19, 349 P.3d 664 (quotation
simplified). This is a fact-specific inquiry, and the analysis is
dependent on the attendant circumstances. See id. Our supreme
court has identified several “relevant considerations” that may be
considered by the factfinder in these situations, including the
following: “ownership and/or occupancy of the residence or
vehicle, presence of the defendant when the contraband is
discovered, the defendant’s proximity to the contraband,
previous drug use by the defendant (if the contraband is drug-
related), incriminating statements or behavior, and presence of
contraband in a specific area where the defendant had control.”
Id. (quotation simplified); see also State v. Anderton, 668 P.2d 1258,
1264 (Utah 1983) (Durham, J., concurring majority) (stating that,
among other factors, a court could consider “evidence indicating
that the defendant was participating with others in the mutual use
and enjoyment of the contraband” (quotation simplified)).

¶16 Here, the State presented several pieces of evidence that,
taken together, supported an inference that Sparling “had both
the power and the intent to exercise dominion and control over”
the methamphetamine. See Ashcraft, 2015 UT 5, ¶ 19 (quotation
simplified). First, Sparling drove Friend to Salt Lake City so that
she could purchase methamphetamine to bring back to Blanding.

20220390-CA 7 2024 UT App 59
State v. Sparling

Second, after Friend purchased the methamphetamine in Salt
Lake City, Sparling used some of it with her. Third, Sparling’s
suspended driver license had been broken in half and Friend was
using it as a tool to cut the methamphetamine; the pieces of that
license were found with the methamphetamine in Friend’s purse. 3
Fourth, Sparling drove evasively once he encountered the officers
in Monticello. Fifth, the methamphetamine was found inside
Sparling’s car and within his reach. Finally, Sparling sent text
messages from Friend’s phone indicating that he was an active
participant in efforts to sell the methamphetamine to users back
in Blanding. Given these facts, the district court’s constructive
possession finding was not against the clear weight of the
evidence, and we perceive no clear error in its determination.

¶17 Sparling resists this conclusion on several grounds, none of
which we find persuasive.

¶18 First, Sparling takes issue with the court’s finding that the
officers observed Sparling driving in an “evasive” manner, a fact
the court found “compelling” and indicative that Sparling knew
there were drugs in the car. According to Sparling, Officer 1 could
not have witnessed Sparling “driving evasively” prior to Officer
1’s decision to effectuate a traffic stop because “Sparling could not
evade without there being a command to stop.” But behavior can
appropriately be considered “evasive” even when an officer has
yet to give a command to stop or otherwise attempt to apprehend
an individual. See State v. Singleton, 2005 UT App 464, ¶ 11, 128

3. In his reply brief, Sparling makes some effort to assert that
Officer 2’s search of Friend’s purse was “unlawful.” But because
Sparling raised the lawfulness of the search for the first time in his
reply brief, we do not address it here. Allen v. Friel, 2008 UT 56,
¶ 8, 194 P.3d 903 (“It is well settled that issues raised by an
appellant in the reply brief that were not presented in the opening
brief are considered waived and will not be considered by the
appellate court.” (quotation simplified)).

20220390-CA 8 2024 UT App 59
State v. Sparling

P.3d 28 (finding that a defendant’s behavior was “evasive,” even
though the officer had made no command to stop, where the
defendant “merely turned and walked away from” said officer);
see also Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 124 (2000) (determining
that probable cause existed where the defendant was “in an area
of heavy narcotics trafficking” and his “unprovoked flight upon
noticing the police” caused officers to become suspicious, noting
that “nervous, evasive behavior is a pertinent factor in
determining reasonable suspicion”). The officers’ observations of
Sparling’s “suspicious” driving pattern and their perception that
he was driving evasively were therefore not contingent on
whether they had activated their overhead lights or otherwise
signaled Sparling to stop. And while we agree with Sparling that
his evasive driving—by itself—likely would not support a finding
of constructive possession, we see no error in the district court’s
decision to include this fact in its cumulative analysis of the
relevant circumstances.

¶19 Next, Sparling challenges the court’s finding that there was
evidence demonstrating that he “was a current or recent user of
methamphetamine within the time related to the incident.” But
the State presented evidence that Sparling had not merely used
drugs recently, but that he had participated in the consumption of
the very drugs in question after Friend purchased them in Salt Lake
City. As noted above, this is a factor that may be considered in the
constructive possession calculus. See Anderton, 668 P.2d at 1264. In
particular, Friend told Officer 1—as captured on Officer 1’s
bodycam video—that she and Sparling had “smoked a bowl” of
“the meth” and “the pot” in Salt Lake City. One reasonable
interpretation of this statement is that Sparling consumed part of
the very drugs that are at issue in this case. While other readings
of this statement are perhaps possible, we defer to a factfinder’s
interpretation of evidence. See State v. Briggs, 2008 UT 75, ¶ 11, 197
P.3d 628 (explaining that judges, when sitting as factfinders, are
afforded a certain amount of leeway in drawing inferences from
the evidence presented, and “we will not take issue with those

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State v. Sparling

inferences unless the logic upon which their extrapolation from
the evidence is based is so flawed as to render the inference clearly
erroneous” (quotation simplified)); see also Lohman v. Headley, 2012
UT App 337, ¶ 9, 293 P.3d 380 (“When the evidence is susceptible
to more than one interpretation, the district court, as the fact
finder, is to consider the evidence and has significant discretion to
assign relative weight to the evidence before it.”). Sparling has
thus not convinced us that the district court erred in taking into
account Friend’s statement that, on the day before his arrest,
Sparling had used some of the very drugs in question.

¶20 Sparling also resists any effort to hold the text messages
against him, asserting that the district court itself found this
evidence “to not be helpful other than to show that [Friend] was
going to share the methamphetamine.” Sparling’s
characterization of the court’s findings regarding the
persuasiveness of this evidence misconstrues the record; while the
court did state that it found the messages only “slightly helpful,”
it went on to state that the messages also indicated that Sparling
had at least some role, along with Friend, in attempting to sell the
methamphetamine. The constructive possession inquiry is one
that requires consideration of the totality of the circumstances, see
State v. Fox, 709 P.2d 316, 319–20 (Utah 1985), and we perceive no
error in the district court’s consideration of those messages.
Indeed, as we read the record, those messages are highly
probative of Sparling’s involvement in the efforts made to market
and sell the drugs to users in Blanding.

¶21 Finally, Sparling argues that the district court’s
determination to acquit him on the other two drug charges—for
the heroin found in Friend’s purse and the THC vape pen found
in the glove box—demonstrates that he did not have “dominion
or control” of the methamphetamine. Some of the factors relevant
to this argument concern the “ownership and/or occupancy” of
the vehicle where the contraband was found, “the defendant’s
proximity to the contraband,” and the “presence of contraband in

20220390-CA 10 2024 UT App 59
State v. Sparling

a specific area where the defendant had control.” See Ashcraft,
2015 UT 5, ¶ 19 (quotation simplified). According to Sparling,
because these factors were equally present for all three of his
drug-related charges—especially the heroin, which was found in
Friend’s purse alongside the methamphetamine—it was
erroneous for the court to acquit him on only two counts and
convict him on the third. We are unpersuaded.

¶22 As an initial matter, this appeal does not concern the
propriety of the court’s decision to acquit Sparling on the other
two drug charges. The only question relevant here is whether the
State presented evidence sufficient to support a conviction on the
methamphetamine charge. And we have already determined that
it did.

¶23 Moreover, there are several potential material differences
between the circumstances surrounding the methamphetamine
and the circumstances surrounding the other drugs. Specifically,
Friend admitted that one of the primary purposes of the trip was
to buy drugs, that the methamphetamine was purchased in Salt
Lake City, and that she and Sparling had consumed some of the
methamphetamine before heading back to Blanding. She further
admitted that Sparling’s broken license was used to “chop up” the
“chunk of methamphetamine,” and the district court noted the
significance of the license’s presence in Friend’s purse as it was
something owned by Sparling that could be connected “directly
to the methamphetamine.” By contrast, the district court noted
there was “no testimony” that Sparling was “a recent heroin user”
or that he “intended to control” that drug “other than its
presence” in Friend’s purse. In addition, even though Friend had
indicated that Sparling had smoked marijuana the previous night,
the court noted that the phrasing Friend had used was that they
“smoked a bowl” and “a bowl is not a vape pen.” Accordingly,
the court determined there was “no indication” that “Sparling
knew the vape pen was even there.” Thus, the district court made
an attempt to differentiate between the various drug charges and

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State v. Sparling

to explain why it was acquitting Sparling on two of them but
convicting him on the methamphetamine charge. The court’s
reasoning is supported by evidence in the record.

¶24 In sum, then, none of Sparling’s counterarguments are
persuasive. The State presented sufficient evidence—considered
in its totality—to support a conviction on the methamphetamine
charge. While we agree with Sparling that any of the facts relied
on by the district court, if considered in isolation, would likely be
insufficient to support a determination that he constructively
possessed the methamphetamine, the sum of the evidence was
sufficient. In constructive possession cases, courts are to take a
comprehensive approach, consider all the relevant factors, and
then assess whether “the totality of the evidence taken as a whole”
supports the conviction. Ashcraft, 2015 UT 5, ¶ 27. Under the
totality of the circumstances presented here, the court’s
conclusion that there was a sufficient nexus connecting Sparling
to the methamphetamine was supported by the evidence.

CONCLUSION

¶25 The State presented sufficient evidence to support the
district court’s constructive possession finding. We therefore
reject Sparling’s appellate argument and affirm his conviction.

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