## Facts

- March Meek rode as a passenger in a car driven by Delina Chauvin and had placed personal items in the car, including a shaving kit.
- The shaving kit contained marijuana.
- The car was involved in an accident, and Meek became trapped in the vehicle.
- Meek asked Chauvin to dispose of something, but she was unable or unwilling to do so.
- Phillip Hemby, a bystander, came to the accident scene to help.
- Meek handed Hemby the shaving kit and asked him to dispose of it before law enforcement arrived.
- Hemby noticed the kit smelled like marijuana and handed it back to Meek.
- Police later recovered the shaving kit from the side of the road near the accident scene.
- Testing showed the kit contained more than 140 grams of marijuana.
- The State charged Meek with transferring marijuana under Mississippi’s controlled-substances statute; a jury convicted him, and he appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Meek’s act of handing a shaving kit containing marijuana to Hemby and asking him to dispose of it—without a sale or other consideration—constituted a prohibited “transfer” under Mississippi controlled-substances law.
2. Whether a “transfer” requires a completed, permanent change of possession when the recipient returns the item and the attempt to dispose of it is unsuccessful.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed Meek’s conviction for transferring marijuana.
- The court held that a statutory “transfer” is not limited to sales and does not require consideration.
- The court held that the offense is satisfied when the defendant voluntarily gives another person possession with the intent that the recipient exercise rights or control over the item, even if the recipient later returns it or the attempt is “frustrated.”
- The court concluded that the evidence supported a finding that Meek handed the shaving kit to Hemby intending that Hemby take control of it by getting rid of it.

## Legal Principles

- Mississippi’s controlled-substances prohibition on “transfer” reaches noncommercial handoffs and is not confined to transactions involving payment.
- A “transfer” occurs when a defendant gives another person possession of a controlled substance with intent to pass along whatever rights or control the defendant has in the item.
- The State need not prove an exchange of consideration to establish a transfer.
- A transfer is not negated because the recipient refuses the item, returns it, or the defendant’s plan to dispose of the contraband fails after the handoff.

## Conclusion

In *Meek v. Mississippi*, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed a conviction for transferring marijuana where the defendant, trapped after a car accident, handed a shaving kit containing marijuana to a bystander and asked him to dispose of it; the court held that the statute covers this type of non-sale handoff and that the transfer was complete upon the voluntary delivery with intent to shift control, even though the bystander returned the kit and police ultimately recovered it.


Meek v. Mississippi, 806 So. 2d 236 (2001)