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MAY 1, 2000

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

No. 99-K-1794 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. JOSEPH BUTLER

On Writ of Certiorari to the First Circuit Court of Appeal

PER CURIAM:* For the following reasons, we affirm relator's conviction and sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of La.R.S. 40:967(A)(1). We agree with relator that the amount of cocaine recovered by the police from his person, a single rock weighing .07 grams, ordinarily would not support a jury's finding of an intent to distribute. State v. Fisher, 628 So.2d 1136, 1142

(La. App. 1st Cir. 1993) (possession of 20 rocks of cocaine not sufficient to support an inference of intent to distribute), writ denied, 637 So.2d 474; State v. Porter, 547 So.2d 736 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 1989) (possession of 0.6 grams of cocaine did not support inference of intent to distribute). The police had

seen relator discard another object during a brief struggle which accompanied his initial detention but had been unable to find it after subduing their suspect. However, in his

statements to the police after his arrest, relator admitted that two other rocks of cocaine had spilled out of his pocket during a struggle with the officers and that he made his living by selling drugs. Relator denied that he intended to

Calogero, C.J., not on panel, recused. Rule IV, Part II,

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Louisiana Law