DRUG CONVICTION NULLIFIED ON APPEAL

A 26-year-old Pulaski County man could go free after a state Court of
Appeals panel, which said prosecutors failed to prove their case against
him, threw out a drug conviction and 10-year prison sentence. "There is
justice in this world," said Bobby McCallister of Benton, attorney for
Michael Porter. "That's wonderful.

I could not be more excited." In February 2000 a jury convicted Porter of
manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing drug paraphernalia. Porter is
now being held by the Arkansas Department of Correction. A Correction
Department spokesman said it could be several weeks before Porter is
released to give the state time to ask the court to reconsider.

He and co-defendant Elizabeth Strom were arrested a year earlier after
sheriff's deputies found evidence that the south Pulaski County house where
they lived -- but which belonged to someone else -- was used to manufacture
methamphetamine, an illegal stimulant.

Strom, 36, drew a 15-year sentence.

She did not appeal, McCallister said. The evidence included several items
associated with making the drug in boxes found in woods behind the Bradshaw
Road home, in the carport and in the kitchen.

Deputies also found a list of ingredients and a poem describing the
manufacturing process in a dresser in the bedroom Porter and Strom shared.

Porter and Strom were out of town at the time of the search. At trial
Pulaski County Circuit Judge John Plegge sustained McCallister's objection
that no testimony was introduced to identify who wrote the list or the poem.

But Plegge denied McCallister's motion for a directed acquittal at the end
of the government's case. McCallister argued then and on appeal that the
state offered no proof tying Porter to the evidence. Male clothing was
found in the dresser, and Porter conceded he lived in the house and shared
a bedroom with Strom but denied any connection with the evidence of the
methamphetamine lab found in and around the house.

He also argued the state presented no evidence that he took the necessary
steps to make the drug.

Appeals Court Judge Olly Neal, writing for a three-judge panel, agreed.
While neither exclusive nor actual physical possession of a drug is
necessary to sustain a conviction, Neal cited case law in which joint
occupancy alone is not enough to establish possession or joint possession.
"In such instances, the state must prove that the accused exercised care,
control, and management over the contraband and also that the accused knew
the matter possessed was contraband," Neal wrote. "Based on these facts, we
conclude that the evidence presented to the jury was not forceful enough to
compel a conclusion beyond speculation and conjecture."