Minors, You Are What You Drink!: Arkansas's New Spin on Minors in ...

986 ARKANSAS LAW REVIEW [Vol. 65:977
indicated that the smell of intoxicating liquors was on the
person of Kastl. 62
In order to prove constructive possession, the state
presented evidence that:
(1) [B]eer cans were found lying [sic] between the
vehicle in question and another parked vehicle; (2) a
six-pack of Coors Light beer was found lying inside the
vehicle in the hatch area behind the appellant, and
according to Officer Eisenhower, all the appellant
would have had to have done was just turn around and
reached and grabbed it [the beer]; and (3) the
appellant had a smell of intoxicating alcohol about her
person. 63
The court concluded that such evidence was not enough to
prove Kastl was in constructive possession of the alcohol. 64
In addition, because of the language of the pre-amended
statute, the court refused to give substantial weight to the
fact that the defendant had the smell of intoxicating liquor
on her person. 65
The Kastl court appeared to interpret the pre-amended
statute to mean that possession was essentially based solely
on the evidence that could be found near or around the
minor at the time of the arrest. The court’s analysis
supported the general definition of possession as it relates
to a person’s ability to control something. If one has an
alcohol bottle around one’s car or next to one’s chair, it is
apparent that the person could exercise dominion and
control over that alcohol. The fact that a person may have
exhibited signs of intoxication was simply not enough to
find that the person actually possessed the alcohol.
However, now that Arkansas’s minor-in-possession statute
explicitly permits evidence of consumption as amounting to
evidence of possession, the question is whether the
amended statute expands the definition of possession even
further. For example, under Arkansas’s minor-inpossession
statute, can the words consumption, use, and
62. Id. at 360, 796 S.W.2d. at 850.
63. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
64. Id. at 361, 796 S.W.2d at 850.
65. Kastl, 303 Ark. at 361, 796 S.W.2d at 850.