People v. Larke

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, and also alleged Defendant was within 1000 feet of a school at the time of the offense. Court did not err in referring jury back to its instructions, and in refusing to answer directly jury's question during deliberations:  "If we have a hung jury, with the defendant be found not guilty on all charges?". Disposition after a verdict involves matters the jurors are not called upon to deliberate. Court did not err in allowing State to introduce evidence of Defendant's prior conviction for possession of cannabis with intent to deliver as other-crimes evidence of Defendant's intent to deliver the cocaine.The other-crimes evidence was reliable because it was a conviction. The fact that a different drug was involved in the prior offense did not make the prior offense and the current offense dissimilar. (O'BRIEN and SCHMIDT, concurring.)