Hughitt, Shanna Lynn

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 25, 2019
DocketPD-0275-18
StatusPublished

This text of Hughitt, Shanna Lynn (Hughitt, Shanna Lynn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Hughitt, Shanna Lynn, (Tex. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS

NOS. PD-0275-18 & PD-0276-18

SHANNA LYNN HUGHITT, Appellant

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FROM THE ELEVENTH COURT OF APPEALS BROWN COUNTY

N EWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which K EASLER, H ERVEY, R ICHARDSON, Y EARY, K EEL, W ALKER, and S LAUGHTER , JJ., joined. K ELLER, P.J., concurred.

Shanna Lynn Hughitt was charged with and convicted of engaging

in organized criminal activity (“engaging”) based on the predicate offense

of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The issue

here is whether that offense—possession of a controlled substance with

intent to deliver—is a valid predicate offense for the crime of engaging. Hughitt — 2

The issue turns on whether the phrase “unlawful manufacture,

delivery” as it modifies “controlled substance” in Section 71.02(a)(5) of

the Texas Penal Code references the offense of “possession of a controlled

substance with intent to deliver.” If it does, then possession with intent

to deliver is a predicate offense. If not, then it is not. The court of

appeals concluded that the words “manufacture, delivery” were

inconsistent with the offense of “possession with intent to deliver.”

Consequently, the court of appeals held that possession with intent to

deliver was not a predicate offense for the crime of engaging. We agree

and affirm.

I. Background

Shanna Lynn Hughitt was living with Kevin Sliger, a self-described

drug addict and methamphetamine dealer. The Brown County Sheriff’s

Office was conducting an investigation into methamphetamine distribution

in Brownwood, Texas. In furtherance of that investigation, the Sheriff’s

Office executed a search warrant at Hughitt and Sliger’s home.

When executing the warrant, police found Sliger in the dining room

with illegal drugs on his person. Hughitt was found in a bedroom with

about one gram of meth and a glass pipe under her clothes. There was

also an ounce of marijuana in the bedroom closet and a gallon-sized Hughitt — 3

ziploc bag with meth residue under the mattress. Other items found in

the house included cash, drug packaging, rolling papers, syringes, scales,

a digital police scanner, and a large amount of MSN “cut.” 1

The State charged Hughitt with the offense of engaging predicated

on committing the offense of possession of a controlled substance with

intent to deliver.2 Hughitt filed a motion to quash the indictment, arguing

that possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver is not a

predicate offense under the engaging statute. In other words, prior to

trial, Hughitt asserted that the indictment failed to allege the offense of

engaging.3 The trial court denied the motion. Hughitt proceeded to trial,

and a jury found her guilty. The trial court sentenced Hughitt to 18 years’

imprisonment.

1 At trial, Investigator Carlyle Noe Grover with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office explained that MSN is “like a supplem ent used for horses.” He further explained the m eaning of “cut”: “Cut is just like— it creates m ore volum e or m ore weight for the drug. . . . And what they will do is, say, if you buy an ounce of m etham phetam ine and you put another ounce of cut in there, now you have 2 ounces of m etham phetam ine. So, you can double your profits.”

2 Hughitt was also charged with possession with intent to deliver m etham phetam ine in an am ount between four and 200 gram s for which she was convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ im prisonm ent. The court of appeals held that the evidence was insufficient to support that conviction and ordered it reform ed to reflect the lesser included offense of possession with intent to deliver between one and four gram s. That conviction is not at issue here. See note 44.

3 Hughitt does not argue that the indictm ent in this case failed to vest the district court with subject-m atter jurisdiction. See, e.g., Teal v. State, 230 S.W .3d 172, 182 (Tex. Crim . App. 2007) (holding that an indictm ent failing to allege every elem ent of the felony offense of hindering apprehension nevertheless vested the district court with subject m atter jurisdiction). Hughitt — 4

Hughitt appealed, arguing, among other things, that the trial court

erred in denying her motion to quash the indictment. The court of

appeals agreed, holding that possession with intent to deliver is not a

predicate offense under the engaging statute.4 The court of appeals

reasoned that the engaging statute only lists manufacture or delivery of

a controlled substance as relevant possible predicate offenses—not the

distinct offense of possession with intent to deliver.5 The court further

explained that incorporating possession with intent to deliver into

“unlawful manufacture, delivery, . . . of a controlled substance” in

Section 71.02(a)(5) would be inconsistent with the Health and Safety

Code’s definitions of “manufacture” and “delivery.” 6 Thus, the court of

appeals in this case vacated Hughitt’s engaging conviction and dismissed

the indictment because the indictment failed to allege an offense under

4 Hughitt v. State, 539 S.W .3d 531 (Tex. App.— Eastland 2018).

5 Id. at 537.

6 Id. The Health and Safety Code defines “m anufacture,” in relevant part, as: “[T]he production, preparation, propagation, com pounding, conversion, or processing of a controlled substance other than m arihuana, directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, independently by m eans of chem ical synthesis, or by a com bination of extraction and chem ical synthesis, and includes the packaging or repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container. . . .” T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O D E § 481.002(25). The definition for “delivery” states: “[T]o transfer, actually or constructively, to another a controlled substance, counterfeit substance, or drug paraphernalia, regardless of whether there is an agency relationship. The term includes offering to sell a controlled substance, counterfeit substance, or drug paraphernalia.” T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O D E § 481.002(8). Hughitt — 5

the engaging statute.

The State Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a petition for

discretionary review with this Court. The SPA argues that the court of

appeals erred in vacating the conviction and dismissing the indictment.

The SPA asks us to hold that possession with intent to deliver is a

predicate offense under the engaging statute. We decline to do so.

II. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

“An ‘indictment’ is the written statement of a grand jury accusing a

person therein named of some act or omission which, by law, is declared

to be an offense.”7 In other words, an indictment must state facts that,

if proved, show an actual violation of the law.8 The sufficiency of an

indictment is a question of law.9 When reviewing the denial of a motion

to quash turns solely upon the issue of the sufficiency of the indictment,

we review the trial court’s decision de novo.10

Generally, an indictment that tracks the language of the applicable

7 T EX . C O D E C RIM . P RO C . art. 21.01.

8 Posey v. State, 545 S.W .2d 162, 163 (Tex. Crim . App. 1997).

9 State v. Moff, 154 S.W .3d 599, 601 (Tex. Crim . App. 2004).

10 Id. Hughitt — 6

statute will satisfy constitutional and statutory requirements.11 The first

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Related

Lopez v. State
108 S.W.3d 293 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
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428 S.W.3d 831 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2014)

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