Lindley v. State

736 S.W.2d 267
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 4, 1987
Docket2-86-117-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 736 S.W.2d 267 (Lindley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lindley v. State, 736 S.W.2d 267 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

HOPKINS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction and jury-imposed punishment of seventy-five years and $75,000.00 fine for attempted manufacture of methamphetamine, TEX. REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 4476-15, sec. 4.03(d)(3) (Vernon Supp.1987). In ten points of error, appellant claims unconstitutionality of the statute because of vagueness, defectiveness of the indictment, inadmissibility of evidence seized by search warrant, unpredicated “reputation” testimony, improper argument and insufficiency of the evidence. The indictment alleged that appellant, while acting as a party with two other named persons, committed the offense of attempted manufacture of methamphetamine.

The judgment is affirmed.

The unconstitutionality point is based on the use of the term “dilutant” in the statute prohibiting manufacture of the controlled substance. The term is claimed to be unknown to the English language and not statutorily defined. We, however, find an authoritative source defines “dilutant” as “diluent,” which latter term means “a diluting agent as: ... an inert substance (as powdered talc) added to a mixture esp. for reducing the concentration of active ingredients (as in an insectidal dust).” See WEBSTER’S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNABRIDGED 633 (3rd ed. 1981). Point of error one is overruled.

Appellant’s attack upon the indictment is to the effect that it does not properly notify him of the nature and cause of the accusation against him as required by TEX. CONST, art. I, sec. 10.

By an amended motion to quash, appellant raised the contention that the offense of manufacturing a controlled substance may be committed in five ways, i.e., by preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion, and processing, therefore he is entitled to notice as to which the State intends to prove. He relies upon the rule in Ferguson v. State, 622 S.W.2d 846 (Tex. Crim.App.1980) wherein it was said “it is clear that even though an act or omission by a defendant is statutorily defined, if that definition provides for more than one manner or means to commit that act or omission, then upon timely request, the State must allege the particular manner or means it seeks to establish.” Id. at 851. In Ferguson the unlawful act was delivery of a controlled substance, which could be accomplished in “at least three quite different situations.” Id.

The State counters appellant’s claim that he is entitled to notice of which method of manufacture was attempted, by pointing out that the offense charged here is the prepatory offense of criminal attempt, not the offense of manufacturing a controlled substance. In a prosecution for criminal attempt it is not necessary to allege the constituent elements of the attempted offense. Williams v. State, 544 S.W.2d 428 (Tex.Crim.App.1976). This is so, even in the instance where a motion to quash is levelled at the indictment. Jones v. State, 576 S.W.2d 393, 395 (Tex.Crim.App.1979). It follows, claims the State, that if it is not necessary 'to allege the constituent elements of the attempted offense, it was not necessary to specify the method of manufacture charged against appellant. We *270 could accept the State’s thesis, were it not for the fact that in neither Williams nor Jones was the issue of constitutionally adequate notice raised. Accordingly, we will address the issue of sufficient notice, being mindful of the recent en banc decision of our Court of Criminal Appeals in Adams v. State, 707 S.W.2d 900, 901 (Tex.Crim.App. 1986). In that case the court wrote as follows:

This Court has stated that the failure of a charging instrument to allege facts sufficient to give the defendant notice of precisely what he is charged with is a ground for an exception to the form under Articles 27.09(2), and 21.21(7), supra. American Plant Food Corp. v. State, 508 S.W.2d 598 (Tex.Cr.App.1974).
We have also stated that when a challenge to an accusation for failure to give adequate notice on which to prepare a defense is properly and timely asserted with adequate statement of the manner in which notice is deficient, “fundamental constitutional protections are invoked.” Drumm v. State, 560 S.W.2d 944 (Tex. Cr.App.1977). Such a challenge “calls for examination of the criminal accusation from the perspective of the accused.” Id. “When the defendant petitions for sufficient notice of the state’s charge by motion to quash adequately setting out the manner in which notice is deficient, the presumption of innocence coupled with his right to notice requires that he be given such notice.” Id.
Moreover, Article I, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution mandates that the notice petitioned for — information on which to prepare a defense — must come from the face of the charging instrument. [Citations omitted.]

Id. at 901. Writing further, the court stated:

The important question is whether a defendant had notice adequate to prepare his defense. The first step in answering this question is to decide whether the charging instrument failed to convey some requisite item of “notice.” If sufficient notice is given, this ends our inquiry. If not, the next step is to decide whether, in the context of the case, this had an impact on the defendant’s ability to prepare a defense, and, finally, how great an impact.

Id. at 903.

The pertinent portion of the indictment before us is as follows:

[Appellant] did then and there while acting as a party with Michael Gerald Martin and Glenn Howard Cotton intentionally and knowingly, with the specific intent to commit the offense of unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, to-wit: Methamphetamine, in an amount of more than four hundred (400) grams including adulterants and dilutants, do an act, to-wit: attempt to manufacture said controlled substance by means of chemical synthesis by a clandestine laboratory at a habitation located at Route 1, Box 195, Rhome, Wise County, Texas, and said act amounted to more than mere preparation that tended but failed to effect the commission of said offense of unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine. ...

Applicable portions of the statutory law governing this prosecution follow:

[A] person commits an offense if he ... manufactures ... a controlled substance. ...

TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 4476-15, sec. 4.03(a) (Vernon Supp.1987).

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