People v. Burgio

16 Cal. App. 4th 769, 20 Cal. Rptr. 2d 397, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4648, 93 Daily Journal DAR 7624, 1993 Cal. App. LEXIS 654
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 16, 1993
DocketB063231
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 16 Cal. App. 4th 769 (People v. Burgio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Burgio, 16 Cal. App. 4th 769, 20 Cal. Rptr. 2d 397, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4648, 93 Daily Journal DAR 7624, 1993 Cal. App. LEXIS 654 (Cal. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

Opinion

LILLIE, P. J.

The court, sitting without a jury, found defendant1 guilty of manufacturing methamphetamine (count I), conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine (count II), possession of methamphetamine for purposes of sale (count III) and conspiracy to possess methamphetamine for sale (count IV); and found true special allegations, as to counts I and II, that the substance containing methamphetamine exceeded 25 gallons of liquid by [772]*772volume within the meaning of Health and Safety Code2 section 11379.8, subdivision (a); and, as to counts III and IV, that the substance containing methamphetamine exceeded 3 pounds of solid weight within the meaning of section 11370.4, subdivision (b). He appeals from the judgment and claims error in the imposition of a 10-year enhancement pursuant to section 11379.8, and a concurrent 3-year sentence for a prior foreign conviction for conspiracy to possess and distribute narcotics.

Facts

A. People’s Evidence

On February 27, 1990, Officer Davis, a detective with the narcotics division of the police department and a qualified expert in the manufacture of methamphetamine and sale of controlled substances, accompanied by officers of the department’s clandestine lab squad and sheriff’s deputies who were engaged in securing the area and making another search, conducted a search of a duplex located in the City of Carson; codefendant Pemberton answered the door; as Davis entered, he observed defendant standing in a small hallway by the living room. A loaded handgun was discovered nearby on a linen closet shelf.3 The residence contained a vat filled with liquid, various chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine (hydriodic acid, ephedrine and red phosphorus), rubber tubing and assorted flasks, and glassware. Officer Davis also found in the residence finished methamphetamine. In his opinion, the residence was being used almost solely to manufacture methamphetamine. Because of the sheer volume of methamphetamine found in liquid form, as well as the fact the residence had in effect been converted into a methamphetamine processing laboratory, Officer Davis was of the opinion that the methamphetamine was possessed for sale.

Joseph Hourigan, a criminalist with the police department crime laboratory, was called to make an analysis. He drained eight gallons from the bottom portion of the liquid in the vat—the vat contained two immersible liquids: the lower portion comprised approximately eight gallons; the upper portion contained twenty-eight and one-half gallons. The liquid sampled, contained methamphetamine and freon; such ingredients would commonly be processed to produce methamphetamine in solid form. He was unable to determine, without a quantitative analysis, the amount of solid methamphetamine that would be formed from the eight gallons of methamphetamine and [773]*773freon; subsequently, he extracted a two-ounce sample from the upper portion of the liquid in the vat which was found to consist of methamphetamine and ephedrine.

B. Defense

Defendant testified that in February he was using the premises in Carson to manufacture methamphetamine, and he purchased the items used to manufacture it. In the words of the trial judge, defendant “testified pretty much as an expert under questioning by both sides”—that three ingredients —hydriodic acid, ephedrine and red phosphorus—are required to manufacture methamphetamine; they are mixed in a flask which is placed onto a heating mantle; a condenser is attached to the top of the flask through which a flow of water is run; the ingredients are boiled or “refluxed” causing vapors to rise into a tube and then back down into the flask. The process takes 72 hours and converts some or all of the ephedrine into methamphetamine. The resulting liquid mixture is then filtered to remove solid material, primarily red phosphorus, by placing the mixture in a solution such as that found in the vat recovered during the search. Freon is subsequently used to “strip” the methamphetamine oil. Because freon is the heaviest of the chemicals used, it settles to the bottom of the vat, then it is poured back through the top multiple times in order to strip the remaining methamphetamine oil until the freon no longer produces any solid product.

To transform the eight gallons of liquid methamphetamine and freon drained from the bottom of the vat into the powdery form of methamphetamine, hydrochloric acid would be bubbled through the freon solution. At the time of his arrest, there were approximately 10,000 milliliters of methamphetamine oil in the vat, roughly equivalent to 2Vi gallons. The two and one-half gallons of methamphetamine oil would yield approximately three or four pounds of solid methamphetamine upon further processing.

I

Ten-year Enhancement Pursuant to Section 11379.8

Appellant contends that inasmuch as he possessed less than 25 gallons of pure methamphetamine, the trial court erred in imposing the 10-year enhancement pursuant to section 11379.8.4 Relying primarily upon subdivision (b), appellant argues that the word “substance” used in subdivision (a)(3) must be interpreted to mean a “controlled substance” (pure methamphetamine) rather than a “substance containing a controlled substance” referred [774]*774to in subdivision (a). Thus, he says that to impose the 10-year enhancement, the court must have found that the “controlled substance” (pure methamphetamine) exceeded 25 gallons of liquid by volume or 10 pounds of solid substance by weight.

We conclude under case authority and a reasonable and commonsense interpretation consistent with the apparent purpose and intention of the Legislature, that the word “substance” as used in its statutory context (§ 11379.8, subd. (a)(3)), is not “limited” by language in subdivision (b), and was not intended by the Legislature to mean a pure controlled substance as defined in sections 11054 and 11055 (methamphetamine), but a “substance containing a controlled substance.”

We first note that the trial court in rather lengthy but well-reasoned comments understood the distinction in finding true beyond a reasonable doubt the allegation that defendant was in possession of a substance containing methamphetamine exceeding 25 gallons of liquid by volume.* ***5

Second, case law puts the issue to rest. In People v. Pieters (1991) 52 Cal.3d 894 [276 Cal.Rptr. 918, 802 P.2d 420], the Supreme Court rejected the same kind of challenge to section 11370.4 appellant makes here to [775]*775section 11379.8. Defendant was arrested in a vehicle containing just over 11 pounds of a substance later proved to be 83 percent cocaine. A jury found him guilty of a violation of section 11352 (sale or transportation of a narcotic), as well as conspiracy, and found true the allegation that a substance containing cocaine weighed more than 10 pounds pursuant to section 11370.4, subdivision (a)(2), in accordance with which the trial court imposed a 5-year enhancement. Appellant asserted the word “substance,” as used in section 11370.4, does not refer to a mixture of different compounds but is in effect a shorthand notation for “controlled substance” which denotes an illicit drug in its pure form. Said the court:

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People v. Burgio
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Bluebook (online)
16 Cal. App. 4th 769, 20 Cal. Rptr. 2d 397, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4648, 93 Daily Journal DAR 7624, 1993 Cal. App. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-burgio-calctapp-1993.