Rhodes v. Commonwealth

292 S.E.2d 373, 223 Va. 743, 1982 Va. LEXIS 262
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJune 18, 1982
DocketRecord 810412
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 292 S.E.2d 373 (Rhodes v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rhodes v. Commonwealth, 292 S.E.2d 373, 223 Va. 743, 1982 Va. LEXIS 262 (Va. 1982).

Opinion

RUSSELL, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The question presented in this case is whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars the Commonwealth from presenting, in a criminal case, evidence underlying another offense of which the defendant had previously, been acquitted.

On September 15, 1978, members of the Narcotics Investigation Section of the Virginia State Police began to investigate the suspected manufacture of phencyclidine (PCP) in Prince William County. Trooper M. J. Ritchie followed the defendant and a companion while other members of the investigation team kept under surveillance a farmhouse owned by the defendant’s parents in the northern part of the county. Trooper Ritchie observed the defendant and his companion enter a store where the defendant purchased a long stirring spoon and his companion purchased seven plastic buckets. He then followed the pair to the farmhouse. The investigation team found a number of items commonly used in the manufacture of PCP in the woods surrounding the house. Some of the items contained residues of chemicals used in the manufacture of PCP. The troopers also noticed that a distinctive odor associated with the manufacture of PCP was emanating from the general direction of the house. The troopers kept watch on the house *746 from the nearby woods throughout that day and night, and into the following day.

In the late afternoon of September 16th, Trooper S. E. Gray observed the defendant and another man walking toward an old Chrysler which was one of six or seven apparently disused or abandoned vehicles parked around the house. When the defendant opened the Chrysler’s trunk, the odor of PCP became extremely strong. Both men leaned into the trunk and appeared to be examining the contents. After a short time they closed the trunk lid and walked out of the trooper’s view. Shortly thereafter the trooper heard another trunk or door slam, and saw the defendant reappear, carrying a white object which the trooper could not identify. The defendant then entered a yellow Ford Mustang. The trooper heard the defendant’s companion say “Be careful, Bear,” (using the defendant’s nickname). The defendant left the premises in the Mustang and drove south on Route 15 toward Haymarket.

Trooper Gray immediately made radio contact with Trooper R. A. Dyer, who was driving north on Route 15, armed with a search warrant for the farmhouse, and informed him of the defendant’s movements. Dyer intercepted the defendant at a truck stop near Haymarket. When he stopped the defendant, another man and a young woman were also in the Mustang. Dyer detected an odor of PCP emanating from the car. He found a plastic bag containing cigarettes dipped in a liquid, which was still wet, on the “hump” between the Mustang’s bucket seats. The cigarettes appeared to be the source of the odor. Chemical analysis later established the fact that the cigarettes had been dipped in liquid PCP.

When the Troopers executed the search warrant, they found many articles used in the manufacture of PCP in the derelict vehicles around the farmhouse. Some bore the defendant’s fingerprints. They also found various chemicals used in the PCP manufacturing process, as well as 30 grams of finished PCP.

The Grand Jury, on June 4, 1979, returned two indictments against the defendant, one charging him with the manufacture of PCP and the other charging him with the possession of PCP. On the defendant’s motion, the court severed the two charges for separate trials. The possession case was tried first, by jury, on April 17, 1980. The Commonwealth’s evidence in support of the indictment was based upon Trooper Dyer’s discovery of the PCP-soaked cigarettes which he found on the “hump” between the seats of the *747 defendant’s Mustang when he stopped it near Haymarket. The jury found the defendant “Not Guilty” of possession.

The manufacturing charge was tried by jury on July 30, 1980. The Commonwealth’s evidence in support of this indictment was based on the defendant’s alleged participation in the manufacturing activities at the farmhouse. Since no witness had seen him manufacture PCP, the proof was entirely circumstantial. The defendant made a motion in limine to prohibit the Commonwealth from introducing any evidence concerning his arrest near Haymarket by Trooper Dyer, and the discovery of the PCP-soaked cigarettes in his car. He based his motion upon the ground that he had previously been acquitted of the possession of those items. The Commonwealth conceded that it was barred from asserting in the manufacturing case that the defendant was in possession of the cigarettes. However, it contended that the presence of the cigarettes, still wet with PCP, in the defendant’s car, was a circumstance which the jury should consider because it tended to show his association with the manufacturing process at the farmhouse.

The defendant’s motion was denied and the Commonwealth introduced Trooper Dyer’s testimony concerning the defendant’s apprehension and the discovery of the cigarettes. Evidence was also introduced concerning the activities at the farmhouse and the items found when the search warrant was executed. Expert testimony of a forensic chemist identified the substances found and related the steps necessary for the manufacture of PCP. The jury found the defendant guilty of the manufacture of PCP and fixed his punishment at 20 years in the penitentiary and a $25,000 fine. Judgment was entered on the verdict.

We granted an appeal limited to the defendant’s contention that during the trial of the manufacturing case, the court erred in allowing into evidence testimony concerning the presence of the PCP-soaked cigarettes found in his car. The defendant argues that the Commonwealth should have been collaterally estopped from using such evidence in the subsequent prosecution for manufacturing because the same evidence had been introduced during the trial of the possession charge of which the defendant had been acquitted.

In criminal cases, collateral estoppel is a doctrine grounded in the Fifth Amendment guarantee against double jeopardy. Lee v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 1108, 1110, 254 S.E.2d 126, *748 127 (1979). In Turner v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 513, 529, 273 S.E.2d 36, 46 (1980), we enumerated the three separate guarantees contained in the double jeopardy clause: protection against a second prosecution for the offense after acquittal, protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and protection against multiple punishments for the same offense. The test for a violation of the latter guarantee is whether each offense requires, for conviction, proof of a fact which the other does not. Blockburger v. U.S., 284 U.S. 299, 304 (1932). The question presented here is unaffected by the three constitutional guarantees. The defendant was not, in the manufacturing case, on trial for the crime of possession of the PCP found in his car. Possession and manufacturing are two separate and distinct offenses, each of which requires proof of a fact which the other does not.

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Bluebook (online)
292 S.E.2d 373, 223 Va. 743, 1982 Va. LEXIS 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhodes-v-commonwealth-va-1982.