Robertson v. State

877 N.E.2d 507, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2734, 2007 WL 4293459
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided December 10, 2007·No. 65A01-0703-CR-158·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERTSON, Senior Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant-Defendant Charles Robertson appeals his convictions for dealing in meth *510 amphetamine, a Class B felony, and possession of chemical reagents or precursors with intent to manufacture, a Class D felony. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

ISSUES

Robertson raises three issues, which we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court’s admission of photographs of opened containers and their labels into evidence was harmless error;
II. Whether the evidence is sufficient to support Robertson’s convictions; and
III. Whether Robertson’s convictions violate the prohibition against double jeopardy.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On May 12, 2006, Posey County Sheriffs Deputies John Montgomery and Mark Saltzman responded to a dispatch of two people hunting artifacts on a farm without permission. Upon his arrival, Deputy Montgomery discovered an unattended black Toyota truck parked in the middle of the roadway. The deputy decided to have the truck towed, and Deputies Saltzman and Kenneth Rose conducted an inventory search of the truck. During the inventory, the deputies found items associated with the red phosphorous method of manufacturing methamphetamine, as well as items associated with the packaging and ingestion of methamphetamine. Specifically, the deputies found over 500 matchbook covers that contained the matches but had the strike plates, which contain red phosphorous, removed; matchbook covers that had the matches and strike plates removed; three heat source canisters-one of which was opened and the other two still sealed and in shrink wrap; a used coffee filter; baggies with the corners cut; a butane lighter; and aluminum paper with burn mark residue. The deputies also found an application for title for the vehicle that listed Robertson and Joseph Wright as the owners and the address as 9625 Smith Diamond Road in Mount Vernon. The deputies ran a title search of the truck, which indicated that truck was registered to Robertson and Wright and showed their address as 9625 Smith Diamond Road.

The deputies went to the Smith Diamond Road house, which was an elevated river camp, and upon approaching the front door, noticed an opened trash bag containing boxes of ephedrine and a hydrochloric gas (“HCL”) generator. The deputies then obtained a search warrant for the house. Upon execution of the search warrant, the deputies discovered various items associated with the red phosphorus method of manufacturing methamphetamine, including several HCL generators; cases of unopened matchbooks; matchbook covers that had no matches stapled to them but contained strike plates; two bags of matchbooks with the strike plates missing; two unopened boxes of nasal decongestant containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, several opened boxes of nasal decongestant and empty blister packs; an unopened bottle of hydrogen peroxide; an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide; an unopened gallon can of acetone; new camping-sized tanks of propane fuel; an opened gallon can of camping fuel; an unopened heat source canister; a full aerosol can of DeIcer, which contained methyl alcohol; an empty bottle of Heet; an opened container of tincture of iodine; an opened container of drain cleaner; two opened or empty gallon bottles of muriatic acid; an opened container of salt; electric hot plates; used coffee filters; a glass condenser tube with plastic tubing; boxes of baggies; baggies with the corners cut; digital scales; a *511 butane torch; gloves; glass tubes; glass drug paraphernalia pipes; and numerous glass Pyrex dishes and jars, some of which contained various colors of liquids that were not tested. Hanging on the kitchen wall, the deputies also saw a sign that read:

DANGER KEEP LIGHTS AND FIRES AWAY ANHYDROUS AMMONIA

State’s Exhibit 106. The deputies did not find any finished methamphetamine at the house, but they did recover Robertson’s fingerprints on some of the glass jars found in the house.

Three days later, on May 19, 2006, Deputy Montgomery returned to the Smith Diamond Road residence after receiving information that Robertson and Wright were there. The deputy arrested Robertson, who told the deputy that “he was tired of running and ... “glad he got caught” and that he “wanted to take a bath.” Transcript at 38. The State charged Robertson with Count 1, dealing in methamphetamine, a Class B felony; Count 2, possession of chemical reagents or precursors — specifically, pseudoephed-rine hydrochloride, iodine, sodium hydroxide, and hydrogen peroxide- — -with intent to manufacture a controlled substance, a Class D felony; Count 3, maintaining a common nuisance, a Class D felony; and Count 4, using private land without consent, a Class C misdemeanor.

A jury trial was held in February 2007. Prior to trial, Robertson filed a motion in limine to exclude photographs of any empty or opened containers and argued that they were hearsay and should be excluded from evidence. On the morning of trial, the trial court denied Robertson’s motion to exclude the photographs.

During trial, Robertson objected to the following State’s exhibits: Exhibit 17, the one opened and two unopened, shrink-wrapped heat source canisters; Exhibit 47, a photograph of a label from an opened container of salt; Exhibit 54, a photograph of a label from an opened container of tincture of iodine; Exhibit 55, a photograph of a label from an opened container of drain cleaner, which showed that it contained sodium hydroxide; Exhibits 67 and 67A, photographs of a label from an opened container of muriatic acid, which showed that it contained hydrogen chloride; Exhibit 77, a photograph of an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide; Exhibit 78 and 79, photographs of a label from an unopened container of hydrogen peroxide; Exhibit 91, a photograph of a label from an opened container of camping fuel; Exhibits 103, 115, 116, 117, 119, and 120, several opened boxes of nasal decongestant containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and empty blister packs; Exhibits 123 and 123A, photographs of a label from an opened container of muriatic acid, which showed that it contained hydrochloric acid; and Exhibits 127 and 128, photographs of a label of an empty bottle of Heet, which showed that it contained methyl alcohol. Robertson argued that these exhibits were hearsay and did not meet the hearsay exception under Indiana Evidence Rule 803Í17). 1 The trial court overruled Robertson’s objections to each of these exhibits and admitted them into evidence.

Also during the trial, Deputy Rose testified that based on his training and experience, the items recovered from Robert *512 son’s truck and house indicated an “active clandestine methamphetamine laboratory” using the red phosphorus method. Transcript at 109. Deputy Saltzman also opined that methamphetamine was actively being manufactured at the Smith Diamond Road house based on the items found in the house associated with the different steps of manufacturing, including the HCL generators and glass jars that contained bi-level liquids.

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Robertson v. State, 877 N.E.2d 507, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2734, 2007 WL 4293459 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

877 N.E.2d 507 (Robertson v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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