Schreiner v. State

196 So. 3d 1237, 2015 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 22, 2015 WL 1780073
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 17, 2015
DocketCR-14-0003
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 196 So. 3d 1237 (Schreiner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schreiner v. State, 196 So. 3d 1237, 2015 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 22, 2015 WL 1780073 (Ala. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

On Return to Remand

JOINER, Judge.

Gary Paul Schreiner appeals his conviction for trafficking in methamphetamine, see § 13A-12-231(ll)a., Ala.Code 1975, and his resulting sentence, as a habitual [1239]*1239offender, to life imprisonment.1 We affirm. •

Facts and Procedural, Bistoury

On May 23, 2014, Schreiner was indicted for trafficking in methamphetamine. The indictment charged that Schreiner had possessed “methamphetamine or a mixture containing methamphetamine, in excess of twenty-eight (28) grams but less than five hundred (500) grams.” (C. 15.)

On October 1,2014, Schreiner proceeded to trial. At trial, the State’s evidence tended to establish the following: On June 14, 2012, Joseph Goff, a corporal with the Mobile Police Department, was serving warrants for the United States Marshal Service and went to a residence in Satsuma, Alabama, to serve a warrant on Schreiner. Cpl. Goff and another law-enforcement officer went to the back of the residence while another officer went to the front of the residence. According to Cpl. Goff, Cpl. Goff knocked on the back door of the residence, Schreiner came to the door, and Cpl. Goff took Schreiner into custody. Schreiner- told Cpl. Goff that there was another person — Schreiner’s cousin — in the residence. Cpl. Goff “gave [Schreiner’s cousin] orders to come out of the back. He was in a back bedroom. After a couple of minutes ... he came to the door and was taken outside and detained.” (Rl.28-29.)2

According to Cpl-. Goff, the following then occurred:

“Schreiner didn’t have’on any shoes or a shirt. He asked me to grab him a pair of tennis shoes. Right next to the bed there were two pair of tennis shoes. I picked 'one of them up and he said, ‘No, not those, the other shoes.’ I picked up the other set of shoes and checked them to make sure there were no weapons or illegal substances inside. In one shoe there was; three bags of what appeared to be methamphetamine and in the other shoe there was a set of electronic scales.”

(R1.29.) The substance Cpl. Goff believed to be methamphetamine was granular.

After finding what he believed to be methamphetamine in Schreiner’s shoe, Cpl. Goff contacted Deputy Raylene Busby and Deputy Greg O’Shea of the Mobile County Sheriffs Office Narcotics Unit. Deputy Busby and Deputy O’Shea both responded to Schreiner’s residence and, from that point, took over the. investigation.

■ When she arrived at Schreiner’s residence, Deputy Busby asked those who occupied the residence for consent to search the residence.. According to Deputy Busby, she obtained consent to search the residence “from all but one of the occupants.”3 [1240]*1240Because one of the occupants of the residence objected to the search, Deputy Busby obtained a search warrant to search the residence. After obtaining the search warrant,. Deputy Busby and Deputy O’Shea began searching the residence.

During the search of the residence, Deputy Busby and Deputy O’Shea found several items that were, in Deputy Busby’s opinion, used-in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Deputy Busby stated that she also found “a glass drinking jar that ha[d] a coffee filter on top of it and it ha[d] meth oil in it.” (R1.39.) According to Deputy Busby, “meth oil” is a “liquid substance” that is “highly toxic.” Both the granular substance that was found in Schreiner’s shoe and' the “meth oil” were sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (“DFS”) for testing.

According to the DFS report on the substance and the oil, the granular substance found in Schreiner’s shoe tested positive for both methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine and weighed approximately 1.439 grams, and! the “meth oil” tested positive for methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine and weighed approximately 151.91 grams.

On cross-examination, Deputy Busby testified as follows regarding the “meth oil”:

“[Schreiner’s counsel]: And in this analysis we have methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine, so there is actually two components [of the meth oil] that we know of. We know there’s a presence of methamphetamine and we know there is a presence of pseudoephedrine;. correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: That’s when we ask them — or request, whenever I write out my things to test for, yes, sir;
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: Now, the weight that’s detailed in this report is actually the total weight of that liquid substance; correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: Yes, sir. What I do whenever I—
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: Again, explain that to the jury, I apologize.
“[Deputy Busby]: Okay. Whenever I take a sample, as you see this glass jar that’s inside of this, we take our sample on the scene. Once I get back to my Office, we have an empty bottle, same bottle as these with the lid and all. I’ll take it and- put it on a scale, a digital scale that we have at the office. I’ll tare it — t-a-r-e—it out-to zero, and then I’ll place this bottle on that weight to give me the approximate weight1 of the liquid inside of the bottle or if it’s sludge, whichever the case may be.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: And in this case, I believe your initial weighing of this was just a little bit different bút right about in the ballpark of the actual weight done by DFS; correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: I think mine was 153, somewhere along in there.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: Sure. And I’m not trying to say that is a big deal or anything, but we’re in the ballpark as far as weight?
“[Deputy Busby]: Yeah. 1
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: All right. But for purposes of the charge that you alleged against [Schreiner], we are going with the 151.91; correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: Yes, sir.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: Now, that is obviously above the 28 grams that’s required for [trafficking in] methamphetamine and below 500?
“[Deputy Busby]: Yes.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: However, we can’t ascertain, or you can’t say beyond a reasonable doubt.as .to the meth composition or the meth that makes up the meth oil; correct?
[1241]*1241“[Deputy Busby]: No, sir. It will all test positive for methamphetamine.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: And, likewise, we can’t say as requested by you or your office the pseudoephedrine amount that makes up that [meth oil]; correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: No, sir.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: And be that— being the case — we talked about the granular form of methamphetamine, that’s — that’s the form generally bought and sold on the street that is used by a consumer; correct?
“[Deputy Busby]: Yes, sir.
“[Schreiner’s counsel]: So if I were to take a gram of granular methamphetamine and chop all of it away but a tenth of that gram, and -I were ,..

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Related

Schreiner v. State
196 So. 3d 1247 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
196 So. 3d 1237, 2015 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 22, 2015 WL 1780073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schreiner-v-state-alacrimapp-2015.