State v. Blair

145 S.W.3d 633, 2004 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 130, 2004 WL 298373
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 13, 2004
DocketM2002-01610-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 145 S.W.3d 633 (State v. Blair) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Blair, 145 S.W.3d 633, 2004 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 130, 2004 WL 298373 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

JOSEPH M. TIPTON, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which DAVID G. HAYES and JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, JJ., joined.

A Humphreys County Circuit Court jury convicted the defendant, Bobby Blair, of manufacturing methamphetamine, a Class B felony, and the trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to twelve years in the Department of Correction. The defendant appeals, claiming that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the trial court erred by refusing to grant a continuance when the state announced a few days before trial that it was going to call an expert witness to testify; (3) the trial court erred by denying the defendant’s motion to suppress and exclude evidence because the defense was not able to examine and test the equipment and chemicals found at the crime scene; (4) the trial court erred by allowing the state’s expert to testify that the defendant was not manufacturing methamphetamine for personal use; (5) the trial court erred by failing to instruct *636 the jury on the lesser included offense of simple possession of methamphetamine; and (6) the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on “immediate precursor.” We conclude that no error occurred, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

This case relates to the defendant’s being found at a campsite with equipment and chemicals commonly used to make methamphetamine. Ronnie T. Toungette, the Humphreys County Sheriff, testified that on the afternoon of July 10, 2001, he and another deputy went to a remote area on Bear Creek. He said that the area had a boat ramp and was a popular fishing spot, that camping was prohibited there, and that the nearest house was about one-quarter mile away. He said that when he and the deputy arrived at Bear Creek, they saw a camper-type vehicle, evidence of a campfire, and evidence that someone had been cooking. He said that an all-terrain vehicle also was present and that wooden boards had been nailed to trees in order to make tables. He said that a boat was parked at the campsite but that he saw no evidence anyone had been fishing. He said that no one was at the campsite and that he and the deputy left. He said that when he returned to the Sheriffs Office, he posted a flyer ordering night officers to return to the area.

Jessie McCloud testified that in July 2001, he was a deputy for the Humphreys County Sheriffs Department. He testified that on July 10, he worked the evening shift and saw Sheriff Toungette’s order posted on the bulletin board. He said he and Officer William Macken went to Bear Creek Landing about 11:00 p.m. and saw the defendant sitting in a reeliner with a blanket covering the reeliner. He said that he called to the defendant a couple of times and that the defendant finally got out of the chair. He said he told the defendant that the defendant was going to have to leave because camping was not allowed. He said he was standing beside a closed cooler and smelled ether in the cooler. He said he had become familiar with the smell of ether because he had been working on cases involving methamphetamine. He said he opened the cooler, saw a red bucket containing a liquid and something floating in the liquid, and arrested the defendant, charging him with manufacturing methamphetamine. He said that he telephoned the Twenty-Third Judicial District Drug Task Force and that it contacted the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which arrived to clean up the scene.

Mr. McCloud testified that a DEA agent poured out the liquid in the red bucket, let the substance that had been floating in the liquid air dry, and gave him the substance as evidence. He said that he thought the substance was methamphetamine and that the substance was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for testing. He said the DEA destroyed a bottle of Heet and a bottle of drain cleaner that also were at the campsite. He said that batteries, Morton’s salt, aluminum foil, five empty Mason jars without lids, and Coleman lanterns also were present.

On cross-examination, Mr. McCloud testified that a police inventory list showed that officers found the following items at the scene: Four Coleman lanterns, one tackle box containing fishing tackle, a motorcycle, an all-terrain vehicle, a rake, three folding chairs, an ax, three coolers, five skillets, a radio, a canoe, and ten fishing poles. He said that he did not know if other people were staying at the campsite with the defendant and that when he arrived at the scene, the defendant was pretending to be asleep. He said that he did not try to collect fingerprints from any of the items found at the campsite and that *637 he did not ask the DEA agents to fingerprint anything. He said the DEA kept most of the chemicals found at the campsite and destroyed them. He said that police officers photographed the scene but that the only physical evidence he was allowed to keep was the air-dried substance from the red bucket. He acknowledged that at the defendant’s preliminary hearing, he testified that he was positive the substance in the red bucket was methamphetamine. He acknowledged, though, that he later learned the substance was not methamphetamine. He also acknowledged that he did not find iodine or anhydrous ammonia, ingredients commonly used in the methamphetamine manufacturing process, at the campsite. He said that he was at the campsite for three to four hours and that he did not see anyone other than law enforcement officers arrive during that time.

Tara Barker, a special agent forensic scientist with the TBI, testified that she tested the dried substance from the red bucket. She said that the substance was 378.6 grams of pseudoephedrine.

Rick Stewart, a DEA agent and expert in manufacturing methamphetamine, testified that he did not visit the campsite but saw photographs of it. He said that when small-town police officers find methamphetamine laboratories, they should call the DEA and let DEA agents destroy the laboratories because they are extremely dangerous. He said officers should not try to fingerprint items at a methamphetamine laboratory because chemicals could react or get on the officers’ skin. He said there are two methods for making methamphetamine, the “Nazi” method and the “Red Phosphorous” method. He said that in order to make methamphetamine, a person needs a precursor such as pseudoephed-rine, which is contained in decongestant pills such as Sudafed. He said the pills must be mixed with a liquid such as Heet in order to separate the pseudoephedrine from the pills’ other ingredients.

The state showed Agent Stewart a photograph of the red bucket containing the liquid and the substance floating in the liquid. He noted that the substance had a pink tint, indicating that the liquid was breaking down Sudafed pills, which have a pink coating. He said that using the Red Phosphorus method, a person could make about one-half pound of methamphetamine and that a pound of methamphetamine was worth $10,000 to $20,000. He said that based upon photographs taken at the campsite and the large amount of pseu-doephedrine present, he believed the defendant was manufacturing methamphetamine and that the defendant was not making the drug for personal use.

On cross-examination, Agent Stewart testified that it would have been impractical to dust the red bucket for fingerprints because fingerprints can only be collected from flat, clean surfaces.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Tennessee v. Howard Hawk Willis
496 S.W.3d 653 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2016)
State of Tennessee v. Roy Allen Smith
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2015
State of Tennessee v. Howard Hawk Willis
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2015
State of Tennessee v. Letalvis Darnell Cobbins
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2014
State of Tennessee v. David Long
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2010
State v. Vaughn
279 S.W.3d 584 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2008)
State of Tennessee v. Raymond Lee Gibson
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2007

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
145 S.W.3d 633, 2004 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 130, 2004 WL 298373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-blair-tenncrimapp-2004.