State v. Carr

692 N.W.2d 98, 2005 Minn. App. LEXIS 168, 2005 WL 353997
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 15, 2005
DocketA04-338
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 692 N.W.2d 98 (State v. Carr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Carr, 692 N.W.2d 98, 2005 Minn. App. LEXIS 168, 2005 WL 353997 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

CRIPPEN, Judge. *

Appellant James Edward Carr, Jr. contends, under Minn.Stat. § 609.035 (2002), that he is entitled to the reversal of his sentence for possessing a controlled substance, arguing that this conviction arose out of the same behavioral incident that led to his conviction of unlawful manufacture of the substance. We reverse the possession sentence. There being no merit in appellant’s additional contention that his right to judicial review was handicapped by the district court’s failure to record the instructions read to the jury, we affirm appellant’s convictions for manufacture and possession.

FACTS

In June 2003, during a lawful search of appellant’s garage, Becker County deputy sheriffs found muriatic acid, a hotplate, and a coffee pot and spoon coated in a white powder. Behind the garage they found an empty toluene can. Because the items found in and near the garage can be used to make methamphetamine, the deputies contacted a narcotics investigator, who obtained a search warrant for appellant’s residence.

Officers executing the search warrant found four empty bottles of pseudoephed-rine pills, over 100 pills, a lithium battery, a half-used box of coffee filters, coffee filters with white residue on them, more toluene cans, two hoses, Coleman fuel, three glass jars, salt, and an empty propane tank that had stored anhydrous am *101 monia. In the yard they found a one-liter soda bottle containing two layers of liquid; the liquid tested positive for methamphetamine.

Appellant was charged with a first-degree controlled substance crime for possessing methamphetamine under Minn. Stat. § 152.021, subd. 2 (Supp.2003) and a first-degree controlled substance crime for manufacturing methamphetamine under Minn.Stat. § 152.021, subd. 2a(a) (Supp. 2003). At appellant’s jury trial, a narcotics investigator testified that methamphetamine is unusable in a liquid form. To finish the manufacturing process and turn the liquid methamphetamine into a usable powder, the liquid methamphetamine must be mixed with pseudoephedrine and water; separated; filtered using a baster, funnel, or cooler with a spout; mixed with hydrogen chloride gas; filtered again; and dried.

At the sentencing hearing following appellant’s conviction of both charges, he argued that because the two crimes were part of the same course of conduct, he should be given one sentence for both convictions and that the possession conviction was actually a lesser-ineluded offense of the manufacturing conviction. The district court imposed two concurrent sentences, one for each conviction. To determine the sentence for appellant’s second conviction, the district court counted appellant’s first conviction towards his criminal-history score. With a criminal-history score of one point for appellant’s first sentence and three points for the second, the district court imposed a 98-month sentence for the manufacturing conviction and a 122-month sentence for the possession conviction.

ISSUES

1. For an appellant convicted of manufacturing an unlawful substance, does the charge of possessing that substance before completion of the manufacturing process arise out of the same behavioral incident under Minn.Stat. § 609.035, subd. 1 (2002)?

2. Where an appellant has made no attempt to reconstruct the record and makes no claim that the district court provided erroneous instructions to the jury, is the district court’s failure to transcribe the reading of jury instructions reversible error?

ANALYSIS

1.

If a defendant’s conduct constitutes multiple offenses but is part of the same behavioral incident, the district court may impose only one sentence. Minn.Stat. § 609.035, subd. 1 (2002); State v. Heath, 685 N.W.2d 48, 61 (Minn.App.2004), review denied (Minn. Nov. 16, 2004). The state has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the underlying conduct was not part of a single behavioral incident. State v. Williams, 608 N.W.2d 837, 841-42 (Minn.2000). “The determination of whether multiple offenses are part of a single behavioral act under section 609.035 is not a mechanical test, but involves an examination of all the facts and circumstances.” State v. Soto, 562 N.W.2d 299, 304 (Minn.1997). The factors to be considered under Minn.Stat. § 609.035 are “time, place, and whether the offenses were motivated by a desire to obtain a single criminal objective.” Id. The district court’s decision of whether multiple offenses are part of a single behavioral incident is a fact determination and should not be reversed unless clearly erroneous. Heath, 685 N.W.2d at 61.

The state contends that the offenses did not occur at the same time and were motivated by different criminal objectives. First, the state argues that the offenses of *102 manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine did not take place during the same time period because, until appellant completed manufacturing the methamphetamine, there would have been no methamphetamine for him to possess. But the methamphetamine found outside appellant’s garage, although having characteristics permitting a possession conviction, was in liquid form, and needed to be mixed with pseudoephedrine and water, separated, mixed with hydrogen chloride gas, filtered, and dried before the manufacturing process was complete. Second, the state argues the objective of one offense was to manufacture the drug and the objective of the other was to possess 'it. But if the methamphetamine was not yet in a usable form, the only reason to possess it would be to complete the manufacturing process.

The state compares this case to Heath, but Heath was charged with conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and aiding and abetting the possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell. Id. at 55. The court in Heath noted that a conspiracy had been committed when the co-conspirators agreed to manufacture methamphetamine and completed an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Id. at 61. The court stated that the agreement and overt act of purchasing materials to make methamphetamine was completed before the co-conspirators possessed the drug, so that the two offenses were divisible. Id. In the immediate case, the methamphetamine in appellant’s possession was in an unusable liquid form, still involved in the manufacturing process. Although the methamphetamine in Heath was wet, it was already in a usable powder form.

Additionally, appellant is charged with manufacturing and possession, not conspiracy to manufacture and possession. Although a conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine will typically be completed by the time the conspirators are in possession of the drug, manufacture and possession can occur at the same time because a person in the later stages of the manufacturing process would be in possession of some form of methamphetamine and the manufacture may not be complete.

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Related

State v. Jones
733 N.W.2d 160 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
692 N.W.2d 98, 2005 Minn. App. LEXIS 168, 2005 WL 353997, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carr-minnctapp-2005.