State v. Davis

147 S.W.3d 84, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1529, 2004 WL 2366190
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided October 22, 2004·No. No. 26022·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

JAMES K. PREWITT, Judge.

Darrell H. Davis (“Defendant”) appeals his conviction on the class D felony offense of possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, in violation of § 195.233, RSMo 2000. Defendant was convicted as a prior and persistent offender and sentenced to four years in the Department of Corrections. Defendant raises one point and challenges the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict him.

In our review of Defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we are limited to ascertaining whether there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could have found Defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Arles, 998 S.W.2d 136, 139 (Mo.App.1999). We accept as true all evidence favorable to the State, including any favorable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence, and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. State v. Wenzel, 119 S.W.3d 650, 651 (Mo.App.2003). Although we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we do not supply missing evidence or give the State [85]*85the benefit of any unreasonable or speculative inferences. See State v. Shipp, 125 S.W.3d 358, 359 (Mo.App.2004).

Facts

Given the standard outlined above, the following facts were adduced at trial. On June 13, 2002, Officer Brian Henderson of the Joplin Police Department encountered a van on which the license plate light was not working. As Officer Henderson turned his vehicle around and activated his lights to make a stop, the van turned into a parking lot without using a turn signal. Officer Henderson followed the van into the parking lot and pulled behind the van.

As Officer Henderson exited his patrol car, Defendant exited the driver’s side of the van, and Officer Henderson asked Defendant “to step back in” the van. Defendant locked and shut the door of the van, and turned to face the officer. Officer Henderson asked Defendant for a driver’s license, which Defendant did not produce. Officer Henderson contacted dispatch and was advised that Defendant’s license was revoked. Officer Henderson placed Defendant under arrest for driving while revoked.

According to Officer Henderson, when he approached the van, he detected a strong chemical odor emanating from the van, an odor Officer Henderson had only smelled before at methamphetamine labs. After Officer Henderson placed Defendant under arrest for driving while revoked and placed Defendant in the patrol car, Officer Henderson noticed the same strong odor was coming from Defendant’s person as well.

Another officer had been called to the scene, Officer Homer Knisley, also of the Joplin Police Department, and after placing Defendant in Officer Henderson’s patrol car, the two officers searched the van. Officer Knisley also noticed the strong chemical odor on Defendant when Officer Knisley came within five to seven feet of Defendant. Officer Knisley had encountered the odor before, on fifteen to twenty previous occasions, and described the odor as “a methamphetamine chemical odor[.]” Officer Knisley had never smelled anything like it that was not associated with methamphetamine.

Officer Henderson searched the front part of the van, around the driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat and around the steering wheel. Officer Henderson did not locate anything in that part of the vehicle that he would associate with the manufacture of methamphetamine. Officer Henderson did, though, encounter the strong odor in the van as he opened the door to conduct the search. The odor was stronger than when Officer Henderson was standing outside of the van during the initial portion of the stop.

Officer Knisley, however, found various items. The van itself had been converted for home-type use and contained a sink, cabinets, shelves, and a microwave. There was also a mattress in the back of the van, as well as other items such as clothes and garbage. Underneath the sink, Officer Knisley located two containers labeled Red Devil Lye and one marked Heet. The contents of the canisters were consistent with those products. Within the microwave, Officer Knisley located 167 pills in plastic wrap. Testing of the pills showed that they contained ephedrine or pseudoephed-rine, and a compound called tripoladine. Officer Knisley also found some clear plastic tubing toward the rear of the van.

Sergeant Bill Goodwin of the Joplin Police Department also participated in the search of the van. He arrived at the scene after the pills had been found. In his search of the van, Sergeant Goodwin located some unused coffee filters in a cabinet [86]*86behind the driver’s seat, and a glass beaker in a bag by the front passenger’s seat. The filters and beaker were clean and were not tested for any residue. Neither Sergeant Goodwin nor Officer Knisley found a coffee pot in the van.

Sergeant Goodwin also noticed the strong chemical odor inside the van, an odor Sergeant Goodwin identified as a distinctive odor associated with methamphetamine labs, and an odor he encountered at over 100 such labs. According to Sergeant Goodwin, the odor is not an odor generated by products like Red Devil Lye or Heet on their own, but is an odor associated with “some combination of the process used during the cook of meth[.]” How long before the odor dissipates following a methamphetamine cook depends on the number of cooks conducted, but Sergeant Goodwin indicated that it was his experience that the odor “stay[ed] for quite a while and [is] a very strong odor.”

Defendant was charged by amended information as a prior and persistent offender with the class D felony of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine, in violation of § 195.233, RSMo 2000. At the jury trial, Officer Henderson, Officer Knisley, and Sergeant Goodwin testified, as well as Dr. Bradley Hart, an employee at the crime lab on the campus of Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, and Officer Larry Stout, a narcotics investigator with the Joplin Police Department. All testified for the State; no witnesses were called on Defendant’s behalf.

Dr. Hart and Officer Stout both testified regarding items that were not found in the search that were necessary to manufacture methamphetamine. Dr. Hart indicated that the materials found during the search were among those “commonly found in the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine[,]” but that, depending on the method, some items were missing. If the H I red phosphorous method was used, a source of iodine and the compound red phosphorous were needed. To manufacture methamphetamine under the lithium ammonia reduction method, a source of lithium and liquid ammonia were necessary.

Officer Stout testified that three items associated with a meth lab were missing, including red phosphorous, iodine, and acid. Under cross examination, Officer Stout agreed other items were missing that were necessary to the “recipe” for the manufacture of methamphetamine to which he referred. These items included peroxide, mineral spirits, aluminum foil or salt, and Coleman camp fuel. Officer Stout also testified that a microwave could be used as the heat source in the manufacturing process for the ephedrine reduction.

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State v. Davis, 147 S.W.3d 84, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1529, 2004 WL 2366190 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).

147 S.W.3d 84 (State v. Davis) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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