State v. Moore

395 S.E.2d 124, 327 N.C. 378, 1990 N.C. LEXIS 708
Supreme Court of North Carolina·Decided August 29, 1990·No. 502PA89·Published·Cited by 38 cases

Opinions

MITCHELL, Justice.

This case calls upon us to determine whether a defendant may be convicted under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l) for both the sale and the delivery of a controlled substance arising from one transaction. We conclude that a defendant may not be so convicted.

The evidence at trial tended to show that on 16 October 1987 the defendant, Lee Hamilton Moore, sold and delivered five grams of mushrooms containing the hallucinogenic psilocyn to an undercover officer of the Pitt County Sheriff’s Department. Psilocyn is a Schedule I controlled substance under the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act. N.C.G.S. § 90-89(c)(15) (1985). On 15 November 1987 the defendant sold and delivered ten more grams of psilocyn mushrooms to the same officer. After his arrest, a Pitt County [380] Grand Jury returned two indictments against the defendant. Each indictment charged the defendant, in separate counts, with (1) possession of a Schedule I controlled substance with intent to sell or deliver, (2) sale of a Schedule I controlled substance, and (3) delivery of a Schedule I controlled substance. On the indictment relating to the 16 October 1987 transaction, the defendant was found guilty of possession of a Schedule I controlled substance (a lesser included offense of possession with intent to sell or deliver), sale of a Schedule I controlled substance, and delivery of a Schedule I controlled substance. On the indictment relating to the 15 November 1987 transaction, the defendant was found guilty of the three counts charged. The record indicates that as to each indictment, the trial court treated the sale count and the delivery count as separate offenses. However, the trial court consolidated the three counts in each indictment for the purpose of judgment. The trial court then entered two judgments —one for each indictment — and sentenced the defendant to a six-year term on each indictment. The trial court ordered that those terms run consecutively for a total of twelve years’ imprisonment.

On the defendant’s appeal, a unanimous Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions against the defendant, but remanded the case for resentencing, concluding that:

In summary, a prosecutor may of course go to trial against a single defendant on charges for the sale of a controlled substance and the delivery of the same substance. These two • crimes are separate and distinct offenses. However, in light of the legislative intent of the statute, we hold that the defendant may be punished for only one of those offenses where they involve the same transaction.
For purposes of sentencing in this case, the convictions against the defendant for delivery of psilocyn on each bill of indictment are merged into the charges of selling the drug. A new sentencing hearing is ordered.

State v. Moore, 95 N.C. App. 718, 722, 384 S.E.2d 67, 69 (1989). We allowed the State’s Petition for Discretionary Review.

I.

The State argues that under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l), “[t]he separate convictions and separate punishment that the Defendant has suffered are exactly what the General Assembly intended by enacting [381] G.S. § 90-95 (a).” We disagree, but for a different reason than that given by the Court of Appeals.

N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l) makes it unlawful to “manufacture, sell or deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver, a controlled substance.” The intent of the legislature in enacting N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l) was twofold: “(1) to prevent the manufacture of controlled substances, and (2) to prevent the transfer of controlled substances from one person to another.” State v. Creason, 313 N.C. 122, 129, 326 S.E.2d 24, 28 (1985). In the context of this Court’s and the Court of Appeals’ prior opinions, the Court of Appeals in this case examined the legislative intent of the statute, and concluded that:

By criminalizing the sale or delivery of a controlled substance, the Legislature sought to prevent all attempts to place drugs into commerce by any act of transfer. To expedite this purpose the more inclusive word “delivery” was used in the statute. The only difference in the terms “sell” and “delivery” is that money changes hands in a sale; otherwise; the terms in this context are the same.
It is an overreading of the statute to conclude that the Legislature intended to punish a defendant twice for one drug transaction. The purpose of the statute is to prevent drug transfers, a double punishment for a single transaction violates this legislative intent and accomplishes nothing short of placing the defendant in double jeopardy.

State v. Moore, 95 N.C. App. 718, 721-22, 384 S.E.2d 67, 69 (1990) (citations omitted). This analysis of legislative intent and the result reached by the Court of Appeals in this case are admittedly reasonable in light of statements this Court has made in prior cases. However, as we explain below, we do not entirely agree with either the reasoning utilized or the result reached by the Court of Appeals in this case.

Having examined the statute, we now conclude that the language of N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l) creates three offenses: (1) manufacture of a controlled substance, (2) transfer of a controlled substance by sale or delivery, and (3) possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled substance. We disapprove the contrary language in State v. Clark, 71 N.C. App. 55, 322 S.E.2d 176 (1984), which interpreted the statute as creating six separate offenses. [382] By phrasing N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l) to make it unlawful to “manufacture, sell or deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver, a controlled substance” (emphasis added), the legislature, solely for the purpose of this statutory subsection, has made each single transaction involving transfer of a controlled substance one criminal offense, which is committed by either or both of two acts — sale or delivery.

“A sale is a transfer of property for a specified price payable in money.” State v. Creason, 313 N.C. at 129, 326 S.E.2d at 28 (emphasis in original) (citing State v. Albarty, 238 N.C. 130, 76 S.E.2d 381 (1953) (citing cases)). “Delivery” is “the actual constructive, or attempted transfer from one person to another of a controlled substance, whether or not there is an agency relationship.” N.C.G.S. § 90-87(7) (1985). We need not address the relationship between the acts of sale and delivery as it might exist under any other statutory or common law provision, because by the statutory language at issue here the legislature has made it one criminal offense to “sell or deliver” a controlled substance under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(l).

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State v. Moore, 395 S.E.2d 124, 327 N.C. 378, 1990 N.C. LEXIS 708 (N.C. 1990).

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