State v. Randall

540 S.W.2d 156, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2578
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 2, 1976
DocketKCD 27897
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 540 S.W.2d 156 (State v. Randall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Randall, 540 S.W.2d 156, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2578 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

TURNAGE, Presiding Judge.

Darrell Randall was convicted following a jury trial of possession of marihuana in one count, possession of hashish in another count, and possession of LSD in a third count. Sentence was imposed at four years confinement on the marihuana count, five years on the hashish count, and fifteen years on the LSD count, with all sentences to run concurrently.

On this appeal, Randall alleges (1) the Legislature has not designated the possession of hashish as being a crime separate from the crime of possession of marihuana and this count should be reversed, (2) an unlawful search and seizure at the time the drugs were found and seized by police officers, (3) Chapter 195, relating to drug offenses constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to the Division of Health, and (4) Chapter 195 is unconstitutional as applied to Randall in that it denied to him his First Amendment right to freedom of religion. This court finds the possession of hashish is not a separate crime from the possession of marihuana and reverses the conviction as to the possession of hashish but affirms the other two counts.

Randall lived in a two-story building. The building consisted of two-stories with a third story referred to as an attic. A stairway on the outside of the building led to a doorway leading onto the second story, and entrance to the third floor was obtained through a doorway located on the second floor. He stated he slept on the first floor and a Mrs. Stratton lived on the second floor. However, Randall told a police officer the entire dwelling was controlled by a church and he was the minister. A police officer working under cover testified he had visited the building prior to the date Randall was arrested and Randall showed him through the second floor and unlocked a padlock on the door leading to the third floor. The officer further testified there was no indication in the building that it was separated into multiple living units.

On the date Randall was arrested, police officers went to the building and mounted *158 the outside stairway to the second floor. When Mrs. Stratton opened the door they informed her they had a search warrant and immediately entered the second floor and proceeded to the third floor where the undercover officer had been shown a large quantity of drugs by Randall, together with laboratory equipment apparently used in refining various drugs. Randall was arrested after the officers had gone to the third floor and discovered the drugs.

Randall was charged in five counts with possession of drugs, however, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on two counts, leaving the three counts previously described on which he was found guilty.

Randall urges his conviction in a separate count of possession of hashish cannot stand because hashish is actually marihuana and a separate violation has not been proscribed for the possession of hashish.

Section 195.010, RSMo 1969, as amended in 1971, defines marihuana as “all parts of the plant Cannabis Sativa L., whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin.”

The State produced Gary Ray Howell, the chief forensic chemist of the Regional Crime Laboratory. Mr. Howell stated hashish is defined as an extraction of the active ingredients of marihuana. He stated “so the absence of plant material plus the presence of the extractable tetrahydrocan-nabinol and other eannabinoids would be hashish.” At another point Mr. Howell stated he distinguished between marihuana and hashish mostly by physical appearance. He stated “if it is not a green leafy material and shows to be an extraction under the microscope, it is hashish.” Mr. Howell further stated hashish would be the result if the plant material were destroyed and then pressed into a fine block which would result in a pressed block of material high in concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol “THC”. Mr. Howell also referred to hashish as a refined form of marihuana.

The other chemist produced by the State, Edward Covey, stated hashish is a form of marihuana.

By Chapter 195, Missouri has adopted the Uniform Controlled Substances Act with the exception of Section 195.200, the penalty section: This section is not a part of the Uniform Act. In Section 195.200 is found the only reference to hashish in Chapter 195. In that section a specific penalty is imposed for possession of hashish, depending upon the quantity.

The schedules in Section 195.017 listing proscribed narcotics or drugs lists marihuana and tetrahydrocannabinols. In none of these schedules is hashish listed.

The State argues that since the Legislature has prescribed a penalty for the possession of marihuana and possession of hashish, they must be considered as separate crimes. This question apparently has not been raised in Missouri. However, a similar question was decided in State ex rel Hubbard v. Spillers, 202 S.E.2d 180 (W.Va.1974). In that case the court quoted the West Virginia statute which is the Uniform Controlled Substances Act and contains the same listing of marihuana and THC with the same definition of marihuana as is contained in the Uniform Act as adopted in Missouri. The court in that case concluded that “hashish is either a ‘material, compound, mixture, or preparation of marihuana.’ ” 202 S.E.2d 182[1]. The court concluded that hashish is a Schedule I controlled substance but that the indictment charging only possession of hashish was void for failure to include allegations showing hashish to be a form of marihuana which would constitute a controlled substance. The court held the possession of hashish was not a separate and distinct crime apart from the possession of marihuana since it found hashish to be marihuana.

A further difficulty with the State’s position is the fact the Legislature has not defined hashish nor has it declared the possession of hashish to be a violation of the law. It was stated in State v. Reid, 125 Mo. 43, 28 S.W. 172, 173 (1894): “It is the duty of the legislature, and not the courts, to *159 define a crime, and ordain its punishment.” See also 22 C.J.S. Criminal Law, ¶ 17.

The definition of marihuana, as contained in Section 195.010, includes the resin extracted from any part of the plant Cannabis Sativa L., as well as every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin. It is clear the definition given by the chemist in this case would include hashish within the definition of marihuana. However, the Legislature has not proscribed the possession of hashish separate and apart from the possession of marihuana. To constitute a crime, the act must be both proscribed by the Legislature and a penalty imposed. Here a penalty was imposed but the possession of hashish was not proscribed. Since hashish, according to the testimony in this case, falls within the definition of marihuana, a separate crime has not been defined for the possession of hashish. Therefore, the possession of hashish, being marihuana, would constitute only the crime of possession of marihuana. In this case Randall was found to be in possession of 21,475.5 grams of marihuana and 1,274.7 of hashish.

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Bluebook (online)
540 S.W.2d 156, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-randall-moctapp-1976.