State v. Shumaker

945 So. 2d 277, 2006 WL 3616409
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 13, 2006
Docket41,547-KA
StatusPublished
Cited by277 cases

This text of 945 So. 2d 277 (State v. Shumaker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Shumaker, 945 So. 2d 277, 2006 WL 3616409 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

945 So.2d 277 (2006)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee
v.
William SHUMAKER, Appellant.

No. 41,547-KA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

December 13, 2006.
Rehearing Denied January 18, 2007.

*280 Stephen A. Glassell, for Appellant.

J. Schuyler Marvin, District Attorney, J. Michael Lawrence, Assistant District Attorney, for Appellee.

Before CARAWAY, MOORE and LOLLEY, JJ.

LOLLEY, J.

This criminal appeal arises from the Twenty-sixth Judicial District Court, Parish of Bossier, Louisiana. The defendant, William Shumaker, was convicted for the manufacture of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance, methamphetamine, and was sentenced to 10 years without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence and a $10,000 fine or an additional 18 months in prison. La. R.S. 40:967 A. Shumaker appeals his conviction and sentence, which, for the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

Shumaker, along with co-defendants Teresa Waddell and Charles Estis, was arrested by Bossier Parish sheriff deputies and subsequently charged with violating La. R.S. 40:967 A for the manufacture of Schedule II CDS, methamphetamine. At his trial, the following facts were adduced.

On March 29, 2003, Shreveport Police Corporal Jeff Peters, who incidentally happened to be assigned to the narcotics division, was standing behind William Shumaker in the checkout line at a Wal-Mart in Shreveport, Louisiana and observed him buying three boxes of cold medicine. Corporal Peters then saw Shumaker hand those cold pills to another man outside the store before returning inside to buy two more boxes of cold medicine and plastic gloves. Corporal Peters, because of his experience in narcotics investigation and knowledge regarding the manufacturing of methamphetamine, was suspicious of Shumaker buying so much cold medicine. After Shumaker left the Wal-Mart, Cpl. Peters followed Shumaker and the other man to a Target store, again in Shreveport. Corporal Peters wrote down the license plate number on the vehicle, and *281 he used this information to find Shumaker's address, which he determined to be 120 Maplewood, Haughton, Bossier Parish, Louisiana. Corporal Peters conveyed this information to Deputy Al Langley of the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office.

According to Dep. Langley, officers from the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office then conducted a "trash pull," where they searched the garbage left at the curbside and found the following items: stems that field-tested positive as marijuana and a suspected marijuana cigarette; burned tin foil, which Dep. Langley said was commonly used to heat methamphetamine for inhalation; several plastic sandwich bags with the corners cut out, which is a common way to store methamphetamine for resale; and, a piece of paper with Shumaker's name and that street address—confirming that the mobile home was Shumaker's residence. Based upon Cpl. Peters's observation of Shumaker buying large amounts of cold medicine, along with the items found in the trash of Shumaker's residence and information from a reliable confidential informant indicating that Shumaker was manufacturing and using methamphetamine, Dep. Langley obtained a warrant on April 25, 2003, to search Shumaker's residence and any vehicles on the premises.

Upon arriving to execute the search warrant, Deputy Langley recounted that officers noticed the odor of burned marijuana and saw Shumaker and another man sitting at a table. During the search of the residence, officers found the following items: burned marijuana cigarettes throughout the mobile home; syringes and spoons; a plate with a straw that tested positive for containing methamphetamine residue; digital scales; numerous boxes of cold medicine with ephedrine, the main ingredient of methamphetamine; and, a coffee can containing filters with methamphetamine residue. Additionally, officers found an ice chest in the back of a truck parked at the residence, and Dep. Langley testified that there was a strong ammonia odor when the chest was opened, and he believed the ice chest was used to store anhydrous ammonia. Inside the ice chest, officers found a thermos, a strainer, coffee filters containing debris from the crushed medicine pills, a plastic jug, funnels, and rubber tubing—all items necessary for the production of methamphetamine. Also, inside the truck, officers found three cases of starter fluid, which contained ether, a plastic bag with approximately 2000 cold medicine pills, lithium batteries, and receipts from Wal-Mart showing where the cold medicine had been purchased. Behind the residence, officers found a coffee pot that tested positive for methamphetamine residue.[1]

Based upon the evidence presented at trial, the jury convicted Shumaker of manufacturing methamphetamine, a Schedule II CDS. He was sentenced to 10 years without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence and a $10,000 fine or an additional 18 months in prison. This appeal by Shumaker ensued.

DISCUSSION

Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first assignment of error, Shumaker argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal on the ground that *282 the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine. Specifically, Shumaker argues that the evidence was insufficient, because (1) the residence was not a functional lab at the time of the search; (2) there was no evidence connecting him to the truck on the premises, which contained evidence of a methamphetamine lab; and (3) it was not clear from the testimony whether the bag of cold medicine pills was actually found inside the residence.

We review sufficiency first because the accused may be entitled to an acquittal under Hudson v. Louisiana, 450 U.S. 40, 101 S.Ct. 970, 67 L.Ed.2d 30 (1981), if a rational trier of fact, reviewing the evidence in accord with Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could not reasonably conclude that all of the elements of the offense have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Hearold, 603 So.2d 731, 734 (La. 1992); State v. Bosley, 29,253 (La.App.2d Cir.04/02/97), 691 So.2d 347, 348, writ denied, 97-1203 (La.10/17/97), 701 So.2d 1333.

The standard of appellate review for a sufficiency of the evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, supra. This standard, now legislatively embodied in La. C. Cr. P. art. 821, does not provide the appellate court with a vehicle to substitute its own appreciation of the evidence for that of the fact finder. State v. Robertson, 96-1048 (La.10/04/96), 680 So.2d 1165, 1166. The appellate court does not assess the credibility of witnesses or reweigh evidence. State v. Smith, 94-3116 (La.10/16/95), 661 So.2d 442, 443. Where there is conflicting testimony about factual matters, the resolution of which depends upon a determination of the credibility of witnesses, the matter is one of the weight, not the sufficiency, of the evidence. State v. Allen, 36,180 (La.App.2d Cir.09/18/02), 828 So.2d 622, 626, writ denied, 2002-2595 (La.03/28/03), 840 So.2d 566, and writ denied,

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Bluebook (online)
945 So. 2d 277, 2006 WL 3616409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shumaker-lactapp-2006.