Weinn v. State

326 S.W.3d 189, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 793, 2010 WL 2595009
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 30, 2010
DocketPD-0338-09
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 326 S.W.3d 189 (Weinn v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weinn v. State, 326 S.W.3d 189, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 793, 2010 WL 2595009 (Tex. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

JOHNSON, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which MEYERS, PRICE, WOMACK, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

After his plea in bar on double-jeopardy grounds was overruled, appellant plead nolo contendere to possession with intent to deliver and guilty to manufacture of methamphetamine, both in amount less than 400 grams, but at least 200 grams. After a punishment trial, a jury assessed punishment at 30 years’ imprisonment for each offense. The trial court ordered the two sentences to run concurrently.

On appeal, appellant contended that his conviction of both manufacturing and possession with intent to deliver violated the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against double jeopardy. Weinn v. State, 281 [191]*191S.W.3d 633, 636 (Tex.App.-Anarillo 2009). The court of appeals agreed with appellant and the state (which initially conceded the issue), holding that the two charges punished appellant twice for the same offense. Id. at 642-43. The court of appeals vacated the conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine and affirmed the trial court with respect to the conviction for possession with intent to deliver. Id. at 643. The state appealed the court’s order vacating of the manufacturing conviction.

We granted review of the double-jeopardy issues raised in the state’s petition for discretionary review.

1. Can a defendant be convicted and punished for both manufacture and the subsequent delivery or possession with the intent to deliver of the same quantity of controlled substances, or does Texas Health and Safety Code § 481.112 allow more than one “allowable unit of prosecution,” i.e. one for the manufacture and one for the delivery?
2. Did the court of appeals err in finding that the offenses of manufacturing a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance are the same for double-jeopardy purposes, even though the separate offenses are meant to punish separate dangers?

We conclude that the legislature intended that manufacture and simultaneous possession with intent to deliver of the same single quantity of controlled substances constitutes a single offense. Punishing appellant twice for the same offense would violate his constitutional rights against double jeopardy. Therefore, we affirm the court of appeals.

Facts

The record reflects that, in response to a complaint about strange smells, sheriffs deputies approached appellant’s property. They detected a strong odor of anhydrous ammonia and observed appellant put a box in the back of his pickup truck. After detaining appellant, the deputies searched the property, the house, the truck, and appellant himself. They discovered evidence of methamphetamine manufacture, including numerous empty blister packs of Sudafed, a microwave containing Sudafed residue, an anhydrous ammonia dump, lithium batteries, muriatic acid, drain cleaner, cans of Heet, 15 cans of starter fluid, a hydrogen-chloride generator, rock salt, and a single plastic jug with 224.96 grams of liquid that contained methamphetamine in one of the late stages of manufacture. They also found a bottle of a cutting agent, a razor blade, plastic baggies, including one that contained methamphetamine residue, and digital portable scales.

The state filed a three-count indictment. The first count, possession with intent to manufacture, was dismissed before trial. The state alleged in count two that appellant knowingly possessed methamphetamine, with intent to deliver. Count three alleged that appellant knowingly manufactured methamphetamine. All counts alleged an aggregate weight less than 400 grams, but at least 200 grams of methamphetamine, making each offense a first-degree felony. Texas Health and Safety Code § 481.112.

Arguments of the Parties

Appellant contends that the legislature intended to create only one allowable unit of prosecution in the circumstances presented here because the statute lists a “continuum” of offenses designed as alternative means of prosecuting a defendant for engaging in the drug-trafficking process. Furthermore, appellant contends that, even under the Blockburger test, appellant’s conviction violates double jeopardy because he engaged in only a single act, specifically manufacture, and that posses[192]*192sion was an inevitable result of manufacture, requiring no additional evidence to prove possession. Finally, in the event that legislative intent is unclear, the court should apply the rule of lenity to find in favor of appellant.

The state contends that each offense requires proof of different elements, thus satisfying the Blockburger test. Further, based on the use of the disjunctive, the distinct differences in nature and dangers of manufacturing and delivery offenses, and a legislative history of increasing intolerance for drug crimes, the legislature intended to permit multiple convictions.

Double Jeopardy

The Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause provides that no person shall “be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Constitution, Amendment V. It protects an accused against: 1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; 2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and 3) multiple punishments for the same offense. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). A claim of multiple punishments may be valid if one offense is a lesser-included offense of the other and the same conduct is punished twice or if the same criminal act is punished under two distinct statutes when the legislature intended the conduct to be punished under either statute, but not both. Langs v. State, 183 S.W.3d 680, 685 (Tex.Crim.App.2006).

To determine whether there have been multiple punishments for the same offense, we begin with the “same elements” test from Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). “[W]here the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” Id. The Blockburger test is the starting point in the analysis of a multiple-punishments double-jeopardy claim: Bigon v. State, 252 S.W.3d 360, 370 (Tex.Crim.App.2008). “Under the Blockburger test, two offenses are not the same if one requires proof of an element that the other does not.” Bigon, 252 S.W.3d at 370. The analysis in Blockburger is based upon the face of the statute at issue. Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. 180. “But in Texas, when resolving whether two crimes are the same for double-jeopardy purposes, we focus on the elements alleged in the charging instrument.” Bigon, 252 S.W.3d at 370, citing Parrish v. State, 869 S.W.2d 352, 354 (Tex.Crim.App.1994).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
326 S.W.3d 189, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 793, 2010 WL 2595009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weinn-v-state-texcrimapp-2010.