P. v. Stogsdill

Filed 7/20/06 P. v. Stogsdill CA3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT

(Butte)

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The Butte County Interagency Narcotics Task Force executed a warrant to search the residence of defendant John Harvey Stogsdill on January 2, 2003. The officers found traces of methamphetamine, chemical precursors, and equipment commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The Butte County District Attorney charged defendant with manufacturing a controlled substance (Health & Saf. Code, § 11379.6, subd. (a) – counts I & III),^[1] and possession of ephedrine or pseudoephredrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine (§ 11383, subd. (c)(1) -- count II), and alleged as to counts I and II that defendant manufactured or processed a controlled substance in a structure in the presence of a child under the age of 16 (§ 11379.7, subd. (a)).

The trial court granted defendant's motion to dismiss the special allegation as to count I. The jury convicted defendant of count II and found the special allegation to be true. It acquitted him of count I, deadlocked on count III, and the court declared a mistrial as to that count. The court stayed imposition of sentence in count II and placed defendant on probation for three years.

The sole issue on appeal is whether there is sufficient evidence to support the jury's implied finding that defendant possessed ephedrine or pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. We conclude there is, and affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Uniformed officers from the Butte County Interagency Narcotics Task Force, including Butte County Sheriff's Deputy Justin Martin, executed the search warrant at defendant's residence on Arnold Avenue in Oroville. They knocked and demanded entry. When the occupants did not comply with their request, the officers forced open the door. They detained defendant, his wife Sandra Stogsdill, Mark Guyot, Robin Nettleton, and Nettleton's three-year-old daughter Tya Prussia.

The search revealed utility bills addressed to defendant for service at the Arnold Avenue residence. Officers also found an electronic scale on the floorboard of a blue Firebird parked in front of the residence. The car was registered to defendant. A white powdery residue found on the scale was identified as methamphetamine.

Deputy Martin testified that a number of items found in the residence were commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. These items included matchbooks with the striker plates removed, Red Devil lye, coffee filters containing ephedrine residue, an oversized industrial light bulb, glassware with white residue, Coleman camp fuel, a hydrochloride gas generator, acetone, red phosphorus, the solvent Heet, an electric hotplate, and a scale containing residue suspected of being red phosphorus. Both Deputy Martin and Don Dunbar, a criminalist with the Department of Justice, suspected that the residence was being used as a methamphetamine lab. In Martin's opinion, no one could have been in the residence without noticing the odor produced from manufacturing methamphetamine.

Two items –- a glass pie plate and a glass salad dressing jar –- were of particular interest in defendant's prosecution. The jar held coffee filters containing a powder shown to be ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The fingerprint analyst found a print of defendant's thumb on the pie plate and a print of his left ring finger on the jar. However, the analyst had no opinion regarding the age of the fingerprints.

When interviewed by Butte County Sheriff's Detective Sam Burnett, defendant said he had no knowledge of the alleged methamphetamine lab at the Arnold Avenue address. He told Burnett something to the effect he â€