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State v. Truesdell5/12/2004
On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Defendant challenges the sufficiency of evidence to support convictions for operating while intoxicated third offense and possession of a precursor with intent to manufacture. DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
It is commonly known that some consumer products-such as a variety of over-the-counter cold relief medications-contain chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine (meth). As a result, our legislature has made it a crime for a person to possess a product containing such chemicals with the intent to use the product to manufacture a controlled substance. This appeal requires us to consider whether a violation of the statute occurs when, without other evidence, a person possesses products containing a controlled substance precursor in a quantity incompatible with normal personal consumption but compatible with the quantity needed to manufacture a standard batch of meth. We conclude substantial evidence did not support the conviction in this case. We vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the district court judgment and sentence in part, reverse in part, and remand for dismissal of the charge of possession of a precursor with intent to use it to manufacture a controlled substance.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings
Kirby Joe Truesdell (Truesdell) was arrested on April 17, 2002, after he left a Hy-Vee store in Cedar Rapids with a grocery cart filled with seventy boxes of cold relief medication, together with a few food items, without stopping at the checkout counter to pay for the products. Truesdell entered the store during the early morning hours and placed virtually the entire stock of cold relief medication located on the store shelves into a shopping cart. His bizarre and brazen conduct caused a store employee to call the police, but Truesdell left the store through a back emergency door before they arrived. An assistant store manager observed Truesdell transfer the boxes of cold relief medication from the shopping cart into a Jeep Cherokee parked in the store parking lot. Truesdell then entered the driver's door of the vehicle and the vehicle sped from the parking lot, nearly striking the employees who were approaching the vehicle.
Truesdell was observed a short time later, together with the Jeep Cherokee, at a trailer park located approximately two miles from the Hy-Vee store. The police transported two store employees to the trailer park, where they identified Truesdell as the person who committed the theft. The identification was performed within thirty minutes to an hour from the time Truesdell left the parking lot of the store.
The police arrested Truesdell, and transported him to the county jail. While at the county jail, the police suspected he was intoxicated. His breath smelled of a strong odor of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot, his pupils were dilated, and his speech was slurred. He was also loud and obstreperous at times. Truesdell declined to perform any sobriety test, and refused to give a breath sample for testing.
The police found the cold relief medication and groceries taken from the Hy-Vee store in the back seat of the Jeep Cherokee. The total value of the merchandise was $372.88. Each box of cold relief medication contained between twelve to forty-eight tablets. The police also discovered that Truesdell had been barred from operating a motor vehicle.
The cold relief medication taken by Truesdell contained pseudoephedrine, a chemical listed as a controlled substance precursor in Iowa Code section 124.401(4)(b) (2001). The presence of this chemical
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