Hayes v. Com.
| Decision Date | 20 October 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 2003-SC-0717-MR.,No. 2003-SC-0675-MR.,2003-SC-0675-MR.,2003-SC-0717-MR. |
| Citation | 175 S.W.3d 574 |
| Parties | Johnnie HAYES Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY Appellee, and John Paul Harrison Appellant, v. Commonwealth of Kentucky Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Following a one-day trial by jury in the Grayson Circuit Court, Appellants, Johnnie Hayes and John Paul Harrison, were both convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine, KRS 218A.1432, and possession of anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. KRS 250.489(1); KRS 250.991(2). Each of the convictions for manufacturing methamphetamine was "firearm enhanced" to a Class A felony. KRS 218A.992. Hayes was sentenced to life in prison for his methamphetamine conviction and to fifteen years for his anhydrous ammonia conviction. Harrison was sentenced to twenty-five years for his methamphetamine conviction and to fifteen years for his anhydrous ammonia conviction. Harrison was also convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia, subsequent offense, KRS 218A.500(2),(5), and receiving stolen property valued at $300.00 or more KRS 514.110(1),(3), and was sentenced to five years each for those convictions. All of Harrison's sentences were ordered to run consecutively for a total of fifty years.
On appeal, Hayes asserts the following claims of reversible error: (1) the trial court's denial of his right to ascertain whether any prospective juror would be prejudiced against him if he exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in his own defense (which he did); (2) the trial court's failure to grant his motion for a mistrial when the Commonwealth's first witness essentially informed the jury that Hayes was a convicted felon (which he was); (3) the Commonwealth's proof during the guilt phase of the trial that Appellant had been previously convicted of trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree (methamphetamine); and (4) that KRS 250.489(1) is unconstitutionally vague because it does not define what is an unapproved container for anhydrous ammonia.
In addition to the voir dire issue, which he also preserved at trial, Harrison asserts the following additional claims of reversible error: (1) insufficiency of the evidence to support any of his convictions; (2) failure of the Commonwealth to prove a nexus between his alleged offenses and any of the firearms found on Hayes's property, thus permitting improper enhancement of his methamphetamine conviction; (3) the Commonwealth's proof during the guilt phase of the trial of his prior offense of possession of drug paraphernalia (for the purpose of enhancement); (4) the trial court's refusal to disqualify one of the prosecutors, an assistant Commonwealth's attorney who had served as the trial court's law clerk during the early stages of this litigation, including the suppression hearing; and (5) the trial court's refusal to grant his motion to suppress evidence seized during a warrantless search of the mobile home where the alleged drug paraphernalia and stolen property were found.
For the reasons explained in this opinion, we reverse Hayes's convictions and sentences and remand the charges against him for a new trial; we vacate Harrison's convictions and sentences for manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of anhydrous ammonia, and receiving stolen property; and we reverse Harrison's conviction and sentence for possession of drug paraphernalia and remand that charge for a new trial.
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On October 21, 2001, then Grayson County Sheriff Joe Brad Hudson received a tip that illegal drug activity was occurring on Johnnie Hayes's farm off Richland Road. Hudson and Tracy Moutardier, Hayes's probation officer, proceeded to the farm to investigate. The farm contained a dozen mobile homes (all referred to as "trailers"), some occupied, others used for storage, and others unused and in various states of disrepair. Hudson testified at the suppression hearing that he and Moutardier entered the farm over a bridge across a creek running between Richland Road and the farm, then over a graveled driveway that meanders in a circular route to Hayes's barn. Before reaching the barn, the driveway first passes what the Commonwealth repeatedly referred to at trial as the "John Paul trailer," where Harrison was alleged to have resided, and the "Martha Hayes trailer," where Johnnie Hayes's mother resided. At trial, Hudson's testimony in this respect was largely inaudible, but he seemed to indicate that he and Moutardier accessed the farm by another route. Nevertheless, upon reaching the barn, Hudson and Moutardier found Hayes and Harrison performing repairs on a garbage truck that Hayes used in his garbage disposal business. Hudson did not know Harrison but "got the impression" that Harrison was employed by Hayes in the garbage disposal business. When Hudson asked Hayes if he and Moutardier could search the property, Hayes responded: "Look anywhere you want; I own it all." There was no evidence that Harrison voiced an objection to this expansive invitation.
There was a locked "storage trailer" located across the driveway from the barn. At Hudson's request, Hayes produced the key to the storage trailer, which was found to contain sundry items of farm equipment and two unloaded firearms, one of which, a shotgun, was admitted into evidence at trial. Hudson testified at the suppression hearing that he also found an empty Sudafed box on the ground outside the storage trailer. At trial, he first testified that he found the empty box on the ground and, later, that he found it "at the [unspecified] residence."1 Sudafed is a cold medication containing pseudoephedrine, a precursor used to manufacture methamphetamine. KRS 218A.1437(1).
Hudson and Moutardier proceeded further up the gravel driveway to a double-wide mobile home, the "Johnnie Hayes trailer," where Johnnie Hayes and his wife and children resided. Inside, they found and confiscated some personal effects, including several knives, shotgun shells, and prescription pill bottles. They then proceeded to the end of the driveway to the "Alcom trailer," the residence of Raymond Alcorn. They did not search this trailer. Instead, they proceeded along a pathway that led from the driveway through a wooded area and up a hill to the "meth trailer" near an area where Hayes was raising chickens. Hudson testified at the suppression hearing that he also saw horses and a donkey grazing in a pasture behind the meth trailer. There was evidence at trial that Emest Hudspeth owned the meth trailer.
Both the front and back doors of the meth trailer were padlocked. Upon detecting an ether-like odor emanating from an open window, Hudson crawled through the window into the trailer where be discovered a modified liquid propane (LP) gas tank containing anhydrous ammonia with a hose attached, a duffel bag containing "all of the ingredients necessary to manufacture methamphetamine," and a jar containing a liquid substance that was "cooking." Hudson exited the trailer through the same window and asked Hayes to produce all of the keys in his pockets. One key fit the padlock on the back door of the meth trailer. Hudson confiscated the duffel bag and the jar of liquid (later determined to contain methamphetamine), and arrested both Hayes and Harrison. A search of Harrison's person produced $340.00 in cash. Nothing in the record indicates that any keys or other items of personal property were found in Harrison's clothing or on his person.
The next day, October 22, Hudson and several deputy sheriffs returned to the Hayes farm. Upon discovering that the storage trailer was again locked, Hudson asked Hayes's wife for the key. Mrs. Hayes entered the Johnnie Hayes trailer and returned with a key ring. One of the keys on the ring fit the lock on the storage trailer; another fit the lock on the front door of the meth trailer. A further search of the area in the vicinity of the meth trailer revealed several "burn piles" containing the residue of items used in the process of manufacturing methamphetamine. In a wooded area behind the burn piles, they discovered a buried barrel covered by a piece of carpet. Inside the barrel were two LP gas tanks that had been modified for use as anhydrous ammonia containers, a length of hose, and a sawed-off shotgun wrapped in a bed sheet and bound with duct tape. There was no evidence that this weapon was loaded or that any shotgun shells were in the barrel. Nor was there any evidence that either of the LP tanks contained anhydrous ammonia or were emitting an ammonia-like odor.
Hudson then searched the "John Paul trailer," which was the trailer nearest to the entrance to the farm and farthest from the meth trailer, the burn piles, and the buried barrel. There was a motorcycle ("trail bike") behind the Harrison trailer that was later determined to have been stolen from Michael Clement. Inside the trailer, Hudson found a room with a table, a dresser, a sofa, and "his [presumably meaning Harrison's] personal belongings." There was a partially eaten sandwich and...
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...purchased at pharmacies. For example, pseudoephedrine is found in the over-the-counter cold medicine, Sudafed. See Hayes v. Commonwealth , 175 S.W.3d 574, 580 (Ky. 2005) ("Sudafed is a cold medication containing pseudoephedrine, a precursor used to manufacture methamphetamine.").16 Kotila h......
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