Hutchins v. State

• Decision Date: 14 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. A13A1924.,A13A1924.
• Citation: 326 Ga.App. 250,756 S.E.2d 347
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Parties: HUTCHINS v. The STATE.

326 Ga.App. 250

756 S.E.2d 347

HUTCHINS

v.The STATE.

No. A13A1924.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

March 14, 2014.

H. Bradford Morris, Jr., Travis Anton Williams, for Appellant.

Layla Hinton Zon, Dist. Atty., Malachi Reid Peacock, Asst. Dist. Atty., Appellee.

ELLINGTON, Presiding Judge.

A Walton County jury found Amanda Hutchins guilty of violating OCGA § 16–13–30.5(a)(2), pertaining to the use or conveyance of certain substances used in the manufacture of controlled substances; ¹ and OCGA § 16–5–73(b)(1), pertaining to the presence of children during the manufacture of methamphetamine.² Hutchins appeals from the denial of her motion for a new trial, contending that her trial counsel was ineffective, that the trial court erred in giving certain jury instructions, and that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the judgments of conviction.

1. Hutchins contends that the State's evidence on the issue of her guilt for the crimes charged was circumstantial and was insufficient to support her convictions beyond a reasonable doubt. When a criminal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his or her conviction, “the relevant question 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 beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Citation omitted; emphasis in original.) Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319(III)(B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). It is the duty of the jury, not this Court, to resolve conflicts in the testimony, weigh the evidence, and draw reasonable inferences from the evidence. Id. “As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State's case, the jury's verdict will be upheld.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Miller v. State, 273 Ga. 831, 832, 546 S.E.2d 524 (2001).

Further, under former OCGA § 24–4–6,³ “[t]o warrant a conviction on circumstantial evidence, the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused.” See Merritt v. State, 285 Ga. 778, 779(1), 683 S.E.2d 855 (2009). A reasonable hypothesis is one founded in the evidence. See Smith v. State, 284 Ga. 304, 306(2), 667 S.E.2d 65 (2008). Whether an alternative hypothesis is reasonable is a question generally committed to the jury that heard the evidence, “and where the jury is authorized to find that the evidence, though circumstantial, was sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt, the appellate court will not disturb that finding, unless the verdict of guilty is unsupportable as a matter of law.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Phillips v. State, 287 Ga. 560, 562(1), 697 S.E.2d 818 (2010). Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict,⁴ the record contains the following relevant ⁵ evidence. Amanda Hutchins and her three-year-old child lived with her mother, Elaine Calmes, and her mother's husband, William Calmes, from January through August of 2011 at their home in Walton County. In early 2011, an investigator with the Walton County Sheriff's Office received a tip from confidential informants that methamphetamine was being manufactured and sold from the Calmeses' property. Using confidential informants, the investigator made two “controlled buys” of methamphetamine from that address. On April 8 and August 11, 2011, William Calmes sold an informant drugs. Prior to these two transactions, an informant had purchased methamphetamine from Elaine Calmes at a public library. Although the investigating officer testified that an informant told him that Hutchins was at home during one of the drug sales, there is no evidence that Hutchins witnessed the transactions. Further, there is no evidence that her child was present during the drug sales. Based on the evidence of the drugs sales and a statement from the informant that methamphetamine was being manufactured in a shed on the property, the investigator obtained a warrant to search the premises.

The investigator and other officers executed the search warrant at 9:00 a.m. on August 22, 2011. Hutchins, her boyfriend, the Calmeses, and a guest were present in the home. The child was in daycare. After the officers secured the home, an investigator told Hutchins that he suspected her mother of manufacturing methamphetamine and asked where her mother kept the pseudoephedrine. Hutchins led the investigator to a cabinet over the stove from which he recovered two packages of the drug. The investigator testified that Hutchins told him that her mother had obtained the pseudoephedrine the night before. The prosecution offered no store receipts or other records or testimony establishing when and where the pseudoephedrine had been purchased or by whom. The investigators also found other items in the kitchen cabinets that could be used to make methamphetamine, including Epsom salts, baking soda, coffee filters, hydrogen peroxide, a Coleman camping stove, and propane fuel. Hutchins told the police that she knew her mother had, in the past, kept supplies for making methamphetamine on the property.

The investigators found no drugs or materials for manufacturing methamphetamine in Hutchins' bedroom or in the bathrooms. On the top shelf of a closet in the Calmeses' bedroom, the investigators found a metal pot and three bottles containing clear liquids. A test of the liquid in one of the bottles revealed the presence of methamphetamine. The investigators recovered small packages of suspected methamphetamine from the Calmeses' bedroom. They also found Elaine Calmes' recipe for making methamphetamine. In a drawer in the living room, investigators found plastic bags containing jars of lye and opened cold packs, items used in making methamphetamine. The investigators also found a glass pipe in the living room, but they did not test it for drug residue. In the back yard, the police found a pile of partially burnt trash which contained, among other things, empty pseudoephedrine blister packs and plastic bottles. A GBI agent described the Calmeses' method of making methamphetamine a “one pot” or a “shake and bake” operation, one that would yield the drug in a “quick process.”

Based on the quantity and type of substances found in the Calmeses' home, investigators opined that the home was an “active meth lab.” Although there was no evidence of anything resembling an assembled lab, and the house did not smell of chemicals associated with the process of manufacturing methamphetamine, the investigators explained that methamphetamine could be manufactured quickly anywhere in the house. Elaine Calmes admitted to an investigator that she had made methamphetamine in the past and that she was thinking about doing it again. She said that Hutchins had no involvement with the drugs. William Calmes told the investigator that his wife had made methamphetamine in the past, but that she “runs [family members] out of the house when she does it.” The investigator admitted that the confidential informant had told him that he had seen the methamphetamine being manufactured in the shed behind the house.

Hutchins testified in her defense, and she told the jury that she knew that her mother had a drug problem and that her mother had made methamphetamine in the past, but she testified that she was unaware that her mother had resumed making the drug. Hutchins said she would not have brought her child to stay there had she known. Hutchins worked days and had never smelled anything in the house to make her suspect the existence of a meth lab. She admitted that she had bought pseudoephedrine at her mother's request over a year before the house was searched, but that it was for her stepfather's use for a sinus congestion. She admitted showing the investigators where her mother kept the pseudoephedrine, but also noted that the cabinet contained other over-the-counter medicines. She admitted showing the investigators the kitchen cabinets containing the other chemicals, but she explained that the items were ordinary household products to her. She testified that her parents burned trash in the back yard because they had no trash pick-up. She also testified that the shed in the back yard was her stepfather's, and that he kept it locked and monitored by an alarm system. She did not enter her parents' bedroom, and their room was kept locked when they were out.

(a) The State failed to present sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Hutchins violated OCGA § 16–13–30.5(a)(2) as alleged in the indictment. The State averred that Hutchins, on or about August 22, 2011, unlawfully possessed a list of household items, including pseudoephedrine, “with the intent to knowingly convey” those items to the Calmeses “for use in the manufacture of methamphetamine[.]”

The evidence shows that all of the items listed in the indictment were found in common areas of the house. Though Hutchins was arguably in joint possession of the items, there was no evidence that she alone possessed them or that she had the present intent to convey them because those items were also in the joint possession of the Calmeses. While it is possible that Hutchins may have had sole possession of the items in the recent past with the requisite intent to convey them to the Calmeses for the alleged illegal use, the State submitted no evidence from which the jury might reasonably draw that inference.

At most, Hutchins' testimony establishes that her mother bought the two boxes of pseudoephedrine found in the cabinet. Even if the jury discounted Hutchins' testimony and assumed that she had lied, there is still no evidence establishing that Hutchins had possessed the pseudoephedrine with the requisite intent of conveying it to the Calmeses for the...