Innis v. State, 02-132.

• Decision Date: 29 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-132.,02-132.
• Citation: 69 P.3d 413,2003 WY 66
• Parties: Rickey Dean INNIS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

69 P.3d 413

2003 WY 66

Rickey Dean INNIS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 02-132.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

May 29, 2003.

Ken Koski, State Public Defender; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel; and Ryan R. Roden, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel, Representing Appellant. Argument by Mr. Roden.

Hoke MacMillan, Wyoming Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Georgia L. Tibbetts, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Theodore E. Lauer, Director, Prosecution Assistance Program; and Deborah R. Hochhalter, Student Intern, Representing Appellee. Argument by Ms. Hochhalter.

Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

HILL, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant, Rickey Dean Innis (Innis), was convicted of conspiracy to operate a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory.¹ He was sentenced to a term of not less than ten years nor more than 18 years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary. He appeals, contending the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over that crime, and because the trial court committed reversible error by failing to suppress evidence seized at the time of his arrest. We will affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Innis lists these issues:

I. Whether the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the alleged conspiracy?

II. Whether the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence resulting from the search of Mr. Shafer's vehicle because [Innis] was illegally seized during the search in violation of [his] State and Federal constitutional rights?

The State's brief conforms to those issues.

FACTS

[¶ 3] Innis and his companions, Mark Shafer and Kelly McConnell, drove to Laramie on May 29, 2001. All three were residents of Fort Collins, Colorado. They went to an Albertson's store and bought a large enough quantity of cold medication so as to raise the suspicions of the register clerk. Most large stores selling those products are on the alert for such quantity purchases because they can be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. In this case, the Albertson's store manager called the Laramie Police Department because of the quantity of cold medication purchased. The police were informed about the purchase of the cold tablets and given a description of the car used by the group, as well as the license plate number on their car. Although the police were not aware of it at the time the trio was eventually stopped, they had also purchased many more boxes of cold tablets at other Laramie stores.

[¶ 4] At about midnight that same date, a police officer saw the reported car pulling into a Mini-Mart store. The officer pulled up beside the suspect car, but not in a manner so as to block it. The officer asked if the group would answer some questions. The group was cooperative. One of the first questions was whether they had been at an Albertson's store. One individual said, "yes," another, "no." All three men denied purchasing cold tablets. The officer was able to observe an open bottle appearing to contain an alcoholic beverage, which was a violation of a city ordinance.² During the course of that investigative stop, the police officer asked all of the men to get out of the car and he did a "pat down" search of the subjects to ensure his safety. When the officer got to Shafer, Shafer admitted he had a glass pipe in his pocket that he used to smoke methamphetamine. He consented to a police officer removing the pipe from his pocket. There was methamphetamine residue on the pipe. Shafer was then arrested and taken to the Laramie Police Department for further processing and questioning. During the course of the stop and arrests, four police officers participated in the process.

[¶ 5] While Innis was standing outside the car, and near a waste receptacle, a police officer noticed that Innis wadded up a piece of paper and tried to throw it away. It was recovered by the police and turned out to be a receipt from an Albertson's store for cold tablets. Before being taken away, Shafer gave a written consent for a search of his car and that search turned up other evidence, including hypodermic needles, syringes, scales, baggies, a second "meth" pipe, marijuana, methamphetamine, an open container of an alcoholic beverage, and 38 boxes of cold pills which had been purchased that night by the threesome at various stores in Laramie. Eventually, McConnell was arrested for having an open container of an alcohol beverage, and both McConnell and Innis were arrested for possession of controlled substances. Shortly after those arrests, Shafer admitted to the conspiracy, and all three were arrested on that charge as well.

[¶ 6] During questioning at the police department, Shafer admitted that the three were in Laramie for a "pill run," i.e., to buy cold tablets for the purpose of reprocessing them into methamphetamine. Further, he conceded it was their intention to return to Fort Collins and "cook" a batch of methamphetamine, as they had done two or three other times during the preceding month. Based upon the information obtained from Shafer, as well as other investigative materials already available to the Fort Collins police, a search warrant was obtained in Colorado for a residence owned by McConnell and shared with Innis. That search produced evidence of the existence of a clandestine drug laboratory, which was located in a bedroom used by Innis. Shafer testified that his role in this operation, as well as McConnell's, was to obtain the cold pills and other ingredients, and that Innis was the "cook," i.e., the person who actually knew how to, and did, produce the methamphetamine in his home laboratory.

DISCUSSION

Did the District Court Have Jurisdiction Over This Crime

[¶ 7] Innis contends that the conspiracy alleged was to have no effect in Wyoming and, therefore, Wyoming courts have no jurisdiction over the crime. Further, he asserts the only thing that occurred in Wyoming was the purchase of cold tablets, which is not a crime, and all other actions and/or intended actions transpired in Colorado.

[¶ 8] Jurisdiction is a question of law to be considered by this Court de novo. Tomlin v. State, 2001 WY 121, ¶ 5, 35 P.3d 1255, ¶ 5 (Wyo.2001). Wyoming has broad jurisdiction to punish a defendant, over whom it has personal jurisdiction, for an act committed outside this state, but which has an effect in this state. Rios v. State, 733 P.2d 242, 244-50 (Wyo.1987) (father of child could be convicted of interfering with child custody in Wyoming, even though neither father nor child had ever been in Wyoming, but mother was). The courts of Wyoming have subject matter jurisdiction over drug conspiracies when the conspirators intend for the conspiracy to have an effect within the state of Wyoming. Marquez v. State, 12 P.3d 711, 715-16 (Wyo.2000); and see Estrada-Sanchez v. State, 2003 WY 45, ¶¶ 6-7, 66 P.3d 703, ¶¶ 6-7 (Wyo.2003.)

[¶ 9] The parties appear to agree, as do we, that the circumstances of this case pose a question of first impression in this state. Indeed, we have found no analogous case in any jurisdiction. The gist of Innis's argument has two distinct aspects. First, he contends that conspiracy is a crime in and of itself, and that the crime occurred in Colorado, not Wyoming. Marquez, 12 P.3d at 715; Palato v. State, 988 P.2d 512, 515-16 (Wyo. 1999). Second, he maintains that the conspiracy did not have an intended effect in Wyoming, and there was no criminal act in furtherance of the conspiracy committed in Wyoming. Because this case is one of first impression in some respects, a little background is appropriate:

Conspiracy is an inchoate offense, and is a crime in and of itself. Prohibition of conspiracy serves two distinct purposes: the punishment of group behavior and the control of inchoate activities. The offense derives from special threats posed by organized group criminality. The group danger rationale is predicated on the likelihood that the participants will reinforce each other's determination to carry out the criminal object, the object will be successfully attained, the extent of the injury to society will be large, those who commit it will escape detection, and the group's planning will have a long-term educative effect on its members, with schooling in crime the result.

Although criminalization of conspiracy punishes the inchoate offense by prosecuting the agreement itself, separating and stigmatizing jointly planned criminal activity prior to its completion, the crime of conspiracy is directed at the intended result of that agreement. The basis of conspiratorial liability is not to punish the agreement per se, but, rather, like other inchoate crimes, to punish the firm purpose to commit a substantive crime, while hopefully preventing the actual commission thereof.

15A C.J.S. Conspiracy § 98 (2002).

[¶ 10] Moreover, a conspiracy is a continuing offense and it lasts until the final overt act is completed. "Every act in furtherance of it is deemed a renewal or continuance of the conspiracy." 15A C.J.S. Conspiracy § 104. We embrace the view that conspiracy is a continuing offense with a situs at the place of the original agreement and also in any other jurisdictions where acts in furtherance of the conspiracy are undertaken. 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Jerold H. Israel and Nancy J. King, Criminal Procedure § 16.4(c) at 579 (2d ed.1999).

The elements of a criminal conspiracy include: (1) an object to be accomplished; (2) a plan or scheme embodying means to accomplish that object; (3) an agreement or undertaking between two or more of the defendants whereby they become definitely committed to co-operate for the accomplishment of the object by the means embodied in the agreement, or by any effectual means; (4) an overt act.

15A C.J.S. Conspiracy § 108. It is not necessary that the overt act be criminal in character. Indeed, the overt act may be wholly innocent in...