People v. Matteucci
| Decision Date | 28 April 2017 |
| Docket Number | F070491 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JARED ANTHONY MATTEUCCI, et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
OPINIONAPPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Tulare County. Darryl B. Ferguson, Judge.
Richard M. Doctoroff, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Jared Anthony Matteucci.
William I. Parks, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Dustin Amble Benson.
Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Daniel B. Bernstein and Nicholas M. Fogg, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo- Jared Anthony Matteucci and Dustin Amble Benson were arrested after police executing a search warrant on July 8, 2011 discovered they were growing numerous marijuana plants at their Porterville home and at a second location in the foothills. On November 2, 2011, Benson, who was out of custody on bail, and another individual mailed a package containing marijuana to Ohio.
Both defendants were charged with the following crimes, which were alleged to have occurred on July 8, 2011: cultivation of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code,1 former § 11358; count 2); manufacture of concentrated cannabis through chemical extraction (§ 11379.6, subd. (a); count 4); and possession of concentrated cannabis (former § 11357, subd. (a); count 5). Benson also was charged with the following drug-related crimes: possession of marijuana for sale on July 8, 2011 (former § 11359; count 3); and transportation of marijuana on November 2, 2011 (former § 11360, subd. (a); count 1).2 For count 1, the People further alleged Benson had transported marijuana while on bail for another felony offense (Pen. Code, § 12022.1, subd. (b).)
The two were tried together before a jury.3 The jury rejected the defendants' medical marijuana defenses and convicted them of all charges. Matteucci was placed on probation for three years on condition, inter alia, that he serve 365 days in county jail. As to Benson, the trial court imposed and suspended an 11-year, four-month state prison sentence, and placed Benson on five years' probation subject to the condition, inter alia, that he serve 365 days in county jail. The defendants also were ordered to pay various fees, fines, and assessments.
In addressing defendants' contentions on appeal, we conclude substantial evidence supports defendants' convictions of the manufacture of concentrated cannabis through chemical extraction and Matteucci's convictions of cultivation of marijuana and possession of concentrated cannabis, and that the trial court did not commit prejudicial instructional error. In addition, we reject Matteucci's request that we reduce his sentence pursuant to Proposition 47. We agree with the People, however, that Benson's case must be remanded to the trial court for it to either impose or strike the Penal Code section 12022.1, subdivision (b) enhancement. In all other respects, we affirm.
In 2011, Benson had a YouTube channel named "I Grow Medical Top Shelf." On that channel he posted videos depicting himself growing marijuana and offering it for sale. The videos were posted between January and May 2011, but that was not necessarily when the videos were filmed. Based on the resemblance of the persons in the videos, the videos could have been filmed within two weeks or two months of being posted.
One video, entitled "559 Style Trim City," shows marijuana buds being cured on a tray in what appears to be a "dryer" and a person holding a marijuana bud up to the camera. Benson can be heard saying "[t]wo fifty a zip for all you medical patients that are prop 215 legal, get at me, if you're in the Visalia or Bakersfield area, you need some quality medication[.]" Benson listed the available strains of marijuana. "Two fifty a zip" is slang for $250 for an ounce of marijuana. Benson also posted videos using the name "Bluntman." In a video entitled "559 Bluntman Consulting Style," Benson discusses growing marijuana and speaks to Matteucci.
Investigators with the Tulare County Sheriff's Office began viewing these videos in May 2011. From the videos, detectives identified two locations for further investigation: (1) a house on Slaughter Avenue in Porterville (the Slaughter property); and (2) a house on Cedar Brook Trail in California Hot Springs, which is in the foothillseast of Porterville (the Cedar Brook property). Search warrants were served on those two locations on July 8, 2011.
The Slaughter property is a corner lot on which sits a three bedroom house with an attached garage. When the search warrant was served on the morning of July 8, 2011, officers found Benson and his wife, along with their five- and eight-year-old children, inside the house, where they were living. Matteucci also was inside the house; he had been living there rent-free for about eight months. Neither Benson nor Matteucci were employed.
In the backyard, officers found 131 live marijuana plants ranging from four to seven feet tall. The plants were supported by PVC pipe to keep them from drooping. In an enclosed patio, officers found two trays containing 351 small marijuana plants, which were clones with established viable root systems. Hydroponic machines, which supplied water and nutrients to help the plants grow, were under the starter trays. Ultraviolet lights were suspended above each tray. A trim reaper, which is a mechanical means of trimming marijuana buds, also was found. In the experience of the lead detective, Sergeant Buddy Hirayama of the Tulare County Sheriff's Department, such reapers are uncommon in Tulare County; of the thousands of marijuana investigations he had participated in, this was only the third time he had encountered a trimming machine - the other two times, the machine was found on large cultivation sites.
Hirayama testified as an expert on how butane is used to manufacture concentrated cannabis. The process begins by tightly packing a pipe with marijuana. Each end of the pipe is then closed with screw-on caps - one cap has a single hole while the other has multiple holes. A butane container is inserted into the cap with the single hole and the butane is injected into the pipe. As the butane filters down, it freezes and liquefies the contents as it extracts the trichomes from the marijuana. The trichomes contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The contents seep out ofthe other end of the pipe onto a glass dish. The butane evaporates leaving the concentrated cannabis, otherwise known as honey oil or ear wax. The concentrated cannabis is sticky and a razor blade can be used to scrape it off the dish.
On the top shelf of a two to four foot high cabinet in Matteucci's bedroom, officers found a Pyrex dish and a razor blade. There was a thin layered coat of dried concentrated cannabis residue in the dish. Four pressurized canisters of butane were found on the lower shelf; at least three of canisters were full. Hirayama opined the dish was used to collect concentrated cannabis through butane extraction.
In an attached storage room behind the garage, detectives found a two to three foot long pipe, which was capped on both ends. The cap on one end had one hole, which was an injection port used to force butane into the tube, while the cap on the other end had six holes. There was marijuana residue in the threads on one end of the pipe. It was unknown how long the pipe had been out there or when it was last used.
Two digital scales were found in a kitchen cabinet. One scale had marijuana particles on top of it. Scales typically indicate the sale of marijuana, as medical marijuana users have little need to weigh it.
A dryer or humidifier was found in the attached garage; it appeared to be the same one used in one of Benson's videos. Officers found a vial on top of the dryer that contained 0.13 grams of honey oil, or concentrated cannabis. Two vacuum sealing machines were found in the home, one in the attached garage and the other in the kitchen. The machines could be used to store marijuana by vacuum sealing, which was depicted in one of Benson's videos.
Detectives found apparently valid medical marijuana recommendations for Benson and his mother, Cindy Benson. Benson's recommendation allowed him to consume two ounces per week and grow up to 90 mature female plants to produce that amount, while Cindy's allowed her to consume one plus ounces per week and grow up to 75 maturefemale plants to produce that amount. Another document found at the house declared that Matteucci was Cindy's primary caregiver.
Hirayama calculated that Cindy's permitted use totaled 3.25 pounds of marijuana per year, while Benson's totaled 6.5 pounds per year, and the two together were permitted a total of 165 mature plants. Officers, however, found a total of 482 plants at the Slaughter property, none of which were mature. The 131 plants in the backyard were pre-flowering and had not yet produced marijuana buds. Hirayama estimated they were about two months from coming into maturity and would have produced at least one pound of marijuana per plant. The total weight of the plants taken from the backyards of the Slaughter and Cedar Brook properties was 142 pounds. There was a very small amount of processed flower buds found at the Slaughter property, but it was still in the "blunts portion of it."
Hirayama interviewed Benson, who told him that the house...
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