State v. Lowden, Docket No. Yor–13–250.

• Citation: 2014 ME 29,87 A.3d 694
• Decision Date: 25 February 2014
• Docket Number: Docket No. Yor–13–250.
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Aaron S. LOWDEN.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

87 A.3d 694

2014 ME 29

STATE of Maine

v.Aaron S. LOWDEN.

Docket No. Yor–13–250.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: Jan. 15, 2014.

Decided: Feb. 25, 2014.

Thomas J. Connolly, Esq. (orally), Portland, for appellant Aaron Lowden.

Janet T. Mills, Attorney General, and Jonathan Sahrbeck, Asst. Atty. Gen. (orally), Office of Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee State of Maine.

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, LEVY, SILVER, MEAD, GORMAN, and JABAR, JJ.

ALEXANDER, J.

[¶ 1] Aaron S. Lowden appeals from a judgment of conviction of aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs (Class A), 17–A M.R.S. § 1105–A(1)(B)(1) (2013), entered by the Superior Court (York County, O'Neil, J.) following a jury trial.¹

[¶ 2] Lowden argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the jury's guilty verdict and, accordingly, that the court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to M.R. Crim. P. 29. Specifically, Lowden argues that the State failed to introduce evidence that he successfully manufactured methamphetamine. See17–A M.R.S. § 1101(4) (2013). Because the record does not include sufficient evidence from which a jury could rationally conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant completed the manufacture of methamphetamine, a necessary element of unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs via the manufacture of the drug, see17–A M.R.S. §§ 1101(4), (17)(A), 1103(1–A)(A) (2013), we vacate the judgment of conviction against Lowden for aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs and remand the matter to the trial court for entry of a judgment of acquittal.

I. CASE HISTORY

[¶ 3] Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and the jury's verdict, the evidence could rationally support finding the following facts. See State v. Carey, 2013 ME 83, ¶ 3, 77 A.3d 471.

[¶ 4] In January of 2012, a woman rented a room on the second floor of her home in Lebanon to Lowden. On January 14, 2012, Lowden began making regular trips from his room on the second floor to the basement, where, as far as the homeowner knew, Lowden had no belongings stored. When the homeowner opened the basement door to investigate Lowden's activities, she smelled a strange odor and called the police.

[¶ 5] A York County Sheriff's Deputy responded to the call. Upon arriving at the residence, he found that the basement door had been barricaded with a trash can. He yelled down to the basement and requested that Lowden come up, but Lowden instead asked the deputy to come down. The deputy removed the trashcan and entered the basement.

[¶ 6] Once in the basement, the deputy observed Lowden standing in front of an inactive wood stove with a Coleman cooking stove placed on top of it. On the Coleman stove were two glass containers, one of which contained a boiling substance. Lowden was tending to the stove and the boiling substance was emitting fumes. The deputy turned off the Coleman stove; evacuated the home; and contacted the fire department, the rescue unit, and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA).

[¶ 7] The Clandestine Lab Response Team, part of the MDEA, responded to the residence. After conducting a safety sweep of the residence, the team conducted and filmed a pre-search walk-through during which they discovered various chemicals in the bedroom Lowden was renting. The team later searched Lowden's bedroom and found a book known as “Uncle Fester's Synthetic Manual” as well as various chemicals and glassware.² The team then searched the basement where Lowden had been apprehended. There, they found additional chemicals and laboratory equipment. The team took samples of the substances found in the basement, which were then tested in a laboratory.

[¶ 8] “Uncle Fester's Synthetic Manual,” the book recovered in Lowden's bedroom, contained a detailed method of how to convert phenylalanine into methamphetamine. The chemicals found at the scene constituted some of the “key components sufficient for the manufacture of methamphetamine” through the method described in the book. However, no methamphetamine was found, nor was there evidence that any of the syntheses necessary to manufacture methamphetamine had occurred. Furthermore, and as the trial court found in ruling on a postjudgment motion, Lowden did not have all of the ingredients necessary to complete the manufacture of methamphetamine.

[¶ 9] On June 5, 2012, Lowden was indicted by a grand jury for aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs (Class A), 17–A M.R.S. § 1105–A(1)(B)(1). A jury trial was held beginning on April 22, 2013. At the close of the trial, the court, without objection by Lowden or the State, instructed the jury correctly on both unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs, 17–A M.R.S. § 1103(1–A)(A), and attempted trafficking in schedule W drugs, 17–A M.R.S. §§ 152(1)(B), 1103(1–A)(A) (2013). The instruction on the trafficking charge indicated, consistent with the trafficking statute, that Lowden could be convicted if the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that he engaged in intentional or knowing conduct.

[¶ 10] On April 26, 2013, the jury returned a guilty verdict on the charge of unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs. The jury, having returned a guilty verdict on the more serious charge, was not asked to return a verdict on the lesser offense of attempted trafficking, and the State did not request that the jury give further consideration to the attempt charge.

[¶ 11] Lowden moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to M.R. Crim. P. 29 on the grounds that no reasonable jury could have concluded, based on the evidence presented at trial, that he unlawfully trafficked in methamphetamine. The court denied Lowden's motion, despite issuing findings of fact stating that it was “apparent that [Lowden] did not have in his possession all [of the] ingredients necessary to complete [the manufacture of] methamphetamine.” The court sentenced Lowden to seven years in prison.

[¶ 12] Lowden timely appealed his conviction pursuant to 15 M.R.S. § 2115 (2013) and M.R.App. P. 2. He argues that there was insufficient evidence from which a jury could rationally conclude that he unlawfully trafficked in a schedule W drug via the manufacture of methamphetamine. See17–A M.R.S. §§ 1101(4), 1103(1–A)(A). Specifically, he argues that in order to be convicted of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs via the manufacture of methamphetamine, the State must prove that he completed the manufacture of methamphetamine, which the State failed to establish in this case. He further argues that to interpret the term “[m]anufacture” within the meaning of 17–A M.R.S. § 1101(4), to require preparation or processing without the completed product, runs afoul of the rules of statutory construction by rendering the criminal attempt statute, 17–A M.R.S. § 152, surplusage.

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

[¶ 13] We review the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal under the same standard as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, that is, by “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State to determine whether the trier of fact rationally could have found beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the offense charged.” State v. Severy, 2010 ME 126, ¶ 8, 8 A.3d 715 (alteration omitted). “If statutory interpretation is necessary, that interpretation is conducted de novo.” Id.

[¶ 14] When interpreting a statute, we look first to the plain meaning in order to discern legislative intent, viewing the relevant provision in the context of the entire statutory scheme to generate a harmonious result. Id. ¶ 9. Words are to be construed according to their common meaning. Id. “Nothing in a statute may be treated as surplusage if a reasonable construction applying meaning and force is otherwise possible.” State v. Harris, 1999 ME 80, ¶ 3, 730 A.2d 1249 (alteration omitted).

[¶ 15] When interpreting a criminal statute, we are guided by two interrelated rules of statutory construction: the rule of lenity, see State v. Stevens, 2007 ME 5, ¶ 16, 912 A.2d 1229; and the rule of strict construction, see State v. Nastvogel, 2002 ME 97, ¶ 6, 798 A.2d 1114. Pursuant to each of these rules, any ambiguity left unresolved by a strict construction of the statute must be resolved in the defendant's favor. Stevens, 2007 ME 5, ¶¶ 16, 18, 912 A.2d 1229 (“[T]he rule of lenity is founded on the tenderness of the law for the rights of individuals; and on the plain principle that the power of punishment is vested in the legislature, not in the judicial department.” (citing United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 76, 95, 5 L.Ed. 37 (1820))); State v. Shepley, 2003 ME 70, ¶ 15, 822 A.2d 1147.

B. Statutory Definition of Manufacture

[¶ 16] A person is guilty of aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs if the person violates 17–A M.R.S. § 1103(1–A), and, at the time of the offense, the person has one or more prior convictions for any Class A, B, or C drug offense.³17–A M.R.S. § 1105–A(1)(B). A person is guilty of unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs pursuant to 17–A M.R.S. § 1103(1–A)(A) if the person (1) intentionally or knowingly (2) trafficks in (3) what the person knows or believes to be a scheduled drug, which (4) is in fact a scheduled drug and (5) the drug is a schedule W drug. To “[t]raffick,” in this context, means “[t]o make, create, manufacture.” 17–A M.R.S. § 1101(17)(A). To “[m]anufacture” means “to produce, prepare, propagate, compound, convert or process, either directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis.” 17–A M.R.S. § 1101(4).

[¶ 17] Although the definition of “[m]anufacture” could appear to suggest that mere preparation or processing of chemicals may be sufficient, when the language is read in the context of the crime of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs, it is clear that preparation and processing, without more, is insufficient. Unlawful...