Statezny v. State, 00-119.
| Decision Date | 28 February 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-119.,00-119. |
| Parties | Dennis Eugene STATEZNY, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Representing Appellant: Sylvia Lee Hackl, State Public Defender; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel, and Ryan R. Roden, Assistant Appellate Counsel. Argument by Mr. Roden.
Representing Appellee: Gay Woodhouse, Wyoming Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; and Robin Sessions Cooley, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Cooley.
Before LEHMAN, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, and KITE, JJ.
[¶ 1] Appellant, Dennis Eugene Statezny, challenges his conviction for unlawful clandestine laboratory operations. He contends that the statutes governing that crime are unconstitutionally vague both facially and as applied to the facts of this case. Continuing with that argument, he contends that he was denied due process of law because the governing statutes provide no standard of conduct or notice of forbidden conduct, thus allowing for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Statezny also maintains that his conviction is not supported by substantial evidence.
[¶ 2] We affirm.
[¶ 3] Statezny advances these issues:
Those same issues are essentially echoed in the State's statement of the issue on appeal.
[¶ 4] Before we set out the operative facts of this case, it is useful to provide the wording of the statutes at issue here. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 35-7-1058 (LEXIS 1999) provides in pertinent part:
(a) As used in this article:
[¶ 5] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 35-7-1059 provides:
[¶ 6] The facts which form the basis for Statezny's conviction follow. We note, before setting them out, that Statezny represented himself in the trial court, and he did not testify or present any evidence in his own behalf. He did cross-examine many of the State's witnesses. On August 21, 1999, a resident of Afton called the Afton Police Department to assist her in inspecting an apartment for which the rent was past due. The tenant had quit the premises, and an unknown male person was apparently living in the apartment. Although the apartment was locked, it was possible to gain access to it through a window (eventually the police advised the apartment's owner to place a large stick in the window to prevent it from being opened from the outside). The apartment was above an Afton business, the Cowboy Bar.
[¶ 7] While the police officer was there, he noticed a marijuana plant in the living room. As a result of that observation, the police obtained a warrant to search the apartment. The police returned on August 22, 1999, to conduct that search. The marijuana plant was seized.1 During the course of that search, the police found other incriminating evidence that included drug paraphernalia and other items that appeared to be associated with a clandestine drug operation. As a result of that discovery, the police obtained a second search warrant. During that search, the police found and seized a Coleman gas stove, Statezny's driver's license, a bottle of PH test strips, two used syringes, pay stubs belonging to Statezny, two chemistry books, an Ace Glass ordering catalogue, a physics book, a set of scales, an antler smoking pipe, a brass smoking pipe, empty pill capsules, and neoprene gloves. The police also discovered some tubing that was found to have residue that tested positive for pseudoephedrine, a precursor of methamphetamine, a bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol, a broken glass beaker, a glass coffee decanter that contained the empty pill capsules, a gallon can of acetone, a gallon can of Coleman fuel, several boxes of Efidac 24, a baggy containing a tan solid substance, and one gallon of hydrochloric acid.
[¶ 8] Statezny was arrested pursuant to warrant, and one of the items found in his personal effects was a baggy of a white powdery substance that turned out to be methamphetamine.
[¶ 9] The tenant who rented the apartment above the Cowboy Bar testified that she saw Statezny bring the chemicals and laboratory equipment into the apartment, and that Statezny occupied the west bedroom where much of that material was found. She also testified that prior to the searches, she had vacated the apartment and left Statezny in charge of the whole place. In addition, she related a story of asking Statezny what he was going to do with all the items he was bringing into the apartment, "cook up a batch of crank?" Statezny's reply was that he could not because his glassware was broken. The record also revealed that another acquaintance of Statezny's observed broken glassware, belonging to him, in a storage unit. That acquaintance also observed that Statezny seemed very concerned about where the broken glassware had been disposed of and wanted to know in what dumpster the acquaintance had put it.
[¶ 10] In addition to this evidence, an expert witness from the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, whose credentials included training with the Clandestine Laboratory Investigation Association, testified. Her testimony demonstrated that many of the items possessed by...
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