Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 29 June 2012
• Docket Number: CR–10–1711.
• Citation: 104 So.3d 254
• Parties: Patricia WILLIAMS v. STATE of Alabama.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

104 So.3d 254

Patricia WILLIAMS

v.STATE of Alabama.

CR–10–1711.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 29, 2012.

Patricia Williams, pro se.

Luther Strange, atty. gen., and Michael G. Dean, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

KELLUM, Judge.

Patricia Williams appeals the circuit court's summary dismissal of her petition for postconviction relief, filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P.

In 2007, Williams was convicted of one count of first-degree unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, specifically methamphetamine, one count of trafficking in methamphetamine, and one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, specifically methamphetamine. She was sentenced, as a habitual offender, to life imprisonment for the manufacturing conviction, to life imprisonment for the trafficking conviction, and to 15 years' imprisonment for the possession conviction. This Court affirmed Williams's convictions and sentences on appeal in an opinion issued on May 30, 2008. Williams v. State, 995 So.2d 915 (Ala.Crim.App.2008). This Court issued a certificate of judgment on June 18, 2008.

The convictions resulted from a search of Williams's mobile home and a shed located approximately five feet behind the mobile home.¹ In the shed, law-enforcement officers found an active methamphetamine laboratory. Officers found, among other things, a glass jar or vase on a hot plate containing a boiling liquid that was later determined to weigh approximately 250 milliliters and to contain methamphetamine, referred to as “meth oil”; two 20–ounce liquid-filled bottles; and a turkey baster. In the mobile home in a padlocked bedroom identified as Williams's room, officers found acetone, distilled water, Red Devil brand lye, iodized salt, muriatic acid, and coffee filters, all of which are commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, as well as a makeup case containing what was later determined to be completed powder methamphetamine.

Williams filed this, her second, Rule 32 petition on January 18, 2011. In her petition, Williams alleged (1) that she was actually innocent of the crimes, and (2) that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to render the judgments or to impose the sentences because, she said, her three convictions violated principles of double jeopardy. The State filed a response and a motion for summary disposition on July 5, 2011, arguing that Williams's claims were precluded by Rules 32.2(a), (b), and (c), and were meritless.² The circuit court granted the State's motion and summarily dismissed Williams's petition on July 6, 2011, with a notation on the case-action-summary sheet.

On appeal, Williams reasserts the claims raised in her petition. We address each in turn.

I.

Williams contends that she is actually innocent of the crimes. This claim is, as argued by the State in its response, time-barred by Rule 32.2(c) because Williams's petition was filed after the limitations period had expired. Contrary to Williams's assertion, claims of actual innocence are subject to the preclusions in Rule 32.2. See Russell v. State, 886 So.2d 123 (Ala.Crim.App.2003) (claim of actual innocence is subject to procedural bars). Therefore, summary dismissal of this claim was proper.

II.

Williams also contends that her three convictions violate principles of double jeopardy. Specifically, she argues, as she did in her petition, that her convictions for manufacturing and trafficking violate double-jeopardy principles because, she says, they were both based on the same evidence—a methamphetamine laboratory found in a shed on her property. She also argues, as she did in her petition, that her trafficking and possession convictions violate double-jeopardy principles because, she says, possession of methamphetamine is a lesser-included offense of trafficking in methamphetamine. Both of these claims are jurisdictional and neither were raised in her previous petition.³ Thus, these claims are not subject to any of the preclusions in Rule 32.2. See, e.g., Heard v. State, 999 So.2d 992 (Ala.2007); Ex parte Trawick, 972 So.2d 782 (Ala.2007); and Ex parte Benefield, 932 So.2d 92 (Ala.2005).

In Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), the United States Supreme Court held that “where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” The Blockburger test is a two-pronged test. First, “the threshold inquiry under Blockburger is whether the alleged statutory violations arise from ‘the same act or transaction.’ ” State v. Watkins, 362 S.W.3d 530, 545 (Tenn.2012). See also State v. Armendariz, 140 N.M. 182, 188, 141 P.3d 526, 532 (2006) (“The first part of the test requires the determination of whether the conduct underlying the offenses is unitary.”); R.L.G., Jr. v. State, 712 So.2d 348, 359 (Ala.Crim.App.1997) ( “Before the double jeopardy prohibition is triggered ... it must appear ... that the crimes arose out of the same act or transaction.” (citations omitted)), aff'd, 712 So.2d 372 (Ala.1998); and State v. Thompson, 197 Conn. 67, 72, 495 A.2d 1054, 1058 (1985) (“An analysis of the Blockburger test involves a threshold determination of whether the offenses arose out of the ‘same act or transaction,’ and a substantive analysis of whether they contain distinct elements.”). The Double Jeopardy Clause does not operate to prohibit prosecution, conviction, and punishment in a single trial for discrete acts of the same offense. See Swafford v. State, 112 N.M. 3, 810 P.2d 1223 (1991). Thus, whether a defendant's conduct constitutes the same act or transaction “does not determine whether there is a double jeopardy violation; rather it determines if there could be a violation.” State v. Schoonover, 281 Kan. 453, 467, 133 P.3d 48, 62 (2006).

Second, if the offenses did arise from the same act or transaction, then it must be determined whether each offense requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not, i.e., whether the two offenses are the “same” for double-jeopardy purposes. “[A]pplication of the test focuses on the statutory elements of the offense,” Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785 n. 17, 95 S.Ct. 1284, 43 L.Ed.2d 616 (1975), and is a rule of statutory construction based on the assumption that a legislature “ordinarily does not intend to punish the same offense under two different statutes.” Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 692, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980). See also Rutledge v. United States, 517 U.S. 292, 297, 116 S.Ct. 1241, 134 L.Ed.2d 419 (1996) (“[W]e presume that ‘where two statutory provisions proscribe the “same offense,” ’ a legislature does not intend to impose two punishments for that offense.”) (quoting Whalen, 445 U.S. at 692). It is well settled “that a lesser included and a greater offense are the same under Blockburger.” Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 166 n. 6, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). See also Heard, supra, and Lewis v. State, 57 So.3d 807 (Ala.Crim.App.2009).

Manufacturing and Trafficking

With respect to Williams's challenge to her manufacturing and trafficking convictions, it is clear that both convictions did arise, as Williams argues, from the same act or transaction, i.e., both convictions were based on the vase of “meth oil” found in the shed. However, this Court has previously addressed and rejected a similar double-jeopardy argument. In Snowden v. State, 968 So.2d 1004 (Ala.Crim.App.2006), this Court upheld against a double-jeopardy challenge convictions for both trafficking in methamphetamine and manufacturing methamphetamine arising out of the same act or transaction, specifically finding that trafficking in methamphetamine under § 13A–12–231(11), Ala.Code 1975, and manufacturing methamphetamine under § 13A–12–217, Ala.Code 1975, each require proof of an element that the other does not and, thus, that they were not the same offense for purposes of double jeopardy. Therefore, Williams's convictions for both first-degree manufacturing methamphetamine and trafficking in methamphetamine do not violate principles of double jeopardy, and summary dismissal of this claim in her petition was proper.

Trafficking and Possession

Williams's challenge to her trafficking and possession convictions is more problematic. The State argues that the trafficking conviction and the possession conviction were not based on the same act or transaction and, thus, that the threshold inquiry under Blockburger is not satisfied and the second prong of the Blockburger test is not triggered. Specifically, the State argues that “the evidence shows that the powdered methamphetamine which formed the basis for the unlawful possession charge was in a different location than the liquid methamphetamine (albeit nearby), it was intended for a different purpose than the liquid methamphetamine, and perhaps most significantly, it was in a different form than the liquid methamphetamine” and, thus, that Williams's possession of the powder methamphetamine in the mobile home was a separate act or transaction from her possession of the liquid “meth oil” in the shed. (State's brief, p. 23.)

In Townsend v. State, 823 So.2d 717 (Ala.Crim.App.2001), this Court recognized that “[o]nly an analysis of the facts will dictate whether a defendant's possession was sufficiently differentiated by time or location as to constitute separate units for prosecution or whether it constitutes a single offense.” 823 So.2d at 724. Townsend had been convicted of trafficking in cocaine based on his actual possession of 22.4 grams of cocaine he discarded while fleeing from the police and his constructive possession of 17.91 grams of cocaine, which he admitted owning, found in his bedroom later that same day. Townsend argued that he should have been prosecuted for two counts of...