Opinion ID: 1666324
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Court of Criminal Appeals' application of Williams v. State.

Text: The Court of Criminal Appeals, relying on Williams v. State, 665 So.2d 955 (Ala. Cr.App.1994), stated: The rationale of Williams applies to this case. Browder and Welch were convicted of conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, not of the substantive crime. Section 13A-12-231(13) may be applied only to enhance the sentences of defendants convicted of the substantive crime. Browder v. State, 728 So.2d 1106, 1107 (Ala. Cr.App.1996). We hold otherwise. The Williams case dealt with Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-12-250. That section deals only with the sale of a controlled substance within particular zones: In addition to any penalties heretofore or hereafter provided by law for any person convicted of an unlawful sale of a controlled substance, there is hereby imposed a penalty of five years incarceration in a state corrections facility with no provision for probation if the situs of such unlawful sale was on the campus or within a three-mile radius of the campus boundaries of any public or private school, college, university or other educational institution in this state. In keeping with the plain language of the statute, this Court has held that a defendant convicted of conspiring to sell drugs within the stated zones could not be punished by the five-year enhancement of § 13A-12-250. Ex parte Mutrie, 658 So.2d 347 (Ala.1993); see also Williams, supra. The language of § 13A-12-250 is clearit cannot be applied to one convicted of conspiring to sell a controlled substance. The firearm enhancement statute, § 13A-12-231(13), on the other hand, is not limited by its language to a sale. The conspiracy statute, § 13A-12-204(c), specifically provides that a conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime shall be punished the same as the controlled substance crime that is the object of the conspiracy. Section 13A-12-231(13), the firearm enhancement provision applicable to the crime of trafficking in controlled substances, reads as follows: (13) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any person who has possession of a firearm during the commission of any act proscribed by this section shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of five calendar years which shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, the punishment otherwise provided, and a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000); the court shall not suspend the five-year additional sentence of the person or give the person a probationary sentence. (Emphasis added.) Section 13A-12-204(c) states that [a] criminal conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime shall be punished the same as the controlled substance crime that is the object of the conspiracy. The object of Browder and Welch's conspiracy was trafficking in cannabis, a controlled substance crime. Part of the punishment for this particular controlled substance crime is provided by the firearm enhancement provision of § 13A-12-231(13). Section 13A-12-204 has incorporated, without any limitation, the punishment of § 13A-12-231, for any conspiracy that has as its object a crime subject to § 13A-12-231. The legislature has from time to time modified the punishment set out in § 13A-12-231 (one modification adding the firearm enhancement provision of subsection (13)), but as it has modified § 13A-12-231 it has not seen fit to limit the punishment that § 13A-12-204(c) incorporates for the crime of conspiracy. Therefore, the firearm enhancement provision of § 13A-12-231 applies to a defendant convicted of the conspiracy offense.