Opinion ID: 2631820
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Estrada

Text: ¶ 4 Police stopped the car in which Angelita Estrada was a passenger and searched the vehicle after arresting the driver. In a purse containing Estrada's driver's license and social security card, officers found methamphetamine in two plastic baggies and a single glass tube commonly used for smoking the drug. ¶ 5 The jury convicted Estrada of possession of a dangerous drug, a class 4 felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class 6 felony. For the drug possession, she initially received a three-year term of probation pursuant to Proposition 200, but the court later concluded that a prior conviction made her ineligible for probation and sentenced her to 2.25 years in prison. The trial court also found the mandatory probation provision inapplicable to the paraphernalia conviction and sentenced Estrada to 0.75 years on that charge. ¶ 6 Estrada appealed her sentence to the court of appeals, Division One, arguing that Proposition 200 forbade imprisonment both on the drug count and the paraphernalia count. The court vacated the prison sentence on the drug count for independent reasons as stated in its opinion. Our review is limited to the paraphernalia question. ¶ 7 The appeals court noted correctly that the statute, on its face, does not apply to paraphernalia convictions. However, the court declined to apply a technical construction of the statute that would lead to the questionable result that while Proposition 200 offenders could not be imprisoned for possessing drugs, they could nevertheless be imprisoned for the less serious crime of possessing even simple paraphernalia items commonly employed in the personal use of those drugs. ¶ 8 The court concluded that the voters did not intend this result, as it would fully defeat the stated purpose of Proposition 200that prison space should be reserved for violent offenders by diverting drug users from prison to treatment. The court thus vacated Estrada's prison sentence, holding that the mandatory probation provisions of Proposition 200 do apply to the possession of paraphernalia where the paraphernalia is associated solely with personal possession or use of drugs. See State v. Estrada, 197 Ariz. 383, 388, 4 P.3d 438, 443 ¶ 23 (App.2000).