Opinion ID: 2974443
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The search of Whited’s trailer

Text: Hesketh and Melton went to Whited’s trailer on April 22, 2004 to execute a state arrest warrant for Whited. Based on Melton’s work with the DEA, the agents had reason to believe that Whited and others were manufacturing methamphetamine on the premises. After Melton found Whited alone in a detached garage near the trailer, he placed Whited under arrest. Melton then asked Whited for consent to search the premises. Whited agreed, and led the agents to the back door of the trailer, which he opened with the assistance of those inside. Upon entering, Hesketh immediately noticed Bryant and another man, later identified as Chad Campbell, seated on the floor of a bedroom directly in front of where Hesketh was standing. After identifying himself as a law-enforcement officer and after asking Bryant and Campbell to stand with their hands up, Hesketh performed a pat down of Bryant. Hesketh found and seized a single glass pipe in Bryant’s pocket as well as several more glass pipes and a blue plastic envelope elsewhere on Bryant’s person. A lab test later determined that the substance in the envelope was methamphetamine. Hesketh then escorted Bryant and Campbell to Melton, who was in another room, and continued searching the trailer. In the bathroom toilet, Hesketh observed two plastic baggies containing what appeared to be white powder. Melton independently observed the baggies and later smelled their contents. Both the fine grain of the powder and the pungency of its smell led Melton to believe that the baggies contained methamphetamine. Lab tests later determined that the white powder was pseudoephedrine, which when crushed is a precursor to the manufacture of --3-- No. 05-5958 United States v. Bryant methamphetamine. The combined weight of the pseudoephedrine in the two baggies was 12.7 grams. Hesketh’s search ultimately uncovered numerous additional methamphetamine paraphernalia, all of which were admitted at trial either in their actual physical form or via photograph. These items included an unopened bottle of pseudoephedrine, digital scales, crystal iodine, five bottles of hydrogen peroxide, coffee filters, rubber tubing, propane torches, a glass pyrex dish containing what appeared to Melton to be red phosphorus residue, and an entire box of glass tubes of the type commonly used to smoke methamphetamine. A partially used bottle of crystal iodine and the digital scales were found in a trash can in the bathroom. Iodine and red phosphorous function jointly as reagents in the manufacture of methamphetamine, and digital scales are typically used to measure the reagents and the pseudoephedrine precursor to ensure a proper ratio between the two. When crystal iodine, a rare substance, is unavailable, hydrogen peroxide can be mixed with a less pure tincture of iodine to create the desired crystal form. Coffee filters assist in the manufacturing process at numerous stages. Torches, finally, heat the glass tubes that are used to smoke the methamphetamine.