Opinion ID: 2222224
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: iii, iv, v.

Text: A general instruction on the defense of mistake of fact was submitted by appellant but refused by the trial court. An instruction upon the lesser offense of delivery of a Schedule IV controlled substance and an instruction describing the regulation limiting refills of Schedule III and IV drugs to five were also submitted by appellant and refused. He contends that it was error to refuse these instructions. The instructions were correct statements of the law; and, therefore, we next examine the evidence tending to provide a foundation for them. Jones v. State (1988), Ind., 531 N.E.2d 478. Such evidence was provided by prosecution witnesses. Six tablets from each bottle seized from Gray were tested on May 16, 1984; and they contained unidentified inert material and pentazocine. On November 9, 1983, the day Gray got the bottles from appellant, pentazocine was classified under the state statute as a Schedule II controlled substance when contained in any quantity, in any compound or mixture. I.C. XX-XX-X-X (amended 1984). There was evidence that at the same time pentazocine was classified under federal law as a Schedule IV controlled substance when combined with certain ingredients rendering it less subject to abuse. This latter form was being marketed as Talwin NX. The two bottles so seized had labels with printing decipherable as Talwin NX and Talwin CIV. A mistake of fact is one which is both honest and reasonable and one which negates culpability. Davis v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 476, 355 N.E.2d 836; I.C. XX-XX-X-X. The classification of pentazocine by state statute was not a fact susceptible of being mistaken. There is no intricate web of regulation. Pentazocine in all combinations was expressly listed as in Schedule II. The statutory classification was simplicity itself. Appellant was a trained, experienced and licensed pharmacist. The proof of these labels and the different federal classification did not warrant the mistake of fact instruction or the instructions on lesser offenses. It was not, therefore, error to refuse them.