Court Opinion

ID: 9797414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:20:20.579717+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:54:57.497765
License: Public Domain

ESPINOSA, Judge,
dissenting in part.
¶ 28 I agree that the jury was correctly instructed and that Cheramie’s prior conviction was properly established. But I cannot agree with the majority’s unprecedented determination that simple possession of methamphetamine cannot be a lesser-included offense of transportation of methamphetamine for sale and that Cheramie’s conviction on that charge violated his Sixth Amendment rights. As the state points out, it is impossible to transport methamphetamine for sale without, at a minimum, possessing methamphetamine because “a person cannot commit the transportation offense without necessarily committing the possession offense.” State v. Chabolla-Hinojosa, 192 Ariz. 360, ¶ 12, 965 P.2d 94, 97 (App.1998). The court in Chabollar-Hinojosa reasoned:
“ ‘Possess’ means knowingly to have physical possession or otherwise to exercise dominion or control over property.” [A.R.S. § 13-105(30).] ... One who exercises dominion or control over property has constructive possession of it even if it is not in his physical possession. See State v. Villalobos Alvarez, 155 Ariz. 244, 245, 745 P.2d 991, 992 (App.1987). Given the broad definition of “possess,” when a possession for sale charge is incidental to a transportation for sale charge, the former is a lesser-included offense, for one cannot possibly be guilty of the transportation for sale charge without also being guilty of the possession for sale charge.
Id., ¶ 13. Although the lesser offense in Chabolla-Hinojosa was possession of marijuana for sale, the distinction is inconsequential because the court’s reasoning in that case turned on the physical act of possession, not the purpose or intended outcome of that possession. Simply stated, “possession is a necessary element of transportation.” Id. ¶ 18. Indeed, so well established is this principle that this court has flatly stated “[possession of drugs for personal use is a lesser-included offense of possession of drugs for sale,” without discussion. Gray v. Irwin, 195 Ariz. 273, ¶ 12, 987 P.2d 759, 762 (App.1999); see also In re Pima County Juvenile Action No. 12744101, 187 Ariz. 100, 101, 927 P.2d 366, 367 (App.1996) (“it is not possible to complete a sale of marijuana without possessing it”); State v. Moroyoqui, 125 Ariz. 562, 564, 611 P.2d 566, 568 (App.1980) (possession of marijuana is a lesser-included offense of possession of marijuana for sale and transportation of marijuana); State v. Ballinger, 19 Ariz.App. 32, 37, 504 P.2d 955, 960 (1973) (“Possession of heroin is a lesser[-] included offense of the greater offense of possession of heroin for sale, since the second cannot be committed without necessarily committing the first.”).
¶ 29 The majority adopts Cheramie’s reasoning, which relies on State v. Moreno, 92 Ariz. 116, 374 P.2d 872 (1962), and a California case to engraft the element of “useable amount” onto the lesser-included offense analysis. But in Moreno, our supreme court addressed a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction for possession of heroin because only trace amounts of the drug had been detected on cotton swabs used for wiping the tips of hypodermic needles. The court held:
[W]here the amount of a narcotic is so small as to require a chemical analysis to detect its presence, the quantity is sufficient if useable under the known practices of narcotic addicts. We hold that only in those cases where the amount is incapable of being put to any effective use will the evidence be insufficient to support a conviction.
*221Id. at 120, 374 P.2d at 875. Significantly, the question whether simple possession of a narcotic could be a lesser-included offense of transportation with intent to sell the drug was not at issue in Moreno. And, indeed, that question is subject to a different analysis than that for evaluating a challenge to a conviction based on sufficiency of the evidence. It is also clear that this case does not involve the question whether an “amount of a narcotic is so small as to require a chemical analysis to detect its presence,” as was the case in Moreno. Id.
¶ 30 Our supreme court recently reiterated that a lesser-included offense instruction is required when “(a) ... the state [has] failed to prove an element of the greater offense and (b) ... the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction on the lesser offense.” State v. Wall, 212 Ariz. 1, ¶ 18, 126 P.3d 148, 151 (2006); see Ballinger, 19 Ariz.App. at 37, 504 P.2d at 960 (court has duty to instruct on lesser-included offense of possession of heroin if evidence reasonably supports conviction on that offense); see also United States v. Hernandez, 476 F.3d 791, 799-801 (9th Cir.2007) (evidence supporting possession of 159 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute did not preclude jury from rationally finding drug could have been possessed for personal use rather than sale notwithstanding no evidence of personal use, and lesser-included-offense instruction should have been given).
¶ 31 Although here the state did not introduce any expert testimony on what may constitute a “useable amount,” it was not required because the jury readily and reasonably could have found, without any need for additional evidence, that the forty-two grams of methamphetamine in Cheramie’s possession were without question a useable quantity of the drug as a matter of common sense and common knowledge. See generally State v. Aguilar, 169 Ariz. 180, 182, 818 P.2d 165, 167 (App.1991) (jurors may rely on common sense and experience). And, under the well-settled case law noted above and Arizona rules of criminal procedure, Cheramie could not have lacked notice that he could be found guilty of its possession as a lesser-included offense. See Ariz. R.Crim. P. 13.2(c). Accordingly, I would uphold Cheramie’s conviction for possessing the sizeable quantity of methamphetamine that he was transporting.