People v. Coria

ORDER

Review Granted


PEOPLE, Respondent v. JUAN JOSUEL CORIA, Appellant No. S074251 C.A. 3rd, No. C026099 California Supreme Court Filed January 20, 1999         Respondent's petition for review GRANTED.




[Editors' Note - For your convenience we reprint below the Daily Journal's ruling column brief which summarized the earlier decision of the lower court.]



CRIMINAL LAW
AND PROCEDURE

Manufacturing methamphetamine isn't a strict liability crime.
        The C.A. 3rd has ruled that a defendant must have "knowledge" that he is producing or assisting in the manufacturing of methamphetamine in order to be convicted of that crime.
        Juan Coria was seen conversing with his brother outside of a residence that was under surveillance due to suspicion that it was being used as a laboratory to manufacture methamphetamine. A search revealed extensive evidence that the house was in fact being used to manufacture methamphetamine; Coria and others were arrested. Coria asserted that he had not known he had been assisting in the manufacturing of methamphetamine; he was only assisting his brother in helping to "wash ephedrine pills" in return for $500. Coria later testified that although he had heard of methamphetamine, he had only agreed to wash the pills and had not known that methamphetamine was manufactured from pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. Coria testified that when he found out what he was helping to produce he became scared and immediately said he wanted to go home. The trial court instructed the jury that a violation of Health & Safety Code Section 11379.6 did not require awareness that methamphetamine was being manufactured via the extraction process. The jury found Coria not guilty of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine and not guilty of possessing pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. However, the jury convicted Coria of manufacturing methamphetamine.
        The C.A. 3rd reversed and remanded. A defendant must have knowledge that the drug he is producing is illegal or unlawful. The trial court relied on People v. Telfer, which held that manufacturing of methamphetamine is a strict liability offense. Telfer was wrongly decided. There is no reason in law or logic to construe Section 11379.6 as imposing strict liability and thus permit a felony conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine by extracting pseudoephedrine from pills if the person did not know the extraction was performed for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine. Merely engaging in chemical synthesis is not enough; a defendant must have knowledge of the facts that make the chemical synthesis unlawful. Section 11379.6 does implicitly require the defendant to have knowledge that he is producing or assisting in the manufacture of an illegal drug. Section 11379.6's silence with respect to a knowledge element does not mean the Legislature intended to dispense with this element. For crimes that carry severe punishment, " 'the usual presumption that a defendant must know the facts that make his conduct illegal should apply.' "
        People v. Coria, C.A. 3rd, No. C026099, filed September 30, 1998, by Scotland, J.
        The full text of this case appears in 98 Daily Journal DAR on page 10436, October 1, 1998.