Beaty v. Commonwealth

125 S.W.3d 196 (2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Officer Phelps observed a white Chevrolet erratically weaving from side to side on the highway. Upon stopping the vehicle, Phelps detected a strong odor of anhydrous ammonia. D was the driver of the Chevrolet; his girlfriend, Marion Ann Hanks, was in the front passenger seat. D failed the field sobriety tests and was arrested and charged with DUI. A search incident to the arrest revealed substantial evidence of illegal drug activity. In a bag concealed in the area of his groin, D possessed three small bags of marijuana, a bag of cocaine, a set of scales, and other assorted drug paraphernalia. When Hanks was asked to exit the vehicle by another officer, she attempted to hide under the vehicle a bag containing marijuana and rolling papers. Officers found marijuana seeds in the front seat, open containers of beer and gin, and, in the glove compartment, a prescription pill bottle containing crack cocaine and bearing the name 'Kenneth Huskey,' who, as explained infra, was the boyfriend of the vehicle's owner. The back seat and trunk of the vehicle contained a methamphetamine laboratory. There were several garbage bags and a duffel bag containing a piece of burnt aluminum foil bearing methamphetamine residue, several thousand Sudafed tablets, starter fluid, ether fuel, drain cleaner, iodized salt, brass fittings, tubing, pipe wrenches, hoses, duct tape, vice grips, bolt cutters, and glass jars. The trunk contained three propane tanks (one containing anhydrous ammonia) and a gallon jar containing a liquid white residue later found to be methamphetamine. Phelps testified that upon examining the jar and the equipment, he determined that D 'was actually in the process of cooking while driving down the road.' The vehicle was owned by Hanks's friend, Pamela Kuhl. D and Hanks testified that they had borrowed the car merely to do laundry and were ignorant of the contents of the back seat and trunk. Hanks claimed that the car was always messy and that she had not noticed the equipment in the back seat. Kuhl, and Kuhl's boyfriend, testified that the car was empty when they loaned it to Hanks. D was convicted and appealed. D contends that he was denied his Due Process right to present a defense to the methamphetamine-related offenses by exclusion of evidence that Pamela Kuhl, the owner of the vehicle, had a motive to commit the offenses.