Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY) Copyright: 2003 Messenger-Inquirer Contact: http://www.messenger-inquirer.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285 Author: Justin Willis Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) RULING RAISES STANDARD FOR METH PROSECUTIONS Prosecutors and police working to fight the proliferation of methamphetamine fear that a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling on Thursday could greatly complicate their efforts to arrest and punish makers of the drug. The 4-3 ruling said that to be charged with manufacturing meth, someone must have all the necessary equipment or ingredients. A defendant possessing some but not all the equipment or chemicals could be prosecuted for criminal attempt, the court said. Assistant Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney Ken Nall had not yet read the court's ruling Thursday, but he said the ramifications would likely be felt throughout western Kentucky. "We're going to have to examine all of our cases that are pending right now," Nall said. "It's really taken away a big stick so to speak, a punishment hammer. You've basically cut the fear in half." A manufacturing meth charge is a Class B felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison. A charge of attempted manufacturing meth is a Class C felony, which carries a punishment of five to 10 years in prison. In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Joseph Lambert said the majority interpretation was "excessively technical." The court ordered a new trial for Ronald Kotila, who was convicted in Pulaski County on a meth manufacturing charge in 1999. Because he also had a gun when arrested, his sentence was enhanced to 25 years. Prosecutors still have other tools to fight meth, including possession of meth precursors, which prohibits possession of antihistamine tablets with intent to make meth. Defendants can also be prosecuted for possessing anhydrous ammonia with intent to make meth. Kotila had possession of many items needed for a lab, all of which are legal by themselves and commonly available: antihistamine tablets, lithium batteries, cans of starting fluid, glass jars, rock salt, a cooking pot and a wooden stirring spoon, among other things. However, Kotila did not have two essential ingredients -- anhydrous ammonia and muriatic acid. And the pertinent Kentucky statute specifies that a suspect must possess "the chemicals or equipment for the manufacture of methamphetamine." "The presence of the article 'the' is significant because, grammatically speaking, possession of some but not all of the chemicals or equipment does not satisfy the statutory language," the court said in an unsigned opinion. Lambert predicted that prosecuting meth manufacturing cases will become nigh unto impossible. A suspect "with the least amount of ingenuity will be able to prevent his conviction by merely omitting from his cache of tools and ingredients one or two of the more common, and bringing in the missing components only at the last moment," Lambert wrote. "Thus to achieve a conviction . . . it will be necessary to catch the offender 'red-handed.' " If the statute requires a person to possess all the chemicals and equipment, then Nall would like to see what list was being used. Most methods of making meth in western Kentucky require the "Nazi" method, which involves anhydrous ammonia, but many other methods exist, Nall said. Muriatic acid is not required to make meth and may be substituted by other materials. Daviess County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Jim Acquisto said there are at least 50 ways to make meth, and variations exist on each step. "There's not just an A-B-C recipe to make this stuff," Acquisto said. Investigators have previously debated how many ingredients a person should possess before being charged with manufacturing meth, Acquisto said. People are not charged unless detectives feel confident to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone had intent to make meth. Ever since the charge was created, the sheriff's department has never taken a defendant to trial in state court, Acquisto said. People facing that charge in Daviess County always have pleaded guilty except in a handful of federal trials, in which they were found guilty, he said. "We'll take what tools they give us and do the best we can with them," he said. Justices William Graves, William Cooper, Martin Johnstone and Janet Stumbo made up the majority. Justice James Keller dissented from part of the ruling. Justice Donald Wintersheimer joined in Lambert's opinion. The Associated Press contributed to this article. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh