P. v. Potter CA2/3 filed 2/7/13 A

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State: California

Court: California Eastern District Court

Docket No: B236879

Case Date: 02/07/2013

Plaintiff: P.

Defendant: Potter CA2/3 filed 2/7/13 Case Details

Preview:Filed 2/7/13 P. v. Potter CA2/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. PAMELA ANN POTTER, Defendant and Appellant.

B236879 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VA111378)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Philip H. Hickok, Judge. Affirmed.

Maureen L. Fox, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews and Peggy Z. Huang, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

INTRODUCTION A jury found defendant and appellant Pamela Ann Potter guilty of transporting methamphetamine, a controlled substance, and of possessing methamphetamine for sale. Her sole contention on appeal is that instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 362, consciousness of guilt, violated her due process rights. Being bound by California Supreme Court authority rejecting that contention, we affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Prosecution case.

On June 24, 2009, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Draper conducted a traffic stop of Potter, who had made an unsafe lane change. As the deputy sheriff approached the car, Potter got out of it and tried to throw a baggy into some bushes. Believing that the baggy contained narcotics, Draper detained her and put the baggy into his pocket.1 In Potter's car, Draper also found two larger plastic baggies containing an off-white crystalline substance and 19 smaller plastic baggies. Potter told the deputy sheriff that the baggies contained dog medicine. Having lost the original packaging for the medicine, she kept the medicine in the plastic bags. She kept jewelry in the smaller bags, and the deputy sheriff did find loose jewelry in the car. The last time Potter used methamphetamine was seven months before. A senior criminalist, who tested the substance in the baggy Potter tried to discard, testified that it contained 0.25 grams of methamphetamine. The contents of the other two baggies collectively contained 10.89 grams of methamphetamine. In addition to methamphetamine, the substance contained dimethylsulfone, a nontoxic cutting agent sometimes found with methamphetamine to produce a "higher yield of controlled substance product."

Deputy Sheriff Draper did not place the baggy into an evidence folder until he arrived at the police station, an hour and a half after he stopped Potter. 2

1

The People's expert witness, Deputy Sheriff James Copplin, testified, under a hypothetical modeled on the facts of the case, that in his opinion the methamphetamine was possessed for sale. B. Defense case.

Laboratory scientist, Michael Dean Henson, also tested the substance found in the baggie retrieved from Potter. It tested negative for methamphetamine on two types of tests. C. Procedural background.

On July 27, 2010, a jury found Potter guilty of count 1, transporting a controlled substance, methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code,

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