Meth Conviction Thrown Out Because Cops Were Too Efficient
A
Maine man's meth-trafficking conviction was overturned Tuesday because
the cops were too efficient — they arrested him before he could actually
finish cooking any meth to distribute.
The
state Supreme Judicial Court threw out Aaron S. Lowden's conviction and
seven-year sentence for aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs
because, you can't traffic in a scheduled drug "without a scheduled drug
ultimately being produced," Justice Donald G. Alexander wrote in a 13-page opinion (PDF).
York County Sheriff's Office
Lowden, then 43, was
arrested in January 2012 in the barricaded basement of a house where he
was renting a room in Lebanon, about 35 miles southwest of Portland.
On
the advice of a neighbor, the home's owner called the cops after she
noticed a "disgustingly sweet" odor coming from the basement.
A
deputy found Lowden in the basement standing in front of a camping
stove with two glass containers — one of which was boiling something
that was throwing off fumes. So the deputy shut off the stove and
evacuated the house.
In a search
of Lowden's rented room, investigators found some of the "key components
sufficient for the manufacture of methamphetamine," according to court
documents, as well as a copy of the book "Advanced Techniques of
Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture" — better known as
"Uncle Fester's Synthetic Manual" — a cookbook for illegal drugs.
What authorities didn't find was any actual meth — "a necessary element of unlawful trafficking" in meth, Alexander wrote.
While Lowden was also
charged with attempted trafficking, prosecutors didn't ask the jury for a
verdict on that lesser charge since it had already convicted him of the
main trafficking count. So the only recourse, the high court said, is
an outright acquittal.
The state
attorney general's office didn't answer a call for comment on the ruling
or whether it would seek to retry Lowden on the lesser charge.
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