Hughitt, Shanna Lynn ( 2019 )


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  •                IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
    OF TEXAS
    NOS. PD-0275-18 & PD-0276-18
    SHANNA LYNN HUGHITT, Appellant
    v.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS
    ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
    FROM THE ELEVENTH COURT OF APPEALS
    BROWN COUNTY
    N EWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which
    K EASLER, H ERVEY, R ICHARDSON, Y EARY, K EEL, W ALKER, and S LAUGHTER ,
    JJ., joined. K ELLER, P.J., concurred.
    Shanna Lynn Hughitt was charged with and convicted of engaging
    in organized criminal activity (“engaging”) based on the predicate offense
    of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The issue
    here is whether that offense—possession of a controlled substance with
    intent to deliver—is a valid predicate offense for the crime of engaging.
    Hughitt — 2
    The issue turns on whether the phrase “unlawful manufacture,
    delivery” as it modifies “controlled substance” in Section 71.02(a)(5) of
    the Texas Penal Code references the offense of “possession of a controlled
    substance with intent to deliver.” If it does, then possession with intent
    to deliver is a predicate offense.   If not, then it is not.   The court of
    appeals   concluded   that   the   words   “manufacture,   delivery”   were
    inconsistent with the offense of “possession with intent to deliver.”
    Consequently, the court of appeals held that possession with intent to
    deliver was not a predicate offense for the crime of engaging. We agree
    and affirm.
    I.   Background
    Shanna Lynn Hughitt was living with Kevin Sliger, a self-described
    drug addict and methamphetamine dealer. The Brown County Sheriff’s
    Office was conducting an investigation into methamphetamine distribution
    in Brownwood, Texas. In furtherance of that investigation, the Sheriff’s
    Office executed a search warrant at Hughitt and Sliger’s home.
    When executing the warrant, police found Sliger in the dining room
    with illegal drugs on his person. Hughitt was found in a bedroom with
    about one gram of meth and a glass pipe under her clothes. There was
    also an ounce of marijuana in the bedroom closet and a gallon-sized
    Hughitt — 3
    ziploc bag with meth residue under the mattress. Other items found in
    the house included cash, drug packaging, rolling papers, syringes, scales,
    a digital police scanner, and a large amount of MSN “cut.” 1
    The State charged Hughitt with the offense of engaging predicated
    on committing the offense of possession of a controlled substance with
    intent to deliver.2 Hughitt filed a motion to quash the indictment, arguing
    that possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver is not a
    predicate offense under the engaging statute. In other words, prior to
    trial, Hughitt asserted that the indictment failed to allege the offense of
    engaging.3 The trial court denied the motion. Hughitt proceeded to trial,
    and a jury found her guilty. The trial court sentenced Hughitt to 18 years’
    imprisonment.
    1
    At trial, Investigator Carlyle Noe Grover with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office
    explained that MSN is “like a supplem ent used for horses.” He further explained the
    m eaning of “cut”: “Cut is just like— it creates m ore volum e or m ore weight for the drug. . . .
    And what they will do is, say, if you buy an ounce of m etham phetam ine and you put
    another ounce of cut in there, now you have 2 ounces of m etham phetam ine. So, you can
    double your profits.”
    2
    Hughitt was also charged with possession with intent to deliver m etham phetam ine
    in an am ount between four and 200 gram s for which she was convicted and sentenced to 10
    years’ im prisonm ent. The court of appeals held that the evidence was insufficient to support
    that conviction and ordered it reform ed to reflect the lesser included offense of possession
    with intent to deliver between one and four gram s. That conviction is not at issue here.
    See note 44.
    3
    Hughitt does not argue that the indictm ent in this case failed to vest the district
    court with subject-m atter jurisdiction. See, e.g., Teal v. State, 230 S.W .3d 172, 182 (Tex.
    Crim . App. 2007) (holding that an indictm ent failing to allege every elem ent of the felony
    offense of hindering apprehension nevertheless vested the district court with subject m atter
    jurisdiction).
    Hughitt — 4
    Hughitt appealed, arguing, among other things, that the trial court
    erred in denying her motion to quash the indictment.                          The court of
    appeals agreed, holding that possession with intent to deliver is not a
    predicate offense under the engaging statute.4                     The court of appeals
    reasoned that the engaging statute only lists manufacture or delivery of
    a controlled substance as relevant possible predicate offenses—not the
    distinct offense of possession with intent to deliver.5 The court further
    explained that incorporating possession with intent to deliver into
    “unlawful manufacture, delivery, . . . of a controlled substance” in
    Section 71.02(a)(5) would be inconsistent with the Health and Safety
    Code’s definitions of “manufacture” and “delivery.” 6 Thus, the court of
    appeals in this case vacated Hughitt’s engaging conviction and dismissed
    the indictment because the indictment failed to allege an offense under
    4
    Hughitt v. State, 539 S.W .3d 531 (Tex. App.— Eastland 2018).
    5
    
    Id. at 537.
    6
    
    Id. The Health
    and Safety Code defines “m anufacture,” in relevant part, as: “[T]he
    production, preparation, propagation, com pounding, conversion, or processing of a
    controlled substance other than m arihuana, directly or indirectly by extraction from
    substances of natural origin, independently by m eans of chem ical synthesis, or by a
    com bination of extraction and chem ical synthesis, and includes the packaging or
    repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container. . . .” T EX . H EALTH &
    S AFETY C O D E § 481.002(25). The definition for “delivery” states: “[T]o transfer, actually or
    constructively, to another a controlled substance, counterfeit substance, or drug
    paraphernalia, regardless of whether there is an agency relationship. The term includes
    offering to sell a controlled substance, counterfeit substance, or drug paraphernalia.” T EX .
    H EALTH & S AFETY C O D E § 481.002(8).
    Hughitt — 5
    the engaging statute.
    The State              Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a petition for
    discretionary review with this Court. The SPA argues that the court of
    appeals erred in vacating the conviction and dismissing the indictment.
    The SPA asks us to hold that possession with intent to deliver is a
    predicate offense under the engaging statute. We decline to do so.
    II.   Standard of Review and Applicable Law
    “An ‘indictment’ is the written statement of a grand jury accusing a
    person therein named of some act or omission which, by law, is declared
    to be an offense.”7 In other words, an indictment must state facts that,
    if proved, show an actual violation of the law.8                  The sufficiency of an
    indictment is a question of law.9 When reviewing the denial of a motion
    to quash turns solely upon the issue of the sufficiency of the indictment,
    we review the trial court’s decision de novo.10
    Generally, an indictment that tracks the language of the applicable
    7
    T EX . C O D E C RIM . P RO C . art. 21.01.
    8
    Posey v. State, 545 S.W .2d 162, 163 (Tex. Crim . App. 1997).
    9
    State v. Moff, 154 S.W .3d 599, 601 (Tex. Crim . App. 2004).
    10
    
    Id. Hughitt —
    6
    statute will satisfy constitutional and statutory requirements.11 The first
    step in this analysis is to identify the elements of the offense.12 Here, the
    State argues that the predicate offense of possession of a controlled
    substance with intent to deliver can be an element of the offense of
    engaging. Hughitt argues that it cannot. To determine who is correct, we
    must analyze the engaging statute to determine whether the indictment
    alleges the necessary elements of the offense charged.
    Our precedents hold that, when interpreting a statute, we seek to
    effectuate the “collective” intent or purpose of the legislators who enacted
    the legislation.13 We read the statute as a whole and give effect to the
    plain meaning of the statute’s language, unless the statute is ambiguous
    or the plain meaning leads to absurd results.14                      To determine plain
    meaning, we look to the statute’s literal text and construe the words
    according to rules of grammar and usage.15 We presume that every word
    11
    State v. Mays, 967 S.W .2d 404, 406 (Tex. Crim . App. 1998).
    12
    State v. Jarreau, 512 S.W .3d 352, 354 (Tex. Crim . App. 2017).
    13
    Yazdchi v. State, 
    428 S.W.3d 831
    , 837 (Tex. Crim . App. 2014).
    14
    Liverm an v. State, 470 S.W .3d 831, 836 (Tex. Crim . App. 2015); see also Boykin
    v. State, 
    818 S.W.2d 782
    , 785 (Tex. Crim . App. 1991) (“[I]f the m eaning of the statutory
    text, when read using the established canons of construction relating to such text, should
    have been plain to the legislators who voted on it, we ordinarily give effect to that plain
    m eaning.”).
    15
    Yazdchi, 428 S.W .3d at 837.
    Hughitt — 7
    in a statute has been used for a purpose and that each word, clause, and
    sentence should be given effect if reasonably possible.16
    III. The Words “Manufacture, Delivery” in Section 71.02(a)(5)
    Do Not Reference the Distinct Offense of “Possession of a
    Controlled Substance With Intent to Deliver”
    Section 71.02 of the Penal Code makes it an offense to engage in
    organized criminal activity.17 A person commits that offense if the person
    “commits or conspires to commit one or more” predicate offenses (with
    the specific intent described in the statute).18 Part (a) of Section 71.02
    lists the predicate offenses for engaging.                     Subsection (a)(5)—the
    subsection at issue here—lists as a predicate:
    unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or distribution
    of a controlled substance or dangerous drug or unlawful
    possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug
    through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception.19
    Here, only the first clause of (a)(5) is at issue. Both parties assert
    that the statutory language—“unlawful manufacture, delivery, . . . of a
    controlled substance”—is unambiguous.                   And we agree. However, the
    16
    Liverm an, 470 S.W .3d at 836.
    17
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02.
    18
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02(a).
    19
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02(a)(5) (em phasis added). The SPA does not argue that
    Hughitt’s conduct falls within the second clause of (a)(5)— specifically, “unlawful possession
    of a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud, m isrepresentation, or
    deception.”
    Hughitt — 8
    parties disagree on the meaning of the statutory language and how it
    should be interpreted. There is no question that Section 71.02(a) does
    not explicitly include the crime of “possession with intent to deliver” as a
    predicate offense. The issue instead is whether our Legislature’s use of
    the words “manufacture, delivery” to modify “controlled substance”
    includes, by way of reference, the offense of “possession with intent to
    deliver.” We conclude that it does not.
    In the SPA’s view, the words “manufacture, delivery” in (a)(5)
    should be treated as a broader reference to offense headings rather than
    as a description of specific offenses.                Treated as such, the use of the
    words “manufacture, delivery” demonstrates the Legislature’s intent to
    include the offense of possession with intent to deliver as a predicate
    offense for the greater offense of engaging.                        The SPA asserts that,
    reading the original statute as a whole, “most of the predicate offenses
    are listed by statutory section heading.” This suggests, according to the
    SPA, that the phrase “manufacture, delivery . . . of a controlled
    substance” is a reference to offense headings in the Controlled
    Substances Act.20
    20
    State’s Br. 18; see, e.g., T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O D E § 481.112 (“Offense:
    Manufacture or Delivery of Substance in Penalty Group 1.”).
    Hughitt — 9
    The SPA points to the fact that, “[w]hen the [engaging statute] was
    created in 1977, there was a single, comprehensive offense in the
    Controlled Substances Act with the section heading ‘Unlawful Manufacture
    or Delivery of Controlled Substances.’”21 Possession with intent to deliver
    was an offense under that section heading.22                     In the SPA’s view, the
    Legislature intended to reference that section heading in the Controlled
    Substances Act (which, following some amendments, was codified in the
    Health and Safety Code). Therefore, the SPA concludes, “manufacture,
    delivery” includes the offense of possession of a controlled substance with
    intent to deliver, making it a predicate offense under the engaging
    statute.
    We have addressed the language of (a)(5) in another context. In
    Nichols v. State, the appellant argued that (a)(5) was vague because
    “deliver” and “controlled substance” are not defined in the Penal Code.23
    21
    State’s Br. 18. The Controlled Substances Act has been am ended a few tim es
    since its original enactm ent. As the SPA points out, the Act originally had one
    com prehensive Manufacture or Delivery heading for all penalty groups. See Act of 1973,
    63rd Leg., R.S., ch. 429, § 4.03, 1973 Tex. Gen. Laws 1132, 1153-54. One of the
    am endm ents split that statute into m ultiple statutory sections by penalty group. See Act of
    1981, 67th Leg., R.S., ch. 268, § 3, secs. 4.03, 4.031, 4.32, 1981 Tex. Gen. Laws 696,
    698–99. The Controlled Substances Act was later codified into the Health and Safety Code.
    See T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O D E §§ 481.112, .1121, .113, .114.
    22
    See Act of 1973, 63rd Leg., R.S., ch. 429, § 4.03, 1973 Tex. Gen. Laws 1132,
    1153-54.
    23
    Nichols v. State, 653 S.W .2d 768, 771 (Tex. Crim . App. 1981) (panel op.).
    Hughitt — 10
    We held that the statute was not vague, reasoning:
    We think it obvious that the references of Sec. 71.02(a)(5) to
    “unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or distribution
    of a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful
    possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug
    through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception” are
    necessarily references to those offenses as defined in the
    Controlled Substances Act and the Dangerous Drugs Act.24
    In a possession with intent to deliver case, Lopez v. State, we
    recognized the purpose of including possession with intent to deliver
    under “manufacture or delivery” offenses.25 We stated that, through that
    inclusion, the Legislature has
    ensured that society’s hands are not tied in prosecuting what
    is, for all intents and purposes, a delivery, merely because the
    drugs did not actually make it all the way into the buyer’s
    hands. Under Section 481.112, [which proscribes manufacture
    or delivery of a substance in penalty group 1,] the fact that a
    transfer is thwarted will not negate conviction for delivery of
    that drug.26
    Nichols, at least, would seem to support the SPA’s contention that (a)(5)
    merely references offense headings and does not set out specific
    24
    
    Id. 25 Lopez
    v. State, 
    108 S.W.3d 293
    , 300 (Tex. Crim . App. 2003).
    26
    Id.; see also 
    id. at 303
    (Keller, P.J., concurring) (“By also including a clause
    proscribing possession with intent to m anufacture or deliver, the Legislature m ade evident
    its intent that equal punishm ent should be im posed against those who are stopped by law
    enforcem ent from reaching their objective, whether it is the m anufacture or the delivery of
    the illegal drug.”).
    Hughitt — 11
    offenses. That interpretation, however, fails to give effect to the plain
    meaning of “manufacture” and “delivery.”
    When determining the meaning of a statutory term, the most
    obvious place to start is the statutory definition. Here, the Penal Code
    does not define “manufacture” or “delivery.” But the Health and Safety
    Code, which outlines the offenses dealing with controlled substances,
    does.
    The Health and Safety Code defines “manufacture,” in relevant part,
    as:     “[T]he         production,         preparation,       propagation,   compounding,
    conversion, or processing of a controlled substance[,] . . . directly or
    indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, independently
    by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and
    chemical synthesis, and includes the packaging or repackaging of the
    substance or labeling or relabeling of its container. . . .” 27 In short, that
    definition requires the act of extraction or chemical synthesis, packaging
    or repackaging, or labeling or relabeling. It does not include possession
    with intent to deliver, by itself, without one of those specified acts.
    And, as a plurality of this Court has previously recognized in the
    27
    T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O DE § 481.002(25).
    Hughitt — 12
    double-jeopardy context, manufacturing and possessing with intent to
    deliver “do not have a common ‘focus.’ The focus of the manufacturing
    offense is on the production of a controlled substance while the focus of
    the possession-with-intent-to-deliver offense is on delivering what has
    been manufactured.”28 Thus, we conclude that our Legislature’s use of
    the word “manufacture” was not intended as a reference to the distinct
    offense of “possession with intent to deliver.” We now turn to “delivery.”
    The Health and Safety Code defines “deliver,” in relevant part, as:
    “[T]o transfer, actually or constructively, to another a controlled
    substance . . . .”29            That definition requires more than the act of
    possessing a controlled substance even if the act is accompanied by an
    intent to later deliver that substance; it requires an act of transfer—either
    actual or constructive—to constitute “delivery.” 30
    The Health and Safety Code’s definition is consistent with standard
    28
    Guerrero v. State, 305 S.W .3d 546, 556 (Tex. Crim . App. 2009) (plurality op.).
    29
    T EX . H EALTH & S AFETY C O DE § 481.002(8). W hile the wording of the definition was
    slightly different when the EOCA was originally enacted, the substance of the relevant part
    rem ains the sam e. See Act of 1973, 63rd Leg., R.S., ch. 429, § 1, sec. 1.02(8), 1973 Tex.
    Gen. Laws 1132, 1133 (“‘Deliver’ or ‘delivery’ m eans the actual or constructive transfer from
    one person to another of a controlled substance, whether or not there is an agency
    relationship. . . .”).
    30
    Actual Delivery, B LACK ’S L AW D ICTIO NARY (11th ed. 2019) (“The act of giving real and
    im m ediate possession to the buyer or the buyer’s agent.”); Constructive Delivery, B LACK ’S
    L AW D ICTIO NARY (11th ed. 2019) (“An act that am ounts to a transfer of title by operation of
    law when actual transfer is im practical or im possible. . . .”).
    Hughitt — 13
    dictionary definitions of “delivery.”31 For example, Webster’s Third New
    International Dictionary defines “deliver” as: “[T]he act of putting
    property into the legal possession of another . . . whether involving the
    actual transfer of the physical control of the object from one to the other
    or being constructively effected in various other ways . . . .” 32                           Other
    dictionaries provide similar definitions.33 Therefore, reading “delivery” to
    reference the offense of “possession with intent to deliver” would be
    inconsistent with both the Health and Safety Code’s definition of “deliver”
    and standard dictionary definitions of “delivery.”
    Further, we must read the words “manufacture, delivery” in the
    context of the whole statute.34 Doing so leads to two important indicators
    31
    See Ram os v. State, 303 S.W .3d 302, 306 (Tex. Crim . App. 2009) (“W hen
    attem pting to discern that fair, objective m eaning, we m ay consult standard dictionaries.”).
    32
    Delivery, W EBSTER ’S T H IRD N EW I NTERNATIO NAL D ICTIO NARY (3d ed. 2002).
    33
    Delivery, A M ERICAN H ERITAG E D ICTIO NARY (5th ed. 2016) (“2a. The act of transferring
    to another. b. Law A form al act of transferring ownership of property to another: delivery of
    a deed. . . .”) (em phasis rem oved); Delivery, B LACK ’S L AW D ICTIO NARY (11th ed. 2019) (“The
    form al act of voluntarily transferring som ething. . . .”); Delivery, N EW O XFO RD A M ERICAN
    D ICTIO NARY (3d ed. 2010) (“Law [T]he form al or sym bolic handing over of property, esp. a
    sealed deed, to a grantee or third party. . . .”); Delivery, W EBSTER ’S N EW W O RLD C O LLEG E
    D ICTIO NARY (5th ed. 2014) (“Law a) the irrevocable transfer of a deed or other instrum ent of
    conveyance b) the transfer of goods or interest in goods from one person to another.”);
    Delivery, D ICTIO NARY O F L EG AL T ERM S (4th ed. 2008) (“[A] voluntary transfer of title or
    possession from one party to another; a legally recognized handing over to another one’s
    possessory rights. Where actual delivery is cum bersom e or im possible, the courts m ay find
    constructive delivery sufficient if the intention is clearly to transfer title. . . .”) (em phasis
    rem oved).
    34
    State ex rel. W ice v. Fifth Jud. Dist. Ct. App., ___ S.W .3d ___, 2018 W L 6072183,
    at *6 (Tex. Crim . App. Nov. 21, 2018); A NTO NIN S CALIA & B RYAN A. G ARNER , R EAD ING L AW 167
    Hughitt — 14
    of legislative intent. First, if the Legislature wanted to reference specific
    statutory sections to identify viable predicate offenses, it could have done
    so. In fact, the Legislature did just that in other statutory subsections.
    For example, Section 71.02(a)(11) designates “any offense under Section
    37.11(a)” as a viable predicate for the offense of engaging.35 Similarly,
    Section 71.02(a)(15) designates “any offense under Section 42.10” as a
    viable predicate offense.36               And, when our Legislature wanted to
    designate a broader array of offenses within a statutory scheme, it
    identified possible predicate offenses as contained within statutory
    chapters.37
    Indeed, our Legislature demonstrated its intent to reference offense
    headings within the Health and Safety Code in another section of the
    Organized Crime Chapter in the Penal Code. Section 71.023 creates the
    umbrella offense of directing activities of criminal street gangs.38                           As
    (2012) (“Context is a prim ary determ inant of m eaning.”).
    35
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02 (a)(11). Section 37.11(a) m akes it an offense to
    im personate a public servant. See T EX . P ENAL C O D E § 37.11(a).
    36
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02 (a)(15). Section 42.10 m akes specific activities regarding
    dog fighting an offense. See T EX . P ENAL C O D E § 42.10.
    37
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02(a)(10) (“any offense under Chapter 34, 35, or 35A”).
    Chapter 34 covers m oney laundering offenses, Chapter 35 covers insurance fraud, and
    Chapter 35A covers health care fraud. See T EX . P ENAL C O D E chs. 34, 35, 35A.
    38
    Specifically, Texas Penal Code § 71.023 states: “A person com m its an offense if
    the person, as part of the identifiable leadership of a crim inal street gang, knowingly
    Hughitt — 15
    Hughitt points out, Section 71.023—unlike Section 71.02(a)—explicitly
    references Health and Safety Code provisions. Hughitt asserts that “[i]f
    the legislature intended for the [engaging] statute to be read in
    conjunction with the Health and Safety Code, it could have referenced the
    Health and Safety Code in Section 71.02, as it did in Section 71.023.” 39
    The State argues that this supports its argument because it is improbable
    that the Legislature would exempt possession with intent to deliver as a
    predicate offense for gang members but include it for gang leaders.
    We agree with Hughitt. The Legislature knows how to specifically
    reference chapters, headings, and sections in the Penal Code, as well as
    other codes, so that all offenses under those chapters, headings, and
    sections are included within that reference.40 Yet it chose not to explicitly
    reference the Health and Safety Code in Section 71.02(a), suggesting
    that the Legislature did not intend the words “manufacture, delivery” as
    references to offense headings within the Health and Safety Code.
    finances, directs, or supervises the com m ission of, or a conspiracy to com m it, one or m ore
    of the following offenses by m em bers of a crim inal street gang: . . . (3) an offense that is
    punishable under Section 481.112(e), 481.112(f), 481.1121(b)(4), 481.115(f), or
    481.120(b)(6), Health and Safety Code.” T EX . P ENAL C O D E § 71.023(a)(3).
    39
    Hughitt’s Br. 8.
    40
    Cf. Cornet v. State, 359 S.W .3d 217, 222 (Tex. Crim . App. 2012) (stating that
    “when the Legislature desires to convey a certain level of specificity within a statutory
    provision, it knows how to do it”).
    Hughitt — 16
    Second, Section 71.02(a)(5) also provides for possession of a
    controlled substance as a predicate offense when that offense is
    committed under certain circumstances. The second clause of (a)(5) lists
    as a predicate: “unlawful possession of a controlled substance or
    dangerous          drug      through       forgery,       fraud,    misrepresentation,            or
    deception.” 41         So unlawful possession of a controlled substance plus
    forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception is a predicate offense.
    Our Legislature’s limitation of the use of possession of a controlled
    substance as a predicate felony to those circumstances—forgery, fraud,
    misrepresentation, or deception—implies that the Legislature intended to
    exclude possession with an intent to deliver as a possible predicate
    offense.42
    The statutory text is “the best indicator of legislative intent[.]” 43
    Here, our Legislature’s use of the words “manufacture, delivery” to
    41
    T EX . P ENAL C O DE § 71.02(a)(5) (em phasis added).
    42
    A general rule of statutory interpretation is that the expression of one thing im plies
    the exclusion of other, unexpressed things. Cham bers v. State, ___ S.W .3d ___, 2019 W L
    2612770, at *4 (Tex. Crim . App. June 26, 2019) (citing State v. Hill, 499 S.W .3d 853, 866
    n.29 (Tex. Crim . App. 2016); S CALIA & G ARNER , R EAD ING L AW 107).
    43
    Shipp v. State, 331 S.W .3d 433, 437 (Tex. Crim . App. 2011) (plurality op.); City of
    Round Rock v. Rodriguez, 399 S.W .3d 130, 133 (Tex. 2013) (“W e exam ine the statute’s
    text, as it provides the best indication of legislative intent.”); S CALIA & G ARNER , R EAD ING L AW
    56 (“The words of a governing text are of param ount concern, and what they convey, in
    their context, is what the text m eans.”).
    Hughitt — 17
    modify “controlled substance” were not intended as a reference to the
    distinct offense of “possession of a controlled substance with intent to
    deliver.” Holding otherwise would require us to write language from the
    Health and Safety Code into the engaging statute in the Penal Code.
    IV.    Conclusion
    Possession with intent to deliver is not a valid predicate under
    Section 71.02(a) of the Penal Code because the plain meaning of
    “manufacture, delivery” requires more than “possession with intent to
    deliver.” Therefore, we agree with the court of appeals that the
    indictment in this case failed to allege an offense under the engaging
    statute.     We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals vacating
    Hughitt’s conviction for engaging and dismissing the indictment. We also
    dismiss PD-0276-18, as improvidently granted because the cause number
    for that conviction was erroneously included in                        the    petition for
    discretionary review. 44
    44
    See Hughitt, 539 S.W .3d at 544–45 (reversing conviction in Cause No.
    11-15-00278-CR for possession with intent to deliver m etham phetam ine in an am ount
    between four and 200 gram s in a drug-free zone; rem anding the cause to the trial court to
    reform the judgm ent to reflect a conviction for the offense of possession with intent to
    deliver m etham phetam ine in the am ount of one gram or m ore but less than four gram s in a
    drug-free zone and to conduct a new trial as to punishm ent only).
    Hughitt — 18
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Publish
    

Document Info

Docket Number: PD-0275-18

Filed Date: 9/25/2019

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 9/26/2019