Staff Writer
Maine’s highest court has upheld the conviction of a local man charged with trafficking in methamphetamine.
The 4-2 decision said that although Lucien Woo of Caribou was not found in possession of the actual illegal substance, the evidence supported the state’s contention that Woo was “producing, preparing, compounding or processing” the drug. According to the opinion, the state proved that all the ingredients needed to make the drug, with the exception of lye, was found either at Woo’s residence or his business. The majority opinion also cited evidence presented by a friend of Woo’s and Woo’s wife.
Woo was convicted in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou of the Class B charge of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs in May of 2006. At the same time, he pleaded guilty to a second charge of unlawful trafficking and to violating a bail condition. He was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison and three years of probation.
In his appeal, he claimed that the evidence was not sufficient to support the jury’s verdict.
In a dissenting opinion, two judges countered that if someone is found with the ingredients to bake a cake and has the recipe to bake a cake, then he must be “guilty of baking a cake, although no one saw him bake the cake and no trace of a cake has ever been found.”
The dissenting opinion said that most the ingredients that investigators claim Woo used to make meth can be found in any rural Maine home in the winter.
“At the end of long Maine winter, an open bag or rock salt, empty bottles of dry gas, matches, razor blades, cold medicine, and Coleman fuel and even a video of a children’s cartoon, are items that one would certainly find in thousands of Maine homes,” the dissenting opinion said.
Law enforcement officials began their investigation into Woo’s illegal activities after learning of several iodine shipments to Woo and speaking with an associate of Woo’s who had ordered the iodine for Woo from a farm store catalog. Evidence also was gathered from Woo’s father-in-law, who turned over a garbage bag of ingredients used to make the drug. The decision said that Woo’s wife smelled a strong odor in the house once shortly before the meth ingredients were found on the property.
A member of the Caribou Police Department witnessed Woo at Wal-Mart in Presque Isle buying items that the police officer believed were “precursors for the manufacture of methamphetamine.”
During the trial, two drug enforcement agents testified that the large amount of ingredients indicated that the drug was being manufactured.
The court said that the state presented no direct evidence that Woo made methamphetamine and that an essential ingredient, lye, was missing. The opinion also acknowledged that no one saw Woo make or possess the drug. However, all the evidence considered in total was enough to convict the defendant, the court ruled.
