Dudley v. State

In Dudley v. State, 58 S.W.3d 296, 300 (Tex. App.--Beaumont 2001, no pet) the appellant was convicted of possession of Penalty Group 4 codeine and contested the legal sufficiency of the evidence regarding the quality of the codeine, claiming the State failed to prove he possessed codeine as specifically defined in Penalty Group 4. Id. at 297-98. The Dudley court agreed that this was the State's burden, but concluded the State proved the quality of the codeine with testimony from the chemist who had analyzed it. Id. at 299-300. In Dudley, even though the chemist did not specifically measure nor quantify the concentration of the codeine at issue, she did testify that the codeine was within the parameters of Penalty Group 4. Id. at 299. That testimony, supported by the chemist's lab report reflecting the same findings, was determined to be legally sufficient to support the conviction. Id. at 300-01. Thus, the Dudley court indicated a conviction may be based on chemical testing that does not specifically limit the contraband to only one penalty group. Id. at 302. (Gaultney, J. concurring).