Brumit v. State (2001)

In Brumit v. State, 42 S.W.3d 201 (Tex.App. - Fort Worth 2001, pet'n ref'd), police officers seized coffee filters containing .34 grams of methamphetamine, containers with trace amounts of methamphetamine, and empty containers that had held ingredients for manufacturing methamphetamine. Brumit v. State, supra at 203. The State sought to prove that the defendant manufactured 4 or more grams of methamphetamine. The State proved that .34 grams of methamphetamine had been found and attempted to prove the remaining amount of methamphetamine based on the empty containers. The State presented evidence that the empty containers would have contained 528 pseudoephedrine tablets and that 4 or more grams of methamphetamine could have been made from that number of tablets. Brumit v. State, supra at 203-04. The court found that the empty-container evidence did not show that the defendant actually had been in possession of a sufficient amount of ingredients to produce at least 4 grams of methamphetamine. Therefore, the court held that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the defendant's conviction for manufacturing 4 or more grams of methamphetamine. Brumit v. State, supra at 204.