## Facts

- A supermarket employee notified the county sheriff’s department that two customers purchased a large quantity of matches and left in a described pickup truck.
- The sheriff’s department had asked area merchants to report unusually large match purchases because red phosphorus from matchbook striker plates can be used to make methamphetamine.
- The sheriff’s department issued a lookout advisory for the described truck.
- A local officer spotted a truck matching the lookout description at a nearby gas station.
- After the truck left the gas station, the officer stopped it because it did not have a working tag light as required by Georgia law.
- Nicholas Kohlmeier was driving, with a male and a female passenger; the passengers matched the supermarket employee’s description.
- A K-9 unit responded during the stop.
- Officers discovered items in or associated with the vehicle including: a box of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, two bottles of fuel treatment containing methanol, a camping stove, and a can of kerosene.
- No matchbooks were found inside the vehicle, but another officer later recovered a bag containing a large number of matchbooks on the road between the gas station and the traffic stop location.
- A former narcotics agent testified that pseudoephedrine and methanol, along with red phosphorus from matchbooks, are key components used to manufacture methamphetamine.
- Kohlmeier and both passengers were arrested.
- While seated in a patrol car and after being advised of his Miranda rights, a recording device captured Kohlmeier making a remark to the male passenger that the supermarket had likely called law enforcement about the matchbooks.
- The female passenger later entered a negotiated guilty plea and then told authorities that the group had made methamphetamine several times before, and that on the day of arrest Kohlmeier and the male passenger planned to make more; she also stated that Kohlmeier obtained the fuel treatment for that purpose.
- Kohlmeier was convicted of criminal attempt to manufacture methamphetamine based on possessing methanol, pseudoephedrine, a stove, and a large quantity of matchbooks containing red phosphorus.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kohlmeier committed criminal attempt to manufacture methamphetamine, including whether the proof showed intent and a “substantial step” rather than mere preparation.
2. Whether the traffic stop and ensuing arrest/search were lawful, such that the physical evidence and related proof were properly admitted.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed.
- The court held that the evidence, viewed in favor of the verdict, authorized the jury to find that Kohlmeier intended to manufacture methamphetamine and committed acts constituting a substantial step toward that crime.
- The court rejected Kohlmeier’s challenges to the stop/arrest and the admission of the evidence, finding no error.

## Legal Principles

- A person commits criminal attempt when, with intent to commit a specific crime, the person performs any act that constitutes a substantial step toward commission of that crime.
- A “substantial step” is conduct done in pursuit of the intent that more or less directly tends toward commission of the crime; it must be more than mere preparation and is evaluated based on the circumstances.
- The phrase “inexplicable as a lawful act” does not require the act itself to be illegal; it means that, in context and in light of prior acts, the conduct indicates movement toward the crime.
- On sufficiency review, the appellate court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and does not weigh credibility; it asks only whether the evidence authorized a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
- An officer may conduct a traffic stop when the officer has an objective basis to believe a traffic or equipment violation occurred (such as an inoperable tag light), and evidence discovered during a lawful stop may support probable cause for arrest and a vehicle search.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Kohlmeier’s conviction because the combination of methamphetamine precursors and related equipment, the recovered bag of matchbooks, Kohlmeier’s recorded statement about the matchbooks, and the female passenger’s post-plea account of prior manufacturing and plans to manufacture that day allowed the jury to find intent and a substantial step toward manufacturing methamphetamine; the court also found no reversible error in admitting the evidence arising from the traffic stop for a tag-light violation and the ensuing investigation, arrest, and search.


Kohlmeier v. State, 289 Ga.App. 709, 658 S.E.2d 261 (2008)