Cockerham v. State

752 So. 2d 431, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 685, 1999 WL 1061049
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 23, 1999
DocketNo. 1998-KA-01475-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 752 So. 2d 431 (Cockerham v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cockerham v. State, 752 So. 2d 431, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 685, 1999 WL 1061049 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

THOMAS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Lance Cockerham appeals his conviction of the sale of marijuana in the Monroe County Circuit Court to this Court, raising the following issues as error

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, A DIRECTED VERDICT.

III. WHETHER OR NOT THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING ANN HAYDOCK FROM THE MISSISSIPPI CRIME LABORATORY TO TESTIFY EVEN THOUGH HER NAME WAS NOT ON THE STATE’S WITNESS LIST.

FACTS

¶ 2. In January 1997 the Monroe County, Mississippi Sheriffs Department and the North Mississippi Narcotics Unit began an undercover operation. In April 1997 they were conducting an investigation in the Bartahatchie community which led to the investigation and arrest of the appellant, Lance Cockerham. On April 16, 1997, Investigator Sam Warren, undercover agent Sandy Crum, Officer Ray Blay-lock, an investigator with the Monroe County, Mississippi Sheriffs Department and the North Mississippi Narcotics Unit, and Ricky Mills, a confidential informant, met for a “pre buy” meeting in order to prepare for an undercover drug purchase. At such time Ray Blaylock issued Sandy Crum $40 and a body transmitter. Crum [433]*433and Mills left the meeting to go to Rusty Reeve’s home to make the buy and Blay-lock and Warren followed.

¶ 3. The body transmitter recorded the buy from Coekerham. Mills testified that the person who sold Crum the marijuana was Coekerham and that he knew Cocker-ham from the community. Crum testified that Coekerham sold her the drugs. Blay-lock also testified that although the cassette recording of the transaction was difficult to decipher, he could hear the buy much clearer as it occurred and recognized the conversation to be a buy.

¶ 4. After the transaction took place, the undercover agent, the confidential informant and the surveillance team met again for a “post buy” meeting. Officer Blaylock testified that Crum gave him approximately $40 of marijuana in a sandwich bag which he immediately placed in an evidence bag marked with the case number. Later that evening Officer Blaylock sealed the bag and filled out a submission form required in order to send it to the crime lab. The submission form had the case number matching the defendant’s case number; however, the submission form described the substance as a “white rock-like substance.” Officer Blaylock testified that this was a human error made because it was late when he filled out the paperwork and he had six cocaine buys that day which he had to do paperwork on also. He also put the wrong date of the drug buy with Lance Coekerham on his report to the North Mississippi Narcotics Unit. He testified that he had made typographical errors when filling out his paperwork.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, A DIRECTED VERDICT.

¶ 5. Cockerham’s motion for a new trial challenges the weight of the evidence. In determining whether a verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and a new trial should be granted, this court must view all evidence in the light most consistent with the jury verdict. Veal v. State, 585 So.2d 693, 695 (Miss.1991). Furthermore, the Supreme Court has held that a new trial may be granted only when “the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that, to allow it to stand, would be to sanction an unconscionable injustice.” May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984).

¶ 6. Motions for directed verdict and motions for JNOV challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court views the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the conviction. McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993). We may not reverse unless the State’s proof as to one or more of the elements of the offense charged is so deficient that a reasonable and fair-minded juror could only find the accused not guilty. Id. We review the ruling on the motion for JNOV, the last occasion the challenge was made in the court below.

¶ 7. In the case at bar, the undercover agent and the confidential informant testified that the person who sold the controlled substances was Coekerham, and Blaylock, the investigating officer, heard the sale with the help of the body transmitter. Additionally, the tape corroborated that a sale took place and who was involved. Based on this and all other evidence presented at trial, the jury’s verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and there was sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction. Accordingly, we find that Cockerham’s assignment of error is without merit.

II.

THE STATE FAILED TO PROVE THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY OF THE MARIJUANA.

[434]*434¶ 8. Cockerham complains that the marijuana should not have been admitted into evidence against him because the State failed to establish the chain of custody.

¶ 9. A reliable chain of custody of the purported controlled substance is required to ensure that the substance purchased from the accused and the matter tested by the lab are the same item. This is required to prevent tampering and ensure that the State proves every element of its case, including that the substance was connected to the defendant and was actually a controlled substance. Proof regarding the chain of custody is not necessarily defective just because a technical problem with one of the links exists.

¶ 10. The trial court judge is given significant discretion in admitting evidence over chain of custody objections. Nalls v. State, 651 So.2d 1074, 1077 (Miss.1995). The Mississippi Supreme Court has established the test for chain of custody issues to be whether or not there is any indication or reasonable inference of probable tampering with the evidence or substitution of the evidence. Wells v. State, 604 So.2d 271, 277 (Miss.1992). Further, we will not reverse the trial court’s decision unless the trial judge has so abused his discretion as to be prejudicial to the defendant. Thomas v. State, 711 So.2d 867, 871 (Miss.1998); Morris v. State, 436 So.2d 1381, 1388 (Miss.1983). Additionally, actions of law enforcement officers regarding preservation of evidence are given a strong presumption of validity. Nixon v. State, 336 So.2d 742, 744 (Miss.1976).

¶ 11. Agent Sandy Crum testified that she gave the bag she received from the defendant to Officer Blaylock at the post buy meeting. Officer Blaylock testified that he put the bag he. received from Crum into an evidence bag and brought it to and picked it up from the crime lab.

¶ 12. In Shelton, a typographical error regarding when rape evidence was collected was made, and the Court held that this was a question of credibility for the jury to decide and not a matter of error for appeal. Shelton v. State, 728 So.2d 105, 113 (Miss.Ct.App.1998). Also, the Court in Robinson affirmed the trial court in allowing the evidence to be admitted where the officer testified that the case number for the transaction was the one on the evidence bag containing the controlled substance tested by the crime lab. Robinson v. State, 733 So.2d 333, 335 (Miss.Ct.App.1998). The Court held the evidence of proper chain of custody was sufficient and no indication of tampering or substitution of evidence existed. Id.

¶ 13.

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Bluebook (online)
752 So. 2d 431, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 685, 1999 WL 1061049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cockerham-v-state-missctapp-1999.