Craft v. State

764 So. 2d 1253, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 342, 2000 WL 1054338
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 1, 2000
DocketNo. 1998-KA-01093-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 764 So. 2d 1253 (Craft 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
Craft v. State, 764 So. 2d 1253, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 342, 2000 WL 1054338 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

IRVING,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Carlos Craft was convicted in the Circuit Court of Walthall County of armed robbery. He appeals, assigning as error the following issues which are quoted verbatim from his brief:

I. The trial court erred in allowing State’s Exhibit 16 to be admitted into evidence without proper identification or without laying a proper foundation.
II. The trial court erred in allowing Trentice Lee to be considered a hostile witness.
III. The trial court erred as a matter of law by denying Carlos Craft’s motion to suppress admission of the money that was seized pursuant to an illegal search and seizure.
IV. The verdict of the jury was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
[1255]*1255V. The trial court erred in not declaring a mistrial after a prayer that was heard by the jury.

Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On the early morning of September 23, 1997, two masked robbers, armed with pistols, entered David Cooley’s mobile home and demanded money. The robbers took approximately $6,000 or $7,000 in cash and a cellular phone. Cooley and Janice Holmes were present in the mobile home when the robbers entered the home. During the robbery, Cooley recognized the voice of one of the robbers as belonging to Craft. Even though the lighting in the trailer was very poor, Cooley was also able to identify Craft as one of the robbers. When the police arrived at the scene, Cooley told the police that one of the culprits was Craft. Cooley described Craft as being of slim build, having a gold tooth, dressed in black with a stocking over his face. Holmes could not positively identify the culprits. This information eventually led the police to secure an arrest warrant for Craft. Craft was indicted and tried jointly with Derrick Newell; however, at the end of the trial, Newell was acquitted of armed robbery.

¶ 3. Other facts will be discussed as necessary during the discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES PRESENTED

I. Did the trial court err in allowing State’s exhibit 16 tobe admitted into evidence without proper identification or without laying a proper foundation?

¶ 4. Craft argues that the circuit court erred in allowing into evidence a handwritten note alleged to be authored by Craft while incarcerated. Craft gave the note to a trustee who, in turn, gave the note to Officer Rushing. The note was introduced during the direct examination of Officer Rushing. During that direct examination, the following colloquy occurred:

Q. I’m going to hand you a document and ask if you can identify this document?
A. Yes.
Q. What is this?
A. This was a note that was retrieved in the jail of the Walthall County Sheriffs Department.
Q. And from whom was it retrieved?
A. Carlos Craft—
BY MR. PRICE: — Your Honor, I object unless he can show a basis for personal knowledge of this officer to testify to this—
BY MR. GOODWIN: — Your Honor, I’ll point out that Mr. Craft has identified this himself
BY MR. PRICE: — Your Honor—
BY THE COURT: — Ladies and gentlemen, go with your bailiffs to the jury room, please.
(JURY EXCUSED FROM COURTROOM.)
BY THE COURT: Wait a minute. We need to get this on the record. You need to refresh my memory as to what happened.
BY MR. GOODWIN: Your Honor, at the suppression hearing Mr. Craft took the stand and at the time that he took the stand he — there was some testimony back and forth concerning things found in the trailer, ownership of some guns. Mr. Craft took the stand at the suppression hearing and said that the guns were not his, that he had never had anything to do with the guns. I questioned him about this document to impeach him and said, ‘well, if you never had anything to do with the guns, why did you write this note and he acknowledged at that time that this note was his and that 'he wrote it.
[1256]*1256BY MR. PRICE: And we would submit that that is in fact what happened.
BY MR. GOODWIN: Okay.
BY MR. PRICE: I didn’t remember that.
BY MR. GOODWIN: And, therefore, we maintain that this is a statement against interest.
BY THE COURT: How did the officer come into possession of this?
BY MR. GOODWIN: It was retrieved in the jail when — well, I’d better let him — I know how I think he got it.
Q. How did you come into possession of this, Officer
A. One of the trusties retrieved it. Okay.
BY THE COURT: All right. I don’t know any — if he offers it into evidence I don’t know any way to — do you have any specific objection to it coming it, [sic] Mr. Price?
BY MR. PRICE: No sir.
BY THE COURT: All right. Then it will be received.

¶ 5. The State argues that at trial Craft’s counsel specifically stated that he had no objection to the note being introduced into evidence; therefore, -the State asserts that this issue is procedurally barred as having been waived by Craft’s failure to make an objection. We agree. Craft initially objected to Officer Rushing’s testifying to the contents of the note based on Rushing’s not having personal knowledge about the note; however, as reflected in the quoted colloquy Craft’s counsel clearly and emphatically stated at the end of the discourse between the court and prosecutor that he had no objection to the admission of the note. Craft is procedurally barred from asserting this issue on appeal. See Stewart v. Stewart, 645 So.2d 1319, 1322 (Miss.1994).

II. Did the trial court err in allowing Trentice Lee to he considered a hostile witness?

¶ 6. The decision to allow leading questions is one that rests within the discretion of the trial court and will only be reversed upon a showing of abuse of discretion. McFarland v. State, 707 So.2d 166, 175 (Miss.1997). Rule 611(c) of Mississippi Rules of Evidence states that “when a party calls a hostile witness, an adverse party, or a witness identified with an adverse party, interrogation may be by leading questions.”

¶ 7. The State called Trentice Lee to testify. The prosecutor requested permission to ask Lee leading questions after Lee gave in-court testimony that differed from her pretrial statement in two respects— whether she knew where Craft, Magee and Newell went when they left her house on September 22nd around 3:00 p.m. and whether she saw them again on that day. Lee’s counsel objected on the basis that there had not been a showing that the witness was hostile.

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Bluebook (online)
764 So. 2d 1253, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 342, 2000 WL 1054338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craft-v-state-missctapp-2000.