Crutcher v. State

68 So. 3d 724, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 205, 2011 WL 1366439
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 12, 2011
DocketNo. 2009-KA-01819-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 68 So. 3d 724 (Crutcher 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
Crutcher v. State, 68 So. 3d 724, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 205, 2011 WL 1366439 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

CARLTON, J„

for the Court:

¶ 1. A jury in the DeSoto County Circuit Court convicted Anthony Crutcher of selling cocaine. The trial court sentenced Crutcher to sixty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Aggrieved, Crutcher appeals raising the following issues for this Court’s review: whether (1) the trial court erred in denying Crutcher’s request for a mistrial during voir dire; (2) the trial court erred in finding that a sufficient evidentiary foundation existed for the videotape of the drug sale to be admitted into evidence; (3) the trial court erred in finding that the State established a proper chain of custody allowing the cocaine to be admitted into evidence; and (4) Crutcher’s sentence is proper. Finding no error, we affirm.

[727]*727FACTS

¶ 2. A grand jury indicted Crutcher as a Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Rev.2007) habitual offender and as a subsequent offender pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 41-29-147 (Rev. 2009) on two counts of the sale of a controlled substance, cocaine. A trial commenced on September 14, 2009, in the Circuit Court of DeSoto County.1 At the trial, Lieutenant Jeremy Degan, the supervisor of the Special Investigations Division,2 testified that on June 20, 2007, he and some other agents from the Metro were performing controlled drug transactions on the eastern side of DeSoto County. Lieutenant Degan and the other agents used two confidential informants, Robert Smith and Donna Washington, to aid in the operations. Lieutenant Degan testified that he placed an audio listening device and an audio/video recording device on Smith’s person and that a secondary concealed video recording device was placed inside the vehicle that Smith and Washington were using in the controlled operations. Smith testified at trial that on June 20, 2007, he, at the direction of the Metro, traveled to Molly Wells’s, a/k/a Jennie Walls’s, residence with the intention of purchasing cocaine from her. Smith further testified that Molly was not home when he arrived, so he decided to leave her house. Smith then testified that as he was starting back to his vehicle, Crutcher pulled into the residence. Smith testified that he purchased two rocks of cocaine from Crutcher for forty dollars.

¶3. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Crutcher guilty of selling cocaine. The trial court then sentenced Crutcher to sixty years in the custody of the MDOC as a habitual and subsequent offender. Aggrieved, Crutcher appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. MOTION FOR MISTRIAL

¶ 4. During voir dire, a prospective juror asked the prosecutor the following question, which elicited the allegedly prejudicial response:

JUROR: You said the Prosecution is the only one that’s going to have witnesses.
PROSECUTOR: The defense is never required to put on any witnesses. That’s going to be up to the Defendant. I have the burden of proof. I have to prove something to you. Okay? It’s up to the Defense if they want to put on witnesses or offer testimony—

Crutcher objected to the State’s response to the juror’s question and moved for a mistrial, which the trial court subsequently denied. On appeal, Crutcher argues that the State, when conducting voir dire, improperly commented on his right to remain silent and not to testify. The State argues in response that the comments in no way implied that Crutcher’s choice not to testify was improper or indicated that Crutcher was guilty. The State further contends that the trial court gave, without objection, an instruction which was very similar to the alleged prejudicial response made by the prosecutor.

¶ 5. The standard of review utilized by this Court when reviewing a deni[728]*728al of a motion for a mistrial is abuse of discretion. Tate v. State, 20 So.3d 623, 629 (¶ 13) (Miss.2009) (citing Dora v. State, 986 So.2d 917, 921 (¶ 8) (Miss.2008)). “The trial court must declare a mistrial when there is an error in the proceedings resulting in substantial and irreparable prejudice to the defendant’s case.” Gilbert v. State, 48 So.3d 516, 521 (¶ 20) (Miss.2010) (quoting Gossett v. State, 660 So.2d 1285, 1290 (Miss.1995)). In determining whether a mistrial is warranted, the trial court possesses considerable discretion since the trial judge is in the best position to measure the prejudicial effect. Id. (citing Roundtree v. State, 568 So.2d 1173, 1178 (Miss.1990)).

¶ 6. A defendant’s right to remain silent is a federal and state constitutional requirement. Alexander v. State, 610 So.2d 320, 339 (Miss.1992). “In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall ... not be compelled to give evidence against himself.” Id. (citing Miss. Const, art. 3 § 2[6]). “No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Id. (citing U.S. Const, amend. V). The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that any reference to a defendant’s failure to testify, implying that such failure is improper or indicating that the defendant is guilty, is improper. Dora, 986 So.2d at 923 (¶ 11) (citing Wright v. State, 958 So.2d 158, 161 (¶ 7) (Miss.2007)). The Mississippi Supreme Court further elaborated on the reference to the defendant’s failure to testify by stating the following:

The [S]tate is entitled to comment on the lack of any defense, and such comment will not be construed as a reference to the defendant’s failure to testify by innuendo and insinuation. Shook v. State, 552 So.2d 841, 851 (Miss.1989) (emphasis added). The question is whether the prosecutor’s statement can be construed as commenting upon the failure of the defendant to take the stand. Ladner v. State, 584 So.2d 743, 754 (Miss.1991).
Wright, 958 So.2d at 161 (emphasis added). This approach effectively prevents “the protective shield of the Fifth Amendment” from being “converted into a sword that cuts back on the area of legitimate comment by the prosecutor on the weaknesses in the defense case.” [U.S. v.] Robinson, 485 U.S. [25,] 32, 108 S.Ct. 864 [99 L.Ed.2d 23] [(1988)] (quoting United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 515, 103 S.Ct. 1974, 1984, 76 L.Ed.2d 96, 110 (1983) (Stevens, J., concurring) (citation omitted)).
“[P]roseeutorial comment must be examined in context!.]” Robinson, 485 U.S. at 33, 108 S.Ct. 864. “When the statement is not an outright violation, this Court will review the facts on a case-by-case basis.” Wright, 958 So.2d at 166 [ (¶ 24) ] (citing Logan v. State, 773 So.2d 338, 348 [ (¶ 38) ] (Miss.2000)). Furthermore, “not every comment regarding the lack of any defense is automatically deemed to point toward the defense’s failure to testify.” Id. (citing Jimpson v. State, 532 So.2d 985, 991 (Miss.1988)).

Dora, 986 So.2d at 923 (¶¶ 11-12). If a question arises as to the prosecution’s comment on the defendant’s failure to testify, each case must be considered on an individual basis on the facts of that particular case. De La Beckwith v. State, 707 So.2d 547, 584 (¶ 148) (Miss.1997) (citations omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
68 So. 3d 724, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 205, 2011 WL 1366439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crutcher-v-state-missctapp-2011.