Duhart v. State

927 So. 2d 768, 2006 WL 163598
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 24, 2006
Docket2004-KP-01168-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 927 So. 2d 768 (Duhart 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
Duhart v. State, 927 So. 2d 768, 2006 WL 163598 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

927 So.2d 768 (2006)

Dennis F. DUHART a/k/a Dennis Felton Duhart, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2004-KP-01168-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 24, 2006.
Rehearing Denied May 2, 2006.

*771 Dennis Felton Duhart, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, for appellee.

EN BANC.

BARNES, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Dennis Felton Duhart was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Lee County for uttering a forgery. From his conviction, Duhart timely appealed to this Court. Finding no error in the proceedings below, we affirm Duhart's conviction.

SUMMARY OF FACTS

¶ 2. On March 3, 2000, someone stole a blank paycheck from North Mississippi Sheet Metal in Pontotoc, Mississippi, made the check out to "John Brown" in the amount of $545, and, on March 7, cashed the check at Wright's Short Stop, a convenience store in Tupelo. On August 1, 2000, Dennis Duhart, an employee of North Mississippi Sheet Metal, was indicted for uttering a forgery in violation of section 97-21-59 of the Mississippi Code Annotated (Rev.2000). Duhart was subsequently tried and convicted of the crime, and was sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.[1]

¶ 3. At trial, Patrick Wright, the clerk who cashed the check, identified Duhart as the person who passed the check. He stated that he recognized Duhart as a regular customer, and that he had also cashed a check for Duhart on March 6, 2000, the day before the crime in question occurred. Additionally, the prosecution offered evidence of Wright's pre-trial identification of Duhart. Officer Rob Edwards of the Tupelo Police Department testified that when he interviewed Wright about the incident, Wright recognized a photograph of Duhart in Edwards's file and stated, "That's him right there." David Hendrix, who was employed by North Mississippi Sheet Metal at the time of the offense, testified that on March 3, 2000, he saw Duhart alone in the office in which the blank paychecks were kept. Further, Hendrix and fellow employee Margaret Boatwright testified that employees were not allowed in that office without permission. When Duhart took the stand, he testified that he had entered the office in order to use the telephone because the phone in a nearby room was out of order. Hendrix, however, testified that the telephone had been in perfect working order at the time.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 4. Prior to his indictment, Duhart had been arrested for the crime and, on April 14, 2000, he was released on bond. After *772 being released, Duhart fled to Ohio. When Duhart failed to appear in the Lee County Circuit Court on the forgery charge and upon a separate charge of grand larceny, the State of Mississippi issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest. Duhart was arrested and detained by Ohio authorities, and was scheduled for an identification hearing on November 26, 2001. When, after several notices, Mississippi officials failed to appear at Duhart's proceedings, the Lucas County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas dismissed the fugitive warrant and, on April 18, 2002, released Duhart from custody. It appears that at some point in May of 2002, a bail bondsman retrieved Duhart from Ohio and delivered him to Lee County authorities.[2]

¶ 5. Upon being returned to Mississippi, Duhart was incarcerated in the Lee County Jail pending the outcome of his trial. On February 24, 2003, Duhart filed a petition for habeas corpus in which he asserted that he had been improperly extradited from Ohio and that, as a result, his confinement was illegal. Along with his habeas petition, Duhart filed a motion requesting a hearing on the issue; however, Duhart did not pursue the motion to a ruling prior to his trial. On May 8, 2003, Duhart was tried and convicted of uttering a forgery. At his sentencing hearing on May 23, 2003, Duhart was sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. At the same hearing, Duhart pled guilty to a charge of DUI maiming and was sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The sentencing judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently.

¶ 6. On May 16, 2003, Duhart filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), or, in the alternative, a new trial. The motion was denied by the Lee County Circuit Court on September 1, 2004, nearly sixteen months after it was filed. Also on September 1, 2004, the circuit court dismissed as moot Duhart's petition for habeas corpus. Duhart timely appealed to this Court, asserting the following: (1) that the court erred in dismissing his habeas petition; (2) that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to rule on his habeas petition and motion for JNOV in a timely manner; (3) that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress Patrick Wright's pre-trial identification testimony; (4) that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight and sufficiency of the evidence; and (5) that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial in light of newly discovered evidence.[3] Finding these issues to be without merit, we affirm Duhart's conviction.

ISSUES AND ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DISMISSING DUHART'S HABEAS PETITION.

II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN FAILING TO RULE UPON DUHART'S HABEAS PETITION AND MOTION FOR JNOV, OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, A NEW TRIAL, IN A TIMELY MANNER.

*773 ¶ 7. The Mississippi Supreme Court has repeatedly held that it is the movant's responsibility to obtain a ruling from the court on motions, and that failure to do so constitutes a waiver. See, e.g., Byrom v. State, 863 So.2d 836, 851(¶ 27) (Miss.2003); see also URCCC 2.04 ("It is the duty of the movant . . . to pursue said motion to hearing and decision by the court. Failure to pursue a pretrial motion to hearing and decision before trial is deemed an abandonment of that motion . . ."). The record before this Court does not show that Duhart acted diligently in pursuing his habeas petition and motion for preliminary hearing to decision. In fact, in his order dismissing Duhart's habeas petition as moot, the trial judge noted that instead of setting the petition and motion for hearing and obtaining a ruling, Duhart and his counsel made the decision to go to trial on the forgery charge.

¶ 8. After closing his case in chief, Duhart raised the issue of the allegedly improper extradition, asserting that he had been "taken into custody by the Lee County Sheriff's Office and transported back to the State of Mississippi." When the assistant district attorney responded that Duhart had been returned to Mississippi by a bail bondsman rather than by the State, Duhart offered no argument or evidence in reply. He presented no evidence to support his claim that he had been improperly extradited, and failed to request a ruling on his petition. Additionally, though the record shows that defense counsel raised the issue of the motion for preliminary hearing, he again failed to pursue the motion to a ruling. Because the record shows that Duhart did not diligently pursue his habeas petition and motion for preliminary hearing to ruling, the motions are deemed waived. Id. Because the motions were waived, we find no error in the trial court's dismissal of Duhart's habeas petition.

¶ 9. Duhart also asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to rule upon his motion for JNOV, or, in the alternative, a new trial, in a timely manner.

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Related

McGlasten v. State
109 So. 3d 620 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Nelson v. State
32 So. 3d 534 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
927 So. 2d 768, 2006 WL 163598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duhart-v-state-missctapp-2006.