Fagan v. State

881 So. 2d 851, 2003 WL 22708163
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 18, 2003
Docket2001-KA-01336-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 881 So. 2d 851 (Fagan 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
Fagan v. State, 881 So. 2d 851, 2003 WL 22708163 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

881 So.2d 851 (2003)

Mary Lynn FAGAN, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2001-KA-01336-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

November 18, 2003.
Rehearing Denied February 3, 2004.

*852 William B. Jacob, Joseph A. Kieronski Jr., Daniel P. Self Jr., Meridian, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.

*853 EN BANC.

IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. A Clarke County jury convicted Mary Lynn Fagan of three counts of embezzlement. In her appeal of her conviction and sentence, she alleges that the trial court erred (1) in not dismissing the case based on insufficiency of the evidence, (2) in not granting a mistrial because of the prosecutor's and a witness's reference to a polygraph examination, (3) in allowing the State to use certain documents in violation of discovery rules and a previous order of the court, (4) in allowing testimony of other crimes, and (5) in failing to grant a hearing on a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.

¶ 2. We find no error in any of Fagan's assertions; therefore, we affirm the rulings of the trial court and the subsequent conviction and sentence.

FACTS

¶ 3. Mary Lynn Fagan worked as a deputy clerk in the Clarke County Justice Clerk's office from 1994 until 1999. After money was discovered missing from the clerk's office, Fagan was indicted for embezzling the missing money. Specifically, she was indicted for embezzling money on three separate occasions: February 19, June 16 and 19, 1999. Throughout 1999, Fagan worked with two other deputy clerks who also received money, issued receipts and made deposits. The State's case was based on circumstantial evidence.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

¶ 4. Fagan attacks the sufficiency of the evidence on several grounds. First, she contends that there was a common cash drawer and that the State failed to prove that she had exclusive control of it. Second, she argues that the State failed to prove certain elements of the crimes, namely, failure to deposit the funds, ownership of the funds, an intent to defraud, and conversion. She also submits that the evidence was consistent with reasonable theories indicative of innocence.

1. Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶ 5. The financial discrepancies in the clerk's office were investigated by Earl Smith of the State Auditor's office. Smith testified that when he first came to the clerk's office and advised everyone that he was there to do an audit of the clerk's financial records, Fagan came to him and "started to explain to me that the problems that existed were the result of computer problems, and she had a list and she wanted to show me how the computer was skipping receipts." Fagan had previously told Teresa Smith, the clerk, that the problem was with the computer and that she would work with Data Systems to correct the problem.

¶ 6. As already noted, the State's evidence was entirely circumstantial. However, it showed a common thread pointing to Fagan. The clerk testified that there was no problem with the computer and that she did not know that it was possible to backdate receipts on the computer. Another deputy clerk, Shundra Staten, testified that she did not have any knowledge of backdating receipts, that she had never received any money on behalf of the justice clerk's office and kept it for her personal use, and that she had never failed to make a deposit from the justice clerk's office.

¶ 7. The three receipts, underlying the charges against Fagan for mishandling of funds, all had either Fagan's initial or name on them, and when the computer reprinted the receipts, the name of the operator doing the reprinting appeared on the receipts. One of the receipts was received *854 by Fred Kennedy who paid a $452 DUI ticket for his grandson. Kennedy testified that the money for the ticket was given to Fagan. However, the money was not included in the day's deposit. The receipt, retained by the clerk's office, was voided. Of course, Fagan denied voiding the receipt.

¶ 8. Jason Varner testified that he received a ticket on May 21, 1999, for DUI, first offense. He paid a $432 fine on June 16, 1999. He was "pretty sure" that he paid the money for the fine to Fagan. The receipt contains the initials "L.F." Although the fine was paid on June 16, 1999, the computer indicated that the receipt was recorded on June 18, 1998. The money was not listed on the daily receipts, nor was it deposited in the clerk's account in either 1998 or 1999.

¶ 9. Karla Mooney paid a $366 fine for her husband, Michael, on June 15, 1999. Karla testified that she handed the money to Fagan and received a receipt for it. The receipt contained the initials "L.F." The detailed settlement statement for June 15, 1999, did not include the $366 or Michael's name, nor was the $366 included in the bank deposit for June 15, 1999. When Earl Smith had the detailed settlement statement for June 15, 1998, rerun, the $366 entry appeared. However, the detailed settlement statement, which was actually run on June 15, 1998, did not have an entry for Michael Mooney, and the bank deposit for June 15, 1998, did not include the $366 paid for Michael Mooney.

¶ 10. The evidence was that Fagan was the only clerk who knew how to backdate receipts in the computer. Considering this fact, along with the fact that Fagan told Earl Smith that the problem was in the computer, we are satisfied that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict. For us to overturn the jury's verdict on this evidence, we would have to find that reasonable and fair-minded persons could not have found Fagan guilty with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense. Harveston v. State, 493 So.2d 365, 370 (Miss.1986). That is not the case here.

¶ 11. Fagan also asserts that she was at least entitled to a new trial. A motion for a new trial implicates the discretion of the judge, and we will reverse when the trial judge has abused his discretion in denying the motion. Malone v. State, 486 So.2d 360, 366 (Miss.1986). We find no abuse.

2. Reference to the Polygraph Examination

¶ 12. During the redirect examination of the State's key witness, Earl Smith, the following colloquy occurred:

Q. Did you find or anybody else find any problems with that computer?
A. No, sir.
Q. What were the problems with the computer that were making these documents look like this?
A. The problem was —
BY MR. JACOB: Object to lack of foundation.
BY THE COURT: All right, I'll let him testify if he knows as a result of his investigation. Objection overruled. You may answer.
A. As a result of my investigation, it was determined that the problem was that documents were changed, and this is what would have caused what may have been or appeared to be a computer error.
Q. And you said that you did not know if Lynn Fagan changed those things. What did your investigation reveal about that? Who made these changes?
*855 A. I do not know specifically who made the changes other than the fact that the changes were made.
Q. Well, there are two other clerks in the office; is that right?
A. That's correct.
Q. And did your investigation not eliminate the two of them?
BY MR.

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Related

Fagan v. State
894 So. 2d 576 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2004)
Mary Lynn Fagan v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001

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881 So. 2d 851, 2003 WL 22708163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fagan-v-state-missctapp-2003.