Floyd v. State

155 So. 3d 883, 2014 WL 2579696, 2014 Miss. App. LEXIS 317
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 10, 2014
DocketNo. 2012-KA-01715-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 155 So. 3d 883 (Floyd 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
Floyd v. State, 155 So. 3d 883, 2014 WL 2579696, 2014 Miss. App. LEXIS 317 (Mich. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

LEE, C.J.,

for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Johnny Lee Floyd was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Floyd was sentenced as a habitual offender to serve sixty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with no eligibility for parole or probation. Floyd was also ordered to pay a fine of $2,000,000.

¶2. Floyd now appeals, asserting the following issues: (1) the trial court erred in refusing jury instruction D-5, (2) the trial court erred in allowing evidence of his [886]*886prior convictions, (3) the evidence was insufficient, (4) the State failed to establish he was a habitual offender, and (5) the trial court erred in allowing evidence concerning the results of a field test for cocaine.

FACTS

¶ 3. On October 20, 2010, the Gulfport Police Department received an anonymous call claiming Floyd was storing and selling cocaine from an apartment located at 3503 Hancock Avenue in Gulfport, Mississippi, and that Floyd was driving a white GMC Envoy. Officer Tim Adams helped conduct surveillance on the apartment and saw Floyd exit a white GMC Envoy, go into the apartment, leave the apartment after several minutes, and drive away. Officer Adams testified Floyd’s hands were empty. Officer Chuck Koewers followed Floyd. Upon learning Floyd’s license had been suspended, Officer Koewers conducted a traffic stop. Officer Koewers testified Floyd did not stop immediately and was moving around in the car. After approaching the car, Officer Koewers noticed white powder on the seats and on Floyd’s mouth. Officer Koewers said it appeared Floyd was attempting to swallow something.

¶ 4. Officer Wendell Johnson assisted Officer Koewers with the traffic stop. Officer Johnson also noticed Floyd moving around in the car prior to stopping. Officer Johnson saw the white powder in the car and around Floyd’s mouth. Additionally, Officer Johnson observed a clear plastic bag containing white residue. Floyd had $558 in his pocket. ■ After arresting Floyd, Officer Johnson procured a search warrant for the apartment Floyd had previously entered. Upon entering the apartment, Officer Johnson spoke with Keisha Floyd, Floyd’s sister. Keisha told Officer Johnson it was her apartment and that she shared it with her four children and Floyd. Keisha said Floyd had been staying with her for several months.

¶ 5. The officers searched the bedroom where Floyd had resided and found the following: a picture of Floyd on the dresser, digital scales in the closet, a bag of cocaine powder and a bag of crack cocaine in the closet, a receipt bearing Floyd’s name, various municipal court documents bearing Floyd’s name, Floyd’s Social Security card, cocaine residue in the dresser drawer and under the bed, and a gun under the bed. The forensic scientist from the Mississippi Crime Lab testified that one of the bags of cocaine weighed 6.8 grams and the other weighed 26.7 grams.

¶ 6. Keisha testified that Floyd had lived with her at one time but moved out of her apartment in August 2010. Keisha stated Jerome Boose, her cousin, then moved into Floyd’s old bedroom. Keisha never gave Floyd or Boose a key to the apartment. Keisha also denied speaking with Officer Johnson- at the scene and in-' forming him that Floyd was currently living with her. On cross-examination, Keisha admitted she never told the authorities Boose was living with her.

¶ 7. Boose testified he moved into Keisha’s apartment in June 2010 and was living there at the time the police searched the apartment. Boose claimed ownership of the drugs, the gun, and the digital scales found in the search. On cross-examination, the State introduced a taped conversation between Boose and Floyd, discussing Boose’s decision to testify at Floyd’s trial. The State had only learned of Boose’s involvement a few days prior to trial, and Officer Adams went to interview Boose at the correctional center where he was incarcerated at the time. This conversation between Boose and Floyd occurred after Officer Adams visited Boose to discuss Boose’s involvement in Floyd’s case. [887]*887In the tape, Boose and Floyd discuss Floyd’s three prior felony convictions and Boose’s decision to claim ownership of the drugs. At one point Floyd mentioned he would retain an attorney to represent Boose.

DISCUSSION

I. JURY INSTRUCTION D-5

¶ 8. Floyd contends the trial court committed reversible error by refusing jury instruction D-5. We first note that the State asserts this issue is procedurally barred because Floyd failed to object to the trial court’s decision to refuse D-5. However, the Mississippi Supreme Court has stated that “there is a long line of cases which affirm the tenet that the refusal of instructions offered by the defendant need not be objected to in order to preserve the issue for appeal.” Green v. State, 884 So.2d 733, 736 (¶ 10) (Miss.2004).

¶ 9. “In determining whether error lies in the [giving] or refusal of various [jury] instructions, the instructions actually given must be read as a whole.” Ford v. State, 52 So.3d 1245, 1247 (¶ 10) (Miss.Ct.App.2011) (quoting Wess v. State, 926 So.2d 930, 934 (¶ 20) (Miss.Ct.App.2005)). “[I]f the instructions fairly announce the law of the case and create no injustice, no reversible error will be found.” Id. “[T]he court may refuse an instruction which incorrectly states the law, is fairly covered elsewhere in the instructions, or is without foundation in the evidence.” Id. (quoting Hager v. State, 996 So.2d 94, 97 (¶ 9) (Miss.Ct.App.2008)).

¶ 10. Instruction D-5 stated the following:

There must be sufficient facts [to] warrant ] a finding that Johnny Lee Floyd was aware of the presence and character of cocaine at 3503 Hancock Avenue Apartment # 1 in Gulfport, Mississippi!,] on October 20, 2010[,] and was intentionally and consciously in possession of it. It need not be actual physical possession. Constructive] possession may be shown by establishing that the drug involved was subject due [sic] to his dominion or control.

Floyd argues that an essential element of possession is that the defendant be “aware of the presence and character” of the controlled substance. However, the State contends that instruction S-8, as given, properly instructed the jury on the law of possession. Instruction S-8 stated the following:

Possession, as the term is used in this case, may be actual or constructive. A person has actual possession when he or she knowingly has direct, immediate, and exclusive physical control over the thing or object. A person has constructive possession when he or she lacks actual possession of the thing or object but knowingly has both the power and the intention, at a given time, to exercise control or dominion over the thing or object, either directly or through another person.

(Emphasis added).

¶ 11. When refusing instruction D-5, the trial court noted that instruction S-8 was identical to the model jury instruction on actual and constructive possession. The State agrees that whether a defendant was “aware of the presence and character” of the drug is an element of constructive possession, but argues that the “knowledge” and “intent” language in S-8 is essentially the same as the “aware of the presence and character” language most commonly cited in jury instructions. See Mosley v. State,

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Bluebook (online)
155 So. 3d 883, 2014 WL 2579696, 2014 Miss. App. LEXIS 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/floyd-v-state-missctapp-2014.