Ford v. State

555 So. 2d 691, 1989 WL 160463
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided December 13, 1989·No. 07-58903·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinion

555 So.2d 691 (1989)

John Wiley FORD
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 07-58903.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 13, 1989.

*692 Joe Morgan Wilson, Senatobia, for appellant.

Mike C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Jack B. Lacy, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and ROBERTSON and PITTMAN, JJ.

DAN M. LEE, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

Appellant John Wiley Ford was indicted with another as an habitual offender in a two-count indictment by the Grand Jury of Tate County, Mississippi, on March 23, 1987. As to Count 1 of said indictment, the defendant was tried and found guilty of the crime of conspiracy, which conviction was appealed to this Court and affirmed on June 21, 1989, Ford v. State, 546 So.2d 686. As to the second count, which alleged grand larceny, a mistrial was declared. The case sub judice results from a retrial of the grand larceny count on November 5 and 6, 1987, at which time Ford was found guilty by a jury.

After the State's proof as to recidivism was presented in accord with the requirements of Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81 (1972), the trial court found defendant to be an habitual offender. Accordingly, he was sentenced to a term of five (5) years imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without parole or probation. The sentence was ordered to be served consecutively to that previously imposed as to Count 1 (conspiracy) of the indictment noted above. Thereafter the trial court overruled Ford's post trial motions and denied him a new trial. Being aggrieved, he appeals and urges three assignments of error. Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

The facts of this case are the same as those described in the case of Ford v. State, 546 So.2d 686, 687 (Miss. 1989), and are carefully paraphrased from it.

According to the testimony of teller Dorothy Matthews, two men, one a "light complected" man, the other dark, came to the teller window which she had womanned for seven years and asked first for change of a five dollar bill, then for some coin wrappers. Matthews turned away and one of the men reached into the cash drawer and removed some $750.00. Matthews returned the wrappers, handed them to the men, and said "y'all come back." [T]he pilfered money was "bait money" which triggered a surveillance camera that began shooting three pictures per second. The photographs show, crystal clear, a dark complexioned man reaching into a teller's drawer, and withdrawing an unidentified bundle, while the lighter complexioned man stood by, alternatingly watching the other man and looking about the area. Appellant, John Wiley Ford, was identified in court as the lighter complexioned man. The next day, October 31, 1986, they did it again. Ford and his companion journeyed to West Memphis, Arkansas, entered the First National Bank of West Memphis, approached a teller's window and again asked for coin wrappers. The teller turned to comply and when she returned, her bait money had been stolen. As in Senatobia, Ford's performance was recorded for posterity by the bank's surveillance camera.

ARGUMENTS

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING APPELLANT'S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL ON THE GROUNDS OF THE PREJUDICIAL TESTIMONY OF GLORIA CARTER FROM WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS.

During the trial Gloria Carter, an employee of the First National Bank of *693 West Memphis, Arkansas was called to testify concerning a similar incident in the bank in which she was employed involving appellant and Marion Anderson, which took place on October 31, 1986, the day after the alleged robbery of Peoples Bank in Senatobia, Mississippi. Defense counsel objected on the grounds that under Rule 404(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence, no provision is stated for the admissibility of subsequent offenses. The objection was overruled. Ms. Carter was allowed to testify.

Rule 404(b) reads as follows:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.

(Emphasis added).

Appellant claims there are no cases decided by this Court holding that subsequent offenses are admissible under Rule 404(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence. He emphasizes that the various cases decided by the Mississippi Supreme Court have referred strictly to prior offenses, one of the most prominent of which is Neal v. State, 451 So.2d 743, 759 (Miss. 1984).

Alternatively, assuming arguendo, this Court holds that subsequent offenses are admitted under the "other crimes" exception set forth in 404(b), appellant contends there is a further crucial consideration to which the trial court did not adhere in this case. In short, appellant properly states that even if an exception as delineated in 404(b) is clearly present in a case there still remains the precautionary test of Rule 403. That is, Rule 403 provides some protection from allowing any and all relevant evidence to be placed before the jury. Jenkins v. State, 507 So.2d 89 (Miss. 1987).

To be sure, evidence admissible under Rule 404(b) is also subject to the prejudice test of Rule 403; that is, even though the Circuit Court considered the evidence at issue admissible under Rule 404(b), it was still required by Rule 403 to consider whether its probative value on the issues of motive, opportunity and intent was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. In this sense Rule 403 is an ultimate filter through which all otherwise admissible evidence must pass.

Id., at 93.

We note that appellant does not attempt in his brief to expound on the reasons why the testimony of a witness to a subsequent crime fails the Rule 403 probative value test. He simply states in the conclusion of his brief that the testimony was "highly prejudicial under Rule 403 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence."

Appellee's (The State) position is clear: Where Rule 404(b) is silent as to the admissibility of prior or subsequent offenses — the Rule itself speaks to no more than the issue of "[e]vidence of other crimes ..." — the admission of the evidence was proper where it falls within the ambit of recognized exceptions thereunder, and where it is not impermissibly prejudicial.

Appellee directs this Court to four (4) cases for the proposition that the admission of subsequently charged crimes is not without precedent in Mississippi. See, e.g., Reddix v. State, 381 So.2d 999 (Miss. 1980), where the issue was presented to this Court in the context of a death penalty prosecution. See also, Strickland v. State, 209 So.2d 840 (Miss. 1968); West v. State, 218 Miss. 397, 67 So.2d 366 (Miss. 1953); Walker v. State, 201 Miss. 780, 30 So.2d 239 (Miss. 1947).

We further note that while somewhat helpful, Reddix, Strickland, West and Walker do not dispose of this issue in the case sub judice.

Appellee argues that the facts adduced at trial show that appellant with another was charged with grand larceny of a sum of money from Peoples Bank in Senatobia, Mississippi. Both parties contrived to obtain the absence of the teller from her bank window by asking for coin wrappers.

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