Gardner v. State

531 So. 2d 805, 1988 WL 102406
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 1988
Docket57925
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 531 So. 2d 805 (Gardner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gardner v. State, 531 So. 2d 805, 1988 WL 102406 (Mich. 1988).

Opinion

531 So.2d 805 (1988)

Jackie GARDNER
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 57925.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

September 28, 1988.

*806 William Sebastian Moore, Cynthia A. Stewart, Jackson, for appellant.

Edwin Lloyd Pittman and Mike Moore, Attys. Gen. by Charles W. Maris, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

En Banc.

PRATHER, Justice, for the Court:

Jackie Gardner filed in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County a motion for post-conviction relief attempting to have his guilty plea to a conspiracy indictment set aside or, alternatively, to have his sentence for that crime reduced. The motion was overruled after a hearing. Feeling aggrieved, Gardner brings this appeal and assigns as error the following:

(1) The indictment did not charge Jackie Gardner with a felony under Mississippi law and the lower court erred in sentencing him to serve a term of imprisonment in the Department of Corrections, in violation of the due process requirements of the Mississippi and the United States Constitutions.

(2) Section 97-1-1, Miss.Code (1972), as amended, is void for vagueness because it fails to meet the requisite minimum due process requirements of notice and definiteness under the Mississippi and United States Constitutions.

(3) Jackie Gardner's plea of guilty was not made knowingly and voluntarily and the lower court erred in accepting his plea.

(4) The lower court erred in refusing to allow Jackie Gardner to withdraw his plea of guilty.

(5) The lower court erred in denying Jackie Gardner sufficient time to review his presentence report in violation of Mississippi law, the United States and Mississippi Constitutions and the Mississippi Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

On February 29, 1984, Gardner submitted to the Insurance Commission a statement of financial condition of his insurance company, State Security Life Insurance Company, a Mississippi Corporation. The statement showed that the company met the minimum surplus requirements under § 83-19-31, Miss. Code Ann. (1972). In compiling this statement, Gardner valued a certificate of accrual of treasury shares (hereinafter referred to as CATS bond) at its matured value of three hundred thirty thousand dollars ($330,000.00) instead of its present value of approximately seventy thousand dollars ($70,000.00).

At the January, 1985 term, the grand jury for the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, indicted Jackie Gardner under § 97-1-1, Miss. Code Ann. (1972) for conspiracy to operate an insurance company in violation of §§ 83-5-55, 83-19-31, and 83-19-73, Miss. Code Ann., 1972, as amended.

*807 After denial of several preliminary motions, filed by his attorney, on July 28, 1986, Gardner pled guilty to the charge of conspiring to operate a financially impaired insurance company. He pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement between his attorney with the State of Mississippi in which the State agreed to request that the court nol pros the charge of conspiracy to commit perjury and to not object to the imposition of a suspended sentence.

In his petition to plead guilty, Gardner admitted his guilt of the offense charged in the indictment, acknowledged his understanding that the maximum sentence for his crime was five (5) years and five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), and further acknowledged the plea bargain.

At the hearing on Gardner's petition to plead guilty, he testified that he understood: the nature of the charge; the rights he was relinquishing by pleading guilty; that the lower court was not bound by any plea bargain; that no one had assured him that the lower court would give him any particular sentence; and that if he pled guilty he had no right to appeal the sentence he received. The lower court accepted the guilty plea and delayed sentencing until a presentence report could be prepared.

On August 15, 1986, Gardner filed a motion, and subsequently on amended motion, to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging that he was not guilty of the charged offense. The motion was denied after hearing.

Thereafter, on October 10, 1986, Gardner was sentenced to a term of five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with two years suspended and three years to serve.

On October 23, 1986, Gardner filed a motion for post-conviction relief citing as grounds that: he was not indicted for a felony; he did not plead guilty to a felony; he should have been permitted to withdraw his guilty plea; his guilty plea was not entered voluntarily and knowingly; and he was denied a reasonable time to review the presentence report. At the hearing, both the district attorney and the assistant district attorney stated that the plea bargain was limited to neither opposing nor recommending a suspended sentence. Gardner's motion was denied on October 28, 1986; he now appeals that denial.

I.

DID THE INDICTMENT FAIL TO CHARGE A FELONY PERMITTING THE SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT?

The indictment against Gardner charged the felonious crime of conspiracy in violation of Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-1 (1972) to accomplish with other co-conspirators an unlawful purpose. The crime conspired to be committed in the indictment was to operate an insurance company without complying with Miss. Code Ann. §§ 83-5-55, 83-19-31, and 83-19-73, 1972, as amended.

Section 83-5-55, Miss. Code Ann. (1972), directs every insurance company to annually file in the office of the Commissioner of Insurance a statement signed and sworn to by an officer or agent of the company showing the business standing and financial condition of the company. This section further requires the company to file a like report showing the entire amount of its Mississippi reserves.

Section 83-19-31, Miss. Code Ann. 1972, as amended, provides, in part, that domestic insurance companies meet certain capital and surplus requirements at their formation. In addition, § 83-19-31 directs certain domestic insurance companies to deposit fifty per cent (50%) of their capital stock with the State Treasurer. Upon such deposit, the Insurance Commissioner issues his certificate authorizing the company to transact business in this state.

Section 83-19-73, Miss. Code Ann., 1972, as amended, requires all domestic insurance companies doing business in this state to maintain a surplus, after deduction of reserves and exclusive of capital, of not less than scheduled amounts. It further provides that when the surplus becomes less than the scheduled amount, the insurance company is considered impaired. It is the duty of the proper officers of the insurance company to report the impairment of *808 surplus to the Commission of Insurance in writing within ten days after the impairment occurs. When any such impairment is reported, or if the Commissioner of Insurance otherwise discovers that the surplus is impaired, the Commissioner will suspend the certificate of authority or license of the insurance company.

Appellant's contention on this appeal is that these statutes named in the indictment are not criminal statutes and therefore cannot trigger the provision of the conspiracy criminal statute, Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-1(h) "to accomplish an unlawful purpose." Miss. Code Ann.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
531 So. 2d 805, 1988 WL 102406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gardner-v-state-miss-1988.