Gates v. State

829 So. 2d 1283, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 591, 2002 WL 31458702
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 5, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-KA-01716-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 829 So. 2d 1283 (Gates 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
Gates v. State, 829 So. 2d 1283, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 591, 2002 WL 31458702 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

LEE, J., for the court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. In August 2001, a Chickasaw County Circuit Court jury found Appellant Mitchell Gates guilty of aggravated DUI, and he was sentenced to serve twenty-five years in prison. Gates filed a motion for new trial, but it was overruled. He appeals to this Court arguing that the trial court erred in failing to issue a directed verdict, that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress, and the trial court erred in allowing non-residents of the Second Judicial District of Chickasaw County to sit on the jury. Finding no merit to these issues, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On July 4, 1999, Mitchell Gates and Linda Chapman were driving along County Road 148 in Chickasaw County when Gates, the driver, crossed lanes and hit an oncoming vehicle which was being driven by Donell Davidson. Both Chapman and Gates were thrown from the car, and Chapman died four days later as a result of her injuries. A test of Gates’s blood after the wreck revealed he had consumed alcohol prior to the accident.

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN FAILING TO ORDER A DIRECTED VERDICT?

¶ 3. With his first issue, Gates argues that the trial court erred in refusing to direct a verdict in his favor at the close of the State’s case-in-chief. We look to our standard of review:

In deciding whether the prosecution has presented sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict, the Court should accept as true all credible evidence consistent with the defendant’s guilt and the State must be given the benefit of all favorable in[1285]*1285ferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. A reviewing court should only reverse where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.

George v. State, 812 So.2d 1103 (¶ 13) (Miss.Ct.App.2001) (citation omitted).

¶ 4. The gist of Gates’s argument is that the State did not comply with Miss.Code Ann. § 63-11-30 in failing to perform the blood analysis according to approved methods. The statute in question reads:

(1) It is unlawful for any person to drive or otherwise operate a vehicle within this state who ... (c) has an alcohol concentration of ten one-hundredths percent (.10%) or more for persons who are above the legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages under state law, or two one-hundredths percent (.02%) or more for persons who are below the legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages under state law, in the person’s blood based upon grams of alcohol per one hundred (100) milliliters of blood....

Miss.Code Ann. § 63-11-30 (Supp.2002). Gates argues that the State is required to find the percentage of alcohol in a person’s blood by testing grams of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of blood, and that this specific amount of blood must be drawn as a safeguard for accuracy. We do not read the statute to require this, rather we see this quantity listed as a means to calculate the percentage of alcohol in the blood.

¶ 5. Regardless of what we perceive as Gates’s misinterpretation of the statute, a directed verdict addresses the sufficiency of the evidence, and we find the evidence presented was sufficient to support the verdict: Michael Weaver from the Mississippi Crime Lab testified that three milliliters of blood were required to perform a blood alcohol test, and the samples provided were adequate to perform those tests which showed Gates had a .20 percent blood alcohol content; Gates, himself, admitted he had been drinking heavily the day before the accident until early in the morning hours; Aberdeen Police Officer Ed Mahar, who helped Gates into the ambulance, testified that Gates smelled of alcohol; and Dr. Steve Hayne, who performed the autopsy, testified that passenger Linda Chapman’s death was a result of the wreck. We find that this evidence is not such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find Gates not guilty. We find no merit to this issue.

II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN FAILING TO GRANT APPELLANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS?

¶ 6. With this second issue, Gates argues the trial judge erred in admitting the results of the blood test conducted at the hospital. Gates initially consented to have his blood drawn, but after he was stuck three times, he told the nurse to stop because he was in pain from his injuries.

. ¶ 7. After the jury was sworn in but prior to opening statements, a hearing was held outside their presence concerning a motion to suppress evidence of Gates’s blood alcohol level. Officer Maher testified that once Gates arrived at the hospital after the accident, the officers asked Gates if they could get a blood sample. They explained that they could not perform the test unless he consented, and he told them several times they could. The nurse drew one vial of blood, but then had trouble finding a vein, and upon Gates’s complaints of pain elsewhere the nurse stopped drawing blood. Officer Maher testified at the hearing that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Gates, and this is why he wanted the blood test. Nurse Jimma Thorne testified that she drew the blood from Gates, and she affirmed that Gates- signed both the hospital’s consent form and the law enforcement’s consent form and that [1286]*1286Gates was not coerced into signing either form. Officer Keith Roberson was also at the hospital at the time the blood was drawn. Roberson testified that he read Gates his rights as indicated on the form and Gates signed the consent form.

¶ 8. The trial judge conducted a hearing outside the presence of the jury to determine whether to admit the blood test results.

This Court has consistently ruled that “[t]he relevancy and admissibility of evidence are largely within the discretion of the trial court and reversal may be had only where that discretion has been abused.” Unless the trial judge’s discretion is so abused as to be prejudicial to a party, this Court will not reverse his or her ruling.

Buel v. Sims, 798 So.2d 425 (¶ 11) (Miss.2001) (citation omitted). The court reviewed all of this testimony, and combining this with the knowledge that Gates’s passenger was fatally injured, found probable cause existed to draw Gates’s blood, and determined that credible evidence existed to show that Gates freely and voluntarily gave his consent to draw the blood. The overwhelming weight of the evidence supports the judge’s decision to admit the evidence. Consequently, we find no abuse of discretion. Gates’s argument on this issue has no merit.

III. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN DENYING THE APPELLANT’S MOTION TO QUASH THE JURY?

¶ 9. Gates argues the trial court erred in failing to provide him with a jury from the Second Judicial District of Chickasaw County; consequently, he argues he did not receive a fair trial. Gates specifically takes issue with the judge’s decision to include persons from both the First and Second Judicial Districts of Chickasaw County- in the jury pool, arguing that the judge could only cross the district lines if a request was made for a special venire, which did not happen.

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Related

Myers v. State
353 So. 2d 1364 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1978)
Thomas v. State
818 So. 2d 335 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Buel v. Sims
798 So. 2d 425 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001)
De La Beckwith v. State
707 So. 2d 547 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1997)
George v. State
812 So. 2d 1103 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2001)
Davis v. State
660 So. 2d 1228 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1995)
Taylor v. State
114 So. 390 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1927)

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Bluebook (online)
829 So. 2d 1283, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 591, 2002 WL 31458702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gates-v-state-missctapp-2002.