Harveston v. State

742 So. 2d 1163, 1999 WL 410479
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 22, 1999
Docket97-KA-00197-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 742 So. 2d 1163 (Harveston 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
Harveston v. State, 742 So. 2d 1163, 1999 WL 410479 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

742 So.2d 1163 (1999)

Larry HARVESTON a/k/a Luke Harveston, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 97-KA-00197-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 22, 1999.

*1164 B. Calvin Cosnahan, II, McComb, John D. Sutton, Monticello, Rebecca G. Taylor, Edward O'Neal Benson, Brookhaven, Attorneys for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Billy L. Gore, Attorneys for Appellee.

BEFORE KING, P.J., BRIDGES, AND LEE, JJ.

*1165 LEE, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Larry Harveston, also known as Luke Harveston, was originally charged with three counts of the sale of methamphetamine and marijuana. Count one for the sale of methamphetamine was severed from counts two and three. Harveston was tried on counts two and three for the sale of methamphetamine and marijuana and was convicted and sentenced as an habitual offender on both charges. From this conviction Harveston perfects his appeal to this Court and although there is no clear demarcation of the issues in his brief, Harveston appears to argue the following issues on appeal: (1)whether there was sufficient evidence presented by the State to support Harveston's conviction and whether the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, (2) whether the trial court erred in denying Harveston a continuance and whether said denial resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel, and (3) whether Harveston was unable to effectively assist his counsel with his trial due to a conflict of interest and Harveston being under the influence of medication. Finding his arguments without merit, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Larry Harveston was indicted by the Grand Jury of the Fourteenth Judicial District County of Lincoln, October Term 1995. Harveston was charged with three counts which are as follows: counts one and two were for the unlawful sale of methamphetamine, and count three was for the unlawful sale of marijuana. On the day of the trial, count one was severed from counts two and three; therefore, in the case at bar Harveston was only tried for counts two and three. Testimony during the trial revealed that on March 14, 1995, Harveston contacted a female who was a confidential informant and inquired as to whether she would be interested in the purchase of methamphetamine and marijuana. The informant responded in the affirmative and a time was arranged for Harveston to come to her house so he could make the sale. At approximately 7:45 p.m. that same evening the confidential informant contacted Officer Craig Oster through his pager.

¶ 3. Officer Foster testified that once he received the page he returned the telephone call placed by the informant and was advised that she had spoken with Harveston earlier that day and that she could purchase crystal methamphetamine and possibly some marijuana. Upon completion of the conversation with the informant, he contacted Agent Aldridge to assist him with the case. Both agents proceeded to the residence of the informant.

¶ 4. Upon arrival, both agents spoke with the informant, and she restated that she could buy methamphetamine and possibly marijuana from Harveston. Additionally, the informant instructed him and Agent Aldridge that she would need approximately ninety-five dollars to purchase the methamphetamine and marijuana. The necessary money for the purchase was furnished by the officers to the informant. At this point, the informant stated that Harveston would arrive at her house in approximately thirty minutes. Officer Oster and Agent Aldridge began to make the necessary preparations to conduct the investigation.

¶ 5. Officer Oster testified that to prepare for the arrival of Harveston he and Agent Aldridge searched the immediate area where the surveillance, audio, and video equipment would be located, as well as searching the pockets of the informant to make sure no drugs were available that would taint the investigation. A purse which belonged to the informant was searched and a pocket within the purse was designated as the location for the purchase money and the drugs. The purse was placed on the coffee table and the informant was instructed that when Harveston sold the drugs to her she was to place the drugs in the designated pocket inside the purse. The officers then proceeded *1166 to the room containing the monitoring systems to supervise the video and audio recordings of the transaction.

¶ 6. Harveston arrived at the residence of the confidential informant and entered said residence with a female and two children. Officer Oster testified that he was able to witness the transaction on a monitor while it was taking place. Officer Oster positively identified Harveston as the individual who transferred the drugs to the informant and who received the money for said drugs. In addition to Officer Oster's identification, the informant also identified Harveston as the individual who sold her the drugs on the date in question.

¶ 7. After Harveston left the residence of the informant, Officer Oster proceeded to collect the methamphetamine and marijuana from the purse of the informant. Officer Oster sealed the drugs individually in a plastic bag and forwarded them to the Mississippi Crime Lab where they were positively identified as containing methamphetamine and marijuana.

I. WHETHER THERE WAS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY THE STATE TO SUPPORT HARVESTON'S CONVICTION AND WHETHER THE VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

¶ 8. In the first assignment of error Harveston makes no legal argument and cites no authority to support this issue. Unsupported by authority, this issue is not properly before the Court for review; however, this Court feels compelled to address this issue. Dozier v. State, 247 Miss. 850, 157 So.2d 798, 799 (1963). In his brief Harveston has blurred the distinction between sufficiency of the evidence and a jury verdict being against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. For the purposes of appeal this Court will address both issues as they pertain to the case at bar. This Court will first examine the contention that the trial judge erred when he failed to grant a directed verdict or judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

¶ 9. "Requests for a directed verdict and motions JNOV implicate sufficiency of the evidence." Franklin v. State, 676 So.2d 287, 288 (Miss.1996). Harveston argues that there was insufficient evidence presented by the State to support a conviction on counts two and three for the sale of crystal methamphetamine and marijuana.

¶ 10. When the trial court judges the legal sufficiency, as opposed to the weight of the evidence on a motion for a directed verdict, the trial court is required to consider evidence introduced in the light most favorable to the State and accept as true all of the evidence introduced at trial by the State, including all reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom. Yates v. State, 685 So.2d 715, 718 (Miss. 1996). Any evidence that is favorable to the defendant must be disregarded during the consideration of the trial court in determining whether to grant a motion. Id. at 718.

¶ 11. When the court is making a determination on whether to grant a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, the court is "not at liberty to direct that the defendant be discharged short of a conclusion... that given the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the verdict, no reasonable hypothetical juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty." Hicks v. State, 580 So.2d 1302, 1304-05 (Miss.1991) (quoting Pearson v. State, 428 So.2d 1361, 1364 (Miss.1983)). Additionally, in

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
742 So. 2d 1163, 1999 WL 410479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harveston-v-state-missctapp-1999.