Jenkins v. State

757 So. 2d 1005, 1999 WL 185189
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 6, 1999
Docket97-KA-00991-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 757 So. 2d 1005 (Jenkins 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
Jenkins v. State, 757 So. 2d 1005, 1999 WL 185189 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

757 So.2d 1005 (1999)

Dewain Steele JENKINS, a/k/a Bubba Jenkins, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 97-KA-00991-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 6, 1999.

Helen J. McDade, DeKalb, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey Klingfuss, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE SOUTHWICK, P.J., DIAZ AND THOMAS, JJ.

SOUTHWICK, P.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Dewain Jenkins was convicted by a Neshoba County Circuit Court jury of two counts of possession with intent to sell two *1006 different controlled substances while also possessing a firearm. He was convicted. On appeal he argues that the name of a confidential informant whose information led to the search of Jenkins' home should have been disclosed, that a circumstantial evidence instruction was improperly denied, and that the verdict was based on insufficient evidence. We do not find merit in these claims and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. The residence of defendant Dewain "Bubba" Jenkins was searched by the Neshoba County sheriff, a deputy, and agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics on December 14, 1996. A search warrant had been acquired based on information provided by a confidential informant. Jenkins was there with his girlfriend and their small child. In bedrooms the officers found four weapons, a pill bottle with two rock-like substances, and substantial cash. In the kitchen were mechanical and electronic scales, crystal methamphetamine in a cloth bag, and a book on how to manufacture crystal methamphetamine. A "Scotch-Guard" aerosol can that could be opened and items hidden inside, that a bureau of narcotics officer stated was a type of container commonly used to hide drugs, along with an address book that the State argued revealed Jenkins's customers, were also discovered.

¶ 3. At trial Terry Buse, who had purchased methamphetamine from Jenkins months before the search, testified as to his purchases, and that he had agreed to work undercover with the bureau of narcotics. Jenkins's attorney theorizes that Buse was one of the confidential informants who provided the information that led to a search warrant being acquired. She asked Buse if he was one of the informants whose information was relied upon for the search warrant. Buse testified that he did not know. Buse is serving a twenty-year federal sentence.

¶ 4. Another witness testified that she purchased methamphetamine on the West Coast and in Montana for delivery to Jenkins to sell in Mississippi. The drugs were sent by commercial overnight delivery services and other means. Three of the law enforcement officers who conducted the search testified as to what occurred and what was found. An employee of the state crime lab testified as to the fact that what was discovered was methamphetamine and amphetamine.

¶ 5. Jenkins was convicted of both counts under the indictment.

DISCUSSION

1. Name of confidential informant

¶ 6. Two confidential informants were relied upon to acquire a search warrant. Jenkins believes that the first was Terry Buse, whose testimony at trial was from knowledge gained months before the search. The second informant was said to have been in Jenkins' home earlier in the day of the search. The name of neither informant was ever disclosed to Jenkins.

¶ 7. On the morning of trial, the defendant requested the informants' names. The trial court relied on the fact that neither informant was alleged to be present during the time of the search or arrest to prevent the disclosure. Two other requests later in the trial were also denied.

¶ 8. Jenkins argues that the informant who had been in the home earlier in the same day as the search had to be disclosed. No appellate argument is made that it was error to fail to name the first informant. The informant stated that he had seen a quarter-ounce package of methamphetamine sold for $250. According to Jenkins, no similarly large quantity of drugs was found during the search and therefore such a sale earlier in the day of the search is inconsistent with the evidence. However, the 17.40 grams of methamphetamine and amphetamine mixed together in one pill bottle is more than half an ounce. According to Jenkins, the informant's presence earlier on the day of the *1007 search raises the possibility that it was the informant who placed the drugs in the places where they were found and that Jenkins was ensnared by the confidential informant's trap. Jenkins and his girlfriend both testified that earlier in the day they had not seen the drugs in the places that law enforcement officers found them.

¶ 9. Jenkins and his live-in girlfriend both testified about people who were present at the home prior to the search. What in fact Jenkins may have been asking was for the State to identify which person among those who were known to have been at the house, was the confidential informant. With that person then on the stand, perhaps rigorous questioning would uncover that the informant planted the drugs. There is also the possibility that Jenkins is arguing that the informant was never seen by him at all, as he or she surreptitiously entered the house the morning of the search, planted the drugs, and left.

¶ 10. The issue of disclosure of names of confidential informants has frequently been litigated. A rule has been promulgated that balances the interest in personal safety and continuing utility of informants with the right of a defendant to have the evidence relevant to his defense. The starting place for review is the uniform circuit court rule regarding informants:

Disclosure of an informant's identity shall not be required unless the confidential informant is to be produced at a hearing or trial or failure to disclose his/her identity will infringe the constitutional rights of the accused or unless the informant was or depicts himself/herself as an eyewitness to the event or events constituting the charge against the defendant.

URCCC 9.04(B)(2).

¶ 11. A case much like the present one is Arnett v. State, 532 So.2d 1003 (Miss.1988). There a confidential informant called an officer with the bureau of narcotics with whom he had apparently been working. The officer was informed of events then occurring at a house. Using that information, a search warrant was acquired. The search uncovered 600 pounds of marijuana in the house. The defendant was convicted of possession of marijuana in a quantity greater than a kilogram. On appeal this issue was discussed:

Arnett argues that the identity of the confidential informant should have been made known to him because the confidential informant, by virtue of detailing specific information to the agents of the MBN, must have been or pretended to have been a participant in the crime.

Id. at 1007. The supreme court held that an informant who had sufficient detailed information to notify law enforcement officers of the presence of drugs in a house was not a material eyewitness nor a participant in the crime. The court relied on a similar case in which no disclosure was required when an informant saw drugs in a residence, relayed that information to authorities, but was not present during the search. Read v. State, 430 So.2d 832, 836 (Miss.1983). The defendant in Read was convicted of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. In neither Read nor Arnett was the defendant arguing that the informant might have planted the drugs.

¶ 12.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
757 So. 2d 1005, 1999 WL 185189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jenkins-v-state-missctapp-1999.