John L. Johnson v. State of Mississippi

CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 2003
Docket2003-KA-02139-SCT
StatusPublished

This text of John L. Johnson v. State of Mississippi (John L. Johnson v. State of Mississippi) 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
John L. Johnson v. State of Mississippi, (Mich. 2003).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI

NO. 2003-KA-02139-SCT

JOHN L. JOHNSON a/k/a JOHNNY L. JOHNSON

v.

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 9/12/2003 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. ROBERT WALTER BAILEY COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: WAYNE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: LESLIE D. ROUSELL PRO SE ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: JEAN SMITH VAUGHAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: E. J. (BILBO) MITCHELL NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 6/16/2005 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:

BEFORE SMITH, C.J., EASLEY AND GRAVES, JJ.

GRAVES, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶1. John L. Johnson was convicted of the sale of cocaine within fifteen hundred feet of a

church, in violation of Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-29-1391 and 41-29-142.2 The trial judge

1 Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-139(a) states in part, “it is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally: (1) To sell, barter, transfer, manufacture, distribute, dispense or possess with intent to sell, barter, transfer, manufacture, distribute or dispense, a controlled substance.” Cocaine is a Schedule II substance under Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-115. 2 Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-142 states in part, “any person who violates or conspires to violate Section 41-29-139(a)(1), Mississippi Code of 1972 . . . in or on, or within one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet of, a building or outbuilding which is all or part of . . . any church . . . shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by the term of imprisonment or a fine, or both, of that authorized by Section 41-29-139(b) and, in the discretion of the court, sentenced Johnson to a term of thirty years imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi

Department of Corrections without early release. Johnson timely appealed and charges the trial

court with numerous errors.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. On June 14, 2002, officers Michael Tolbert and Tony Holifield of the South

Mississippi Narcotics Task Force conducted an undercover drug buy with the aid of a paid

informant, Steve Brown. Officer Tolbert monitored the transaction by surveillance equipment

while Holifield and Brown purchased the cocaine. Holifield and Brown arrived at a trailer park

in Wayne County at approximately 9:14 p.m., purchased one rock of crack cocaine from

Jeffrey Miller and another from Johnson, left that location at approximately 9:18 p.m., and met

up with officers Tolbert and Overstreet for a post-buy meeting where Tolbert took possession

of the drugs and weighed them. Johnson was later arrested and indicted by a grand jury for the

illegal sale of cocaine within fifteen hundred (1,500) feet of the Saint Mary Holy Church of

God in Christ. Five or six days after the sale, Officer Holifield identified Johnson as one of

the individuals from whom he purchased drugs after being shown a single photograph of

Johnson by Officer Tolbert.3

¶3. Johnson’s trial in the Circuit Court of Wayne County began on July 9, 2003. At trial,

the State introduced testimony of Tolbert, Holifield, and Brandi Goodman, who worked for the

may be punished by a term of imprisonment or a fine, or both, of up to twice that authorized by Section 41-29-139(b). 3 The photograph used for pretrial identification was a booking photo of Johnson taken on the night of his arrest for the instant crime. At trial, this same photo was admitted into evidence.

2 Mississippi Crime Lab. Tolbert and Holifield provided conflicting testimony as to the amount

of money used in the drug buy and as to the value of the drugs purchased. Tolbert testified that

he gave Holifield $40 total to purchase drugs and that Holifield purchased a $20 rock of crack

cocaine from both Miller and Johnson. Holifield, however, testified that Tolbert gave him $60

to purchase drugs and that he bought a $40 rock from Miller and a $20 rock from Johnson.

There was also conflicting testimony as to the weight of the drugs purchased. Tolbert testified

that the weight of the cocaine purchased from Johnson was approximately 0.6 grams. Brandi

Goodman testified that the drugs she weighed at the state’s crime lab, which were purportedly

purchased from Johnson, weighed only 0.22 grams.

¶4. After the State rested its case-in-chief, Johnson made a motion for a directed verdict,

which the court denied. Johnson then rested without offering any additional evidence. The jury

returned a unanimous guilty verdict on July 10, 2003. A sentencing hearing was held on

September 12, 2003, and the judge sentenced Johnson to thirty years without early release,

pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81, assessed him $250 in court costs, and assessed a

crime lab fee of $300. Johnson timely filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal

notwithstanding the verdict (J.N.O.V.) or, in the alternative, a new trial, which was denied.

¶5. Johnson raises five (5) issues on appeal4, alleging that: (1) The trial court committed

reversible error by failing to grant his motion for a directed verdict. Further, the weight of all

of the evidence at the trial of this matter cannot sustain a conviction of guilty of sale of

cocaine within 1500 feet of a church. The state failed to prove identification as well as within

4 The issues raised by Johnson are quoted verbatim from his appellate brief, so as to frame his arguments in his own words.

3 1500 feet of a church beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) Although the defendant did not object to

the chain of custody and the subsequent admission into evidence of the alleged crack cocaine

in this case, the court should not have allowed the State of Mississippi to introduce it into

evidence; (3) The trial court committed error by sentencing the defendant to thirty years

without parole as doing so was tantamount to giving the defendant a life sentence; (4) The court

committed reversible error by refusing to grant defendant’s proposed jury instruction D-2; and

(5) Whether the above described errors when viewed cumulatively rise to the level of

preventing Mr. Johnson from receiving a constitutionally fair trial. Finding no error, we affirm

Johnson’s conviction and sentence.

DISCUSSION

I. Sufficiency and Weight of the Evidence.

¶6. Johnson’s attack of the trial court’s denial of a directed verdict breaks down into two

arguments: (1) that the evidence put on by the State was insufficient to overcome a motion for

a directed verdict, let alone to support a jury verdict of guilty, and (2) that Officer Holifield’s

pre-court identification of him, based on a single photograph, was unnecessarily suggestive,

as was admission of that photo at trial, and amounted to a denial of his fourteenth amendment

due process rights. This claim of a due process violation raises an independent issue which we

will address separately in Section II below.

¶7. This Court reviews an appeal of an overruled motion for a directed verdict or j.n.o.v. as

a matter of law, with the legal sufficiency of the evidence being viewed in a light most

favorable to the State.

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