Jones v. State

130 So. 3d 519, 2013 WL 1737238, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 199
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 23, 2013
DocketNo. 2011-KA-01468-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 130 So. 3d 519 (Jones 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
Jones v. State, 130 So. 3d 519, 2013 WL 1737238, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 199 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

BARNES, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A Tunica County jury convicted La-titus Jones of uttering forgery. The trial judge sentenced Jones as a habitual offender to ten years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Jones now appeals, claiming that his indictment was defective; he was prejudiced by appearing shackled before the jury; an audio recording of his interview by law enforcement should have been suppressed; and the weight and sufficiency of the evidence was inadequate. Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. In August 2010, Jones was indicted for uttering forgery of a check. The charge stems from an incident on or about Saturday, October 17, 2009.1 On that day, shortly before closing time, Jones entered [522]*522the Money Tree, a check cashing business in Tunica, Mississippi, and presented a check for $950.09 to employee Linda Tutor to be cashed. The check was drawn from the account of “Real’s Trucking, Inc.,” in Gunnison, Mississippi, and dated October 12, 2009, for “contract labor.” The account was at Woodforest Bank, and the check was signed by “Joe Peals.” Since it was Saturday, Tutor could not verify the check with the bank’s automated telephone number, but she cashed it for Jones anyway. Seven days later, Tutor learned the check did not clear the bank.

¶ 3. Jones then made a second trip to the Money Tree on or about Saturday, October 24, again at closing time, attempting to cash another check for $950.87, drawn from “Goss Roofing, Inc.,” in Greenville, Mississippi, dated October 22, 2009, and signed by “Tom Best.” Tutor did not cash the check but instead contacted law enforcement and made casual conversation with Jones until the police arrived. Law enforcement asked Jones to come to the police station for an interview, and Jones complied. After the interview, he was released. Over a month later, a warrant was issued for Jones’s arrest in connection with uttering a forgery and the robbery of a Kroger store in Washington County. On December 4, 2009, Jones was interviewed a second time by law enforcement.

¶4. In August 2010, Jones was indicted for one count of uttering forgery in Tunica County. The text of the indictment related to the first check from Real’s Trucking. However, erroneously attached to the indictment was a copy of the second check from Goss Roofing.

¶5. In July 2011, Jones’s two-day trial commenced. He appeared at the courthouse in his yellow MDOC prison jumpsuit, wearing a waist shackle and leg irons. The prosecution raised a concern about the jury’s seeing Jones restrained; so a hearing ensued in the judge’s chambers. After testimony from MDOC officers about whether Jones should remain restrained, the judge decided Jones should not walk before the jury with restraints on, but would already be seated at the defense table when they entered. However, after voir dire, the judge noted it was apparent the jury had seen Jones’s restraints. Therefore, prior to the State’s opening statement, he instructed the jury that the fact Jones was already in the custody of the MDOC had no bearing on his guilt or innocence for the current charge. Then, during the State’s opening statement, the jury had to be excused when the court reporter had technical difficulties. Upon their return, the judge announced that Jones’s restraints had been removed, and again instructed the jury to disregard the restraints as evidence of guilt or innocence. On the second day of trial, Jones was not shackled and wore civilian clothes.

¶ 6. Also, before trial, a hearing was held on a Miranda2 violation Jones alleged in a pro se pretrial motion. The allegation concerned statements taken by Officer Michael Nichols, chief investigator for the Tunica Police Department, who conducted the two interviews with Jones in October and December of 2009. Officer Nichols was examined, as well as Jones. Two signed waiver-of-rights forms for each interview were introduced into evidence. The judge found no Miranda violation had occurred during the interviews.

¶ 7. At trial the State called four witnesses. Officer Nichols testified that he was notified by Money Tree when no record of the account for the first cashed check was found. He called the Woodfor-[523]*523est Bank and discovered the check’s account never existed. There was also no response when Officer Nichols called the phone number listed on the check for “Real’s Trucking.” Further, when a computer search was done for the address of the alleged company in Gunnison, it could not be found. Satellite computer photographs showed the area to be residential.

¶ 8. The first time Officer Nichols interviewed Jones was after Jones attempted to cash the second check on October 24, 2009. At that time, Officer Nichols could not verify that the Goss Roofing check was invalid, but he confronted Jones about the invalidity of the Real’s Trucking check. Jones told him both checks were for some work he had done for two different people, but he could not provide Officer Nichols with the names of the individuals who had given him the checks. Also during the interview, Jones revealed he was from Rosedale, Mississippi, and had a cousin by the name of “Joe Pearls,” but he did not provide any further useful information for the investigation, and was released.

¶ 9. On December 4, 2009, Officer Nichols interviewed Jones again. At this point, Jones was under arrest, and gave a statement that revealed an illegal check-cashing scheme, whereby he and others were receiving the checks from an individual named Ellis Urshery. The CD audio recording of both of Jones’s statements was entered into evidence, and portions were played for the jury during Officer Nichols’s examination. In both interviews, Officer Nichols immediately advised Jones of his Miranda rights, and Jones signed a statement waiving those rights.

¶ 10. Tutor, who had worked at Money Tree for approximately four years, related Jones’s two check-cashing attempts. Additionally, Woodforest Bank employee Tameka Dowl from the Senatobia, Mississippi branch testified that she could not find the account’s name or number in the bank’s system for the first check. The bank also has branches in Greenville and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Finally, a Gunni-son resident testified that the address on the Real’s Trucking check was actually her residential address, and there had never been such a business at the house or in Gunnison. The residence had been purchased after a foreclosure.

¶ 11. The State then rested, and the defense did not call any witnesses. The jury found Jones guilty of uttering forgery. At Jones’s sentencing hearing, proof of two prior convictions was entered into evidence — a bank robbery in Illinois in 1999 and the Washington County Kroger robbery in 2009. The judge sentenced Jones as a habitual offender under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Rev.2007) to ten years in the custody of the MDOC, without the possibility for parole or probation. Jones filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, in the alternative, a new trial, which was denied. Jones timely appealed.3

ANALYSIS

1. Indictment

¶ 12. Jones argues that his indictment is fatally defective because the check described in the indictment for uttering forgery (the check drawn from “Real’s Trucking, Inc.,” on October 12, 2009 for $950.09) was not attached to the indictment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
130 So. 3d 519, 2013 WL 1737238, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-missctapp-2013.