Little v. State

788 So. 2d 858, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 251, 2001 WL 714820
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 26, 2001
DocketNo. 2000-KA-00629-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 788 So. 2d 858 (Little 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
Little v. State, 788 So. 2d 858, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 251, 2001 WL 714820 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

PAYNE, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Marlon Little was indicted by the Claiborne County Grand Jury for the unlawful sale of cocaine, in violation of Miss. Code Ann. Section 41-29-139. He was tried by a jury in Claiborne County Circuit Court and found guilty. Following a pre-sentence investigation, Little was sentenced to serve twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Little filed motions for a new trial and JNOV, which were denied. From this judgment and sentence, Little now appeals. Finding no merit to this appeal, the judgment and sentence are affirmed.

FACTS

¶ 2. Noah Coffee, an undercover investigator for the North Central Narcotics Task Force, traveled to Port Gibson on June 17, 1998, to “make drug cases on the street.” Coffee, along with a confidential informant, stopped at a house in Port Gibson to see Little, but was told he was not there. As Coffee was driving away, he noticed someone in a car waving to him, so Coffee stopped and backed up. Coffee testified that Little got out of his car and came to the driver’s window of Coffee’s car. After speaking for a moment, Little got into the back seat of Coffee’s car and sold Coffee a twenty-dollar rock of cocaine. Coffee had a video recorder focused on the driver’s window. However, because Little chose to get into Coffee’s car, the only time he is captured on the video is as he is walking past the window to the rear car door.

ISSUE PRESENTED

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 3. Little makes one assignment of error on this appeal, as follows:

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT GRANTING LITTLE’S MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT AT THE END OF THE STATE’S CASE AND AT THE END OF LITTLE’S CASE, AND THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT DID NOT GRANT HIS MOTION FOR JNOV OR A NEW TRIAL BECAUSE THE VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE AND WAS THE RESULT OF BIAS, PREJUDICE AND PASSION.

Little’s argument is really twofold: sufficiency and weight of the evidence. We look to McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774 (Miss.1993), for our standard of review in regard to sufficiency of the evidence:

[860]*860In appeals from an overruled motion for JNOV the sufficiency of the evidence as a matter of law is viewed and tested in a light most favorable to the State. Esparaza v. State, 595 So.2d 418, 426 (Miss.1992); Wetz [v. State, 503 So.2d 803] at 808 [ (Miss.1987) ]; Harveston v. State, 493 So.2d 365, 370 (Miss.1986); May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 780-81 (Miss.1984); Callahan v. State, 419 So.2d 165, 174 (Miss.1982). The credible evidence consistent with [the defendant’s] guilt must be accepted as true. Spikes v. State, 302 So.2d 250, 251 (Miss.1974). The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Wetz at 808; Hammond v. State, 465 So.2d 1031, 1035 (Miss.1985); May at 781.... We are authorized to reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.

McClain, 625 So.2d at 778.

¶ 4. We look to Hampton v. State, 760 So.2d 803 (Miss.Ct.App.2000), for our standard of review with regard to weight of the evidence and motions for new trial.

Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury.... Moreover, the challenge to the weight of the evidence via motion for a new trial implicates the trial court’s sound discretion. Procedurally such challenge necessarily invokes [Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 10.05]. New trial decisions rest in the sound discretion of the trial court, and the motion should not be granted except to prevent an unconscionable injustice.

Hampton, 625 So.2d at (¶ 3) (citing McClain, 625 So.2d at 778-81). Reviewing Little’s arguments, it appears the evidence did support the verdict, and no unconscionable injustice has resulted.

DISCUSSION

I. SUFFICIENCY

¶ 5. Little contends that the evidence against him was insufficient to support a guilty verdict. He questions in his brief how an agent from North Mississippi, who testified that he does not know Little personally, could have identified him as the seller, and identified him one and one-half years later in court. Little argues that the transaction, from the time someone flagged Coffee down until the sale was made, lasted less than three minutes.

¶ 6. At trial, Coffee testified that he had a confidential informant with him. On appeal, the State is entitled to any reasonable inferences which the jury may draw, Rainer v. State, 438 So.2d 290, 292 (Miss.1983), and it is reasonable to infer that the informant knew Little’s identity. However, on cross-examination, Coffee also testified that he did not do the identifying. He stated:

I can remember people that I come in contact with, but the identification is done by the area law enforcement officer. ... I present a film to them and they identify the person.... [T]hey look at what I have there and identify the person as they know them.

Little made the sale to Coffee while sitting in Coffee’s vehicle. Coffee positively identified Little in the courtroom. The video placed Little at the vehicle when the transaction was made, according to Coffee’s testimony. The State argues that testimony from a single credible witness has been held as sufficient to sustain a conviction on many occasions. Holmes v. State, 660 So.2d 1225, 1227 (Miss.1995); Doby v. State, 532 So.2d 584, 590-91 (Miss.1988).

[861]*861¶7. Next Little argues that the jury should have considered the fact that this case did not occur in the usual manner, where the seller stands at the buyer’s car window to make the transaction. Little argues that the videotape is inconclusive and against the overwhelming weight of the evidence because no one was captured on video actually exchanging the drugs for money. He again contends that it is improbable that Coffee could make an identification after the passage of time, and that “it is beyond the realm of understanding that an identification could be made under these conditions and circumstances[, a]nd that any identification made so was made with outside help.” Little apparently is mixing the determination of Little’s name with Coffee’s physical identification of Little as the perpetrator. Other than the explanation stated above, this Court does not have evidence concerning how Little’s name was determined. However, the record shows that Coffee positively identified Little, in the courtroom, as the man who sold Coffee a twenty-dollar bag of cocaine. The State argues that Coffee’s identification of Little was a prime topic during cross-examination and that these matters were brought up by the defense during closing argument.

¶ 8. Little makes an unclear argument that the jury, disregarding the fact that the sale was not captured on video and that this was not a “normal transaction” made at the car window, had no form of identification other than Coffee’s testimony.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Doby v. State
532 So. 2d 584 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1988)
McClain v. State
625 So. 2d 774 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1993)
Magee v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line
551 So. 2d 182 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1989)
Fisher v. State
481 So. 2d 203 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1985)
Harveston v. State
493 So. 2d 365 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1986)
Lee v. State
469 So. 2d 1225 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1985)
Hammond v. State
465 So. 2d 1031 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1985)
Hampton v. State
760 So. 2d 803 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Esparaza v. State
595 So. 2d 418 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1992)
Herring v. State
691 So. 2d 948 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1997)
Rainer v. State
438 So. 2d 290 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1983)
Wetz v. State
503 So. 2d 803 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1987)
Thornhill v. State
561 So. 2d 1025 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1989)
Callahan v. State
419 So. 2d 165 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1982)
Holmes v. State
660 So. 2d 1225 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1995)
Spikes v. State
302 So. 2d 250 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1974)
May v. State
460 So. 2d 778 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
Reeves v. State
132 So. 331 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
788 So. 2d 858, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 251, 2001 WL 714820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/little-v-state-missctapp-2001.