London v. State

80 So. 3d 837, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 427, 2011 WL 2811367
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJuly 19, 2011
DocketNo. 2009-KP-01982-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 80 So. 3d 837 (London 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
London v. State, 80 So. 3d 837, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 427, 2011 WL 2811367 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ISHEE, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. In September 2007, Mario London was arrested and charged with grand larceny after stealing a computer from a Wal-mart in Southaven, Mississippi. After London’s arrest, an eyewitness to the crime was shown a photographic lineup, from which the eyewitness immediately and positively identified London as the culprit. London was later indicted and tried before a jury in the Circuit Court of DeSoto County. He was found guilty of grand larceny in August 2009. The circuit court then determined that London qualified as a habitual offender, and his sentence was subsequently enhanced by the habitual-offender statute. As such, London was sentenced to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) without eligibility for parole or probation. Aggrieved, London appeals. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On September 26, 2007, London entered a Walmart in Southaven, retrieved a computer from the electronics department, and began to leave the store without paying for the computer. As London walked toward the store’s exit, a Walmart greeter, Lorene Branstetter, asked London to produce his receipt for the computer. London blatantly refused, despite several requests from Branstetter for London to stop, and continued walking toward the exit doors.

¶ 3. Branstetter noticed a friend and former Walmart employee, Tony Boykin, entering the store as London was leaving, and told Boykin that London was stealing the computer. Boykin also attempted to stop London and force him to show Bran-stetter a receipt. However, London again refused, stating: “I don’t really have to show her a — thing.” Boykin followed London to the parking lot where he observed London place the computer in a vehicle and drive away. London quickly hit a curb in the Walmart parking lot, and his car became lodged in a median. Authorities retrieved the computer from the vehicle after apprehending London, who had fled the scene on foot.

¶ 4. Approximately two hours after the incident, Crystal Stockley, a Walmart asset-protection coordinator, arrived at the store and was asked to review video footage of the events from the store’s surveillance camera. Thereafter, Stockley pro[839]*839duced two videos to the authorities that showed London’s actions from the time he entered Walmart until he drove away in the parking lot.

¶ 5. Three weeks after the theft, the record reflects that Boykin was presented with a photographic lineup by the authorities and asked “if he recognized anybody.” The record further indicates that Boykin immediately and positively identified London as the culprit. Sometime later, London was indicted by a grand jury for grand larceny, and the case was set for trial in August 2009.

¶ 6. At the trial, the prosecution introduced the surveillance videos into evidence and played parts of one video to the jury during several examinations of witnesses. Specifically, during Boykin’s testimony, Boykin pointed to himself in the video and then gave a first-hand explanation of what was occurring as the video reflected London exiting Walmart with the computer, with Boykin following him, and London ultimately fleeing the scene. Branstetter’s testimony at trial supported Boykin’s description of events, and it further detailed the confrontation with London and his refusal to produce a receipt for the computer. During deliberations, the jury was allowed to watch the two videos in their entirety — videos that showed London entering Walmart, walking to the electronics department, taking the computer, encountering Branstetter and Boykin, and ultimately leaving Walmart without paying for the computer.

¶ 7. Subsequently, the jury found London guilty of grand larceny. Due to London’s eleven prior felony convictions, four of which were crimes of violence, the circuit court sentenced London to life in the custody of the MDOC as a habitual offender without eligibility for parole or probation. In his initial appellate brief, London’s counsel argued the following: (1) the photographic lineup used by authorities for Boykin to identify London was overly suggestive; (2) the imposition of a life sentence without eligibility for parole or probation constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; (3) the circuit court erred by allowing the jury to review the videos entered into evidence but not played during the trial; and (4) the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

¶ 8. Later, London’s counsel withdrew, and London submitted a supplemental brief pro se. In addition to London’s previous assignments of error, he also claims in his supplemental brief that the prosecution did not prove he was a habitual offender, such that enhancement of his sentence under the habitual-offender statute was improper. Since this argument is interrelated to London’s assertion that his enhanced sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, we address those issues together.

DISCUSSION

I. Photographic Lineup

¶ 9. We have held that “[a] photographic lineup is impermissibly suggestive when ‘the accused is conspicuously singled out in some manner from the others.’ ” Jones v. State, 993 So.2d 386, 393 (¶ 14) (Miss.Ct.App.2008) (quoting York v. State, 413 So.2d 1372, 1383 (Miss.1982)). However, the Mississippi Supreme Court further stated:

An impermissibly suggestive pretrial identification does not preclude in-court identification by an eye witness [sic] who viewed the suspect at the procedure, unless: ... from the totality of the circumstances surrounding it, ... the identification was so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentiflcation.

[840]*840Thompson v. State, 483 So.2d 690, 692 (Miss.1986) (citation omitted). Additionally, this Court has reiterated the following findings of the United States Supreme Court in concluding what factors are to be considered when determining whether a lineup was overly suggestive:

1. The opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime.
2. The witness’s degree of attention.
3. The accuracy of the witness’s prior description of the criminal.
4. The level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the confrontation.
5. The length of time between the crime and the confrontation.

Jones, 993 So.2d at 393 (¶ 14) (quoting Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972)). Finally, we have also determined that “[i]n practice, Mississippi tends to place a heavy burden on defendants who are contesting the propriety of a pretrial identification procedure.” Id. (quoting Brown v. State, 829 So.2d 93, 102 (¶ 18) (Miss.2002)).

¶ 10. London asserts that the photographic lineup compiled by authorities and presented to Boykin for identification was overly suggestive because London’s “skin complexion and the other five persons[’ skin complexion] in the photospread [were] not similar.” London maintains that his skin tone is lighter than the other five individuals depicted in the lineup and that the difference singled him out.

¶ 11. However, having reviewed the photographic lineup, the individuals all retain very similar features to London.

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Related

Neil v. Biggers
409 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Thompson v. State
483 So. 2d 690 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1986)
Jones v. State
993 So. 2d 386 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Cummings v. State
29 So. 3d 859 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2010)
Hawkins v. State
11 So. 3d 123 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Bush v. State
895 So. 2d 836 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
York v. State
413 So. 2d 1372 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1982)
Phillips v. State
421 So. 2d 476 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1982)
Brown v. State
829 So. 2d 93 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Alexander v. Womack
857 So. 2d 59 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Whitlock v. State
47 So. 3d 668 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2010)
Long v. State
52 So. 3d 1188 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
80 So. 3d 837, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 427, 2011 WL 2811367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/london-v-state-missctapp-2011.