McClendon v. State

852 So. 2d 43, 2002 WL 1797129
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 6, 2002
Docket2000-KA-02051-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 852 So. 2d 43 (McClendon 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
McClendon v. State, 852 So. 2d 43, 2002 WL 1797129 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

852 So.2d 43 (2002)

Gary McCLENDON and Gloria Henry McClendon, Appellants,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2000-KA-02051-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

August 6, 2002.
Rehearing Denied March 11, 2003.
Certiorari Denied August 7, 2003.

*44 Sharon Henderson, Jackson, attorney for appellants.

Office of the Attorney General by Jean Smith Vaughan, attorney for appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., THOMAS, and IRVING, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the court.

¶ 1. Gary and Gloria McClendon appeal from a judgment of conviction rendered in the Circuit Court of Copiah County, Mississippi, pursuant to a jury verdict which found them guilty of grand larceny and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. In this appeal, the McClendons raise one issue which is whether the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.[1]*45 We find that the evidence is sufficient to support Mr. McClendon's conviction of both offenses. However, do not find the evidence sufficient to support Mrs. McClendon's convictions; consequently, we reverse and render both of her convictions. We do find the evidence sufficient to support a charge against Mrs. McClendon of accessory after the fact of grand larceny, but she was not charged with this offense, and it is not a lesser-included offense of the charged offense.

FACTS

¶ 2. On July 5, 2000, Danny Berry, owner of a Chevrolet dealership in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, observed one of his salespersons and two males walking across the highway from his car repair department to the lot where the new vehicles were located. The men left but came back later and looked at a red Tahoe. After they left this second time, Berry sent one of his lot employees to check the red Tahoe that the men had looked at. Upon checking the vehicle, the employee found that the keys bearing a tag marked with the Tahoe's stock number did not start or open the Tahoe. Berry concluded that the keys had been taken and called the police department.

¶ 3. Officer Gerome Leflore of the Crystal Springs Police Department responded to the call. Berry and his employees explained that the last people they could remember looking at the Tahoe were two men driving a red or maroon Mercedes. Also, they told the officer that one of the men walked with a limp. The employees explained that the two men had come to get the Mercedes repaired but decided against it. As a result of this initial repair request, the employees had taken the tag number of the Mercedes. The tag number was given to Officer Leflore.

¶ 4. During the officer's discussions with the employees and Berry, they deduced that the two men had taken the keys which fit the red Tahoe and may return that night to steal it. Therefore, Officer Leflore decided to come back later that night and watch the car lot for any potential thieves. In the meantime, Officer Leflore and Officer Chris Palmer, the lead investigator, ran the car tag number for a registered address and determined that the Mercedes was registered at 3907 Bailey Avenue to Gloria McClendon in Jackson, Mississippi.

¶ 5. Officer Leflore returned to the Chevrolet car lot that night but left around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. That same night, one of Berry's employees came back to the car lot in order to complete some paperwork and upon leaving realized that the Tahoe was missing. The police department was notified.

¶ 6. After the police department received the call, Officer Palmer began searching for the Tahoe by going to the address to which the Mercedes was registered, but the Tahoe was not there. Because Officer Palmer was unable to find the Tahoe in Jackson, he alerted other officers to begin looking for the Tahoe and the Mercedes in Crystal Springs. En route back to Crystal Springs from Jackson, he received a call from an Officer Barnes[2] who had stopped a red Mercedes, with two males in it, at a gas station in Crystal Springs. The tag number of the Mercedes matched the tag number of the Mercedes registered to Gloria McClendon.

¶ 7. Officer Palmer went to the location. When he arrived, he discovered that one of the men in the Mercedes walked with a *46 limp. This individual was identified as Gary McClendon, and the other male was identified as Leon McDavid.[3] The officers conducted a pat down of the two men and found an assortment of car keys in their pockets. As a result of this pat down, McClendon and McDavid were arrested. Officer Palmer retained possession of the keys and took McClendon's cell phone. Thereafter, Palmer took the keys to Berry's Chevrolet dealership to see if any of the keys fit any of the vehicles at the dealership. One of the keys opened the door to a Tahoe but would not fit the ignition switch.

¶ 8. Shortly after leaving Berry's dealership, the cell phone, which Officer Palmer had taken from McClendon, rang. Officer Palmer, pretending to be McClendon, answered the phone. A male voice asked Officer Palmer about picking up a vehicle. Officer Palmer arranged to meet the unidentified male in Jackson. When the meeting occurred, Officer Palmer explained to the unidentified male that the man he called on the cell phone was in police custody. Officer Palmer solicited the cooperation of the unidentified male, and he, the unidentified male, and Officer Leflore went back to Crystal Springs. When the officers returned to the police station, McClendon was given his cell phone. Unbeknownst to McClendon, the officers had the unidentified male call McClendon and ask about picking up a vehicle. After the unidentified male spoke with McClendon, he and the officers went to Jackson to meet Gloria McClendon who, in the interim, received a telephone call from Mr. McClendon.

¶ 9. Upon arriving at the McClendons's residence, they informed Mrs. McClendon that they were there to pick up a vehicle. Mrs. McClendon said that her husband had called and said that they would be coming by; then she got in the vehicle with them and directed them to another residence, later identified as McDavid's residence, and picked up a box of keys. Thereafter, Mrs. McClendon directed them to the Mississippi Baptist Hospital parking garage. While Officer Palmer was driving through the garage, he noticed a red Tahoe. As a result of seeing this Tahoe, Officer Palmer concocted a reason to leave the garage by telling Mrs. McClendon that the security guard was following them. Officer Palmer told Mrs. McClendon that they would take her home and come back later. The officers and the young man took Mrs. McClendon home and went back to the hospital garage and, using one of the keys from the box of keys obtained from McDavid's residence, cranked the red Tahoe.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUE

1. Sufficiency of the evidence

¶ 10. The McClendons argue that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. For this reason, they assert that their motion for a directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding the verdict or alternatively a new trial should have been granted by the trial court. The McClendons assert that the State failed to meet its burden of proving its case. They list specific examples of the State's failure to carry its minimum burden for establishing guilt.

¶ 11. The standard of review is the same when assessing a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a directed verdict. Baker v. State, 802 So.2d 77, *47 81(¶ 13) (Miss.1995).

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Bluebook (online)
852 So. 2d 43, 2002 WL 1797129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcclendon-v-state-missctapp-2002.