Neal v. State

806 So. 2d 1151, 2002 WL 118697
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 29, 2002
Docket2000-KA-00090-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 806 So. 2d 1151 (Neal 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
Neal v. State, 806 So. 2d 1151, 2002 WL 118697 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

806 So.2d 1151 (2002)

Ricky D. NEAL and Antonio Neal a/k/a Antonio L. Neal a/k/a Deano, Appellants
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2000-KA-00090-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 29, 2002.

*1153 Raymond L. Wong, Cleveland, Aelicia L. Thomas, Attorneys for Appellants.

Office of the Attorney General, by Charles W. Maris Jr., Jackson, Attorney for Appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., BRIDGES, and CHANDLER, JJ.

BRIDGES, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Ricky and Antonio Neal were convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary in the Bolivar County Circuit Court, Honorable *1154 John L. Hatcher presiding. Both men were sentenced to five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Ricky Neal was also fined $5000. Ricky and Antonio have appealed their conviction and come now to this Court bringing several issues:

1. WHETHER THE STATE'S USE OF REDACTED INCULPATORY STATEMENT OF NON-TESTIFYING CO-DEFENDANT IS REVERSIBLE ERROR;
2. WHETHER THE PROSECUTION FAILED TO ESTABLISH THE CORPUS DELICTI OF THE CRIME OF CONSPIRACY;
3. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING THE APPELANT'S PEREMPTORY STRIKE AGAINST JUROR # 3 (EUGENE K. OWEN) AFTER HAVING PROVIDED A RACE NEUTRAL REASON;
4. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO DETERMINE IF JUROR # 11 (DAVID BURCHFIELD) WAS RELATED TO OFFICER TIM BURCHFIELD WITH THE CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT AFTER THIS JUROR WAS SELECTED AS A TRIAL JUROR;
5. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT GRANTING A MISTRIAL WHEN THE INTEGRITY OF THE VERDICT WAS QUESTIONABLE;
6. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE APPELLANT'S OBJECTION TO A DISCOVERY VIOLATION PURSUANT TO RULE 9.04, URCCC, AS TO EXHIBITS S-2A AND S-2B (PAIR OF PLIERS AND A PIECE OF PIPE) AND TO THE ADMISSION OF THESE EXHIBITS INTO EVIDENCE BASED ON SAID VIOLATION;
7. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING THE APPELANT'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS THE SECOND STATEMENT OF THE APPELLANT DUE TO THE INVESTIGATOR'S FAILURE TO INFORM THE APPELLANT OF HIS MIRANDA WARNINGS PRIOR TO ELICITING STATEMENTS FROM THE APPELLANT;
8. WHETHER THE VERDICT OF THE JURY WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE DUE TO THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI HAVING FAILED TO PROVE A PRIMA FACIE CASE AS CHARGED IN THE INDICTMENT; AND
9. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED ERROR BY NOT GIVING A CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE INSTRUCTION AND A TWO-THEORY INSTRUCTION TO THE JURY.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. On June 9, 1999, Tim Tindle and Steven Ellington, Cleveland, Mississippi police officers, were on duty in downtown Cleveland doing surveillance. There had been a rash of burglaries in downtown Cleveland, and the officers were there to provide a new measure of police protection. The two officers were parked in unmarked cars.

¶ 3. Around four o'clock that morning, the two officers observed a small blue car driving very slowly around the back of some buildings. There were two men in the car, who seemed to be observing the buildings in downtown. The car stopped near the rear of Billy Perry's pawn shop, the passenger got out of the car, and the car then drove away. The man walked out *1155 of sight into an alley, and a few seconds later, came back into view. The officers testified the passenger adjusted his hat, and it was then that the officers noticed the passenger was carrying a long, pipelike object. One of the officers opened his car door, causing his interior light to turn on, and the passenger began to run. The officers radioed in a description of the blue car and then drove in the direction the passenger was running.

¶ 4. Officer Wayne Vick was able to stop the blue car, and the driver was Antonio Neal. Officers Tindle and Ellington found Ricky Neal three blocks away from where the passenger had been dropped off. When Ricky was stopped, the officers described him as sweaty, wet, dirty, and out of breath. Ricky gave conflicting statements on what he was doing that night, and after a search, a pair of pliers and a pipe were found in the alley the passenger had run up. After being explained his rights, Antonio Neal told the officers he had been out drinking with "someone," and that same person told Antonio to let him out behind the pawn shop so he could burglarize it. Antonio told the police he was to make the block and pick his passenger up, but if something went wrong, Antonio was to meet him at the Jitney Jungle. Antonio and Ricky were co-defendants at trial, and were both found guilty on November 9, 1999. They were sentenced to five years each, and Ricky was fined $5000.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. A motion for a directed verdict and a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. The standard of review for a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is stated in McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993) (citations omitted):

In 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. The credible evidence ... consistent with guilt must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury. 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.

¶ 6. "Evidentiary rulings are within the broad discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." Dobbs v. State, 726 So.2d 1267 (¶ 25) (Miss.Ct.App.1998).

ANALYSIS

1. WHETHER THE STATE'S USE OF REDACTED INCULPATORY STATEMENT OF NON-TESTIFYING CO-DEFENDANT IS REVERSIBLE ERROR.

¶ 7. This issue was raised by Ricky Neal in response to the trial court's decision to allow the State to put Antonio Neal's confession into evidence when Antonio did not testify. During the State's case in chief, Officer Bingham, one of the investigating officers, testified as to the contents of a confession Antonio Neal gave to him on the day the two men were arrested. Under instruction from the trial court, Bingham did not refer directly to Ricky Neal; instead, Bingham substituted the term "subject" in all of the places where Antonio referred to Ricky. Ricky claims this violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses offered against him, and bases his argument on *1156 cases such as Bruton v. U.S., 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968) and Gray v. Maryland, 523 U.S. 185, 118 S.Ct. 1151, 140 L.Ed.2d 294 (1998). The State counters by arguing that this case is distinguishable from those cases, and that Ricky's failure to request a severance prevents him from citing these cases.

¶ 8. In the Bruton case, the United States Supreme Court dealt with a set of facts in which two co-defendants were on trial for armed postal robbery, and one of them, Evans, had made a confession to a postal inspector. Bruton, 391 U.S. at 124, 88 S.Ct. 1620.

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

Related

Jackson v. State
73 So. 3d 1176 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
Glenn v. State
996 So. 2d 148 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Howard v. State
853 So. 2d 781 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
806 So. 2d 1151, 2002 WL 118697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neal-v-state-missctapp-2002.