Nicholson v. State

761 So. 2d 924, 2000 WL 722592
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 6, 2000
Docket1999-KA-01125-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 761 So. 2d 924 (Nicholson 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
Nicholson v. State, 761 So. 2d 924, 2000 WL 722592 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

761 So.2d 924 (2000)

Anthony NICHOLSON a/k/a Anthony T. Nicholson, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1999-KA-01125-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 6, 2000.

*926 Kevin Dale Camp, Beth Windsor, Jackson, Attorneys for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Billy L. Gore, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE SOUTHWICK, P.J., BRIDGES, AND IRVING, JJ.

BRIDGES, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Anthony Nicholson was found guilty of felony Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and sentenced to four years, with two years to serve, two years suspended, and placed on probation for two years. Aggrieved of this judgment and sentence Nicholson argues on appeal

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT ALLOWING THE DEFENSE TO EXAMINE THE JURY VENIRE WITH A HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION.

II. THE TRIAL JUDGE SHOWED BIAS AND SUCH BIAS PREJUDICED THE DEFENDANT.

III. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STIPULATE TO THE VALIDITY OF DEFENDANT'S TWO PRIOR CONVICTIONS AND MOTION TO PRECLUDE THE STATE FROM REFERRING TO THE PRIOR CONVICTIONS.

IV. DEFENDANT'S READING FALLS WITHIN THE MARGIN OF ERROR OF THE INTOXILYZER 5000; THEREFORE, THE CHARGE OF DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE SHOULD BE DISMISSED.

V. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING AFFIDAVITS INTO EVIDENCE.

VI. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN SENTENCING DEFENDANT AS A FELONY OFFENDER.

¶ 2. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. At around 3:00 a.m. on August 23, 1998, patrolman Tommy Clark with the Louisville Police Department spotted a Mustang drive through a stop sign. The vehicle went into another lane before straightening back. Clark pulled the Mustang over. This vehicle was driven by Nicholson. When Clark initiated conversation with Nicholson, he noticed the smell of intoxicants on his breath. Clark asked Nicholson to blow into the portable intoxilyzer to which Nicholson complied. The portable intoxilyzer registered a .08%, which gave Clark reason to transport Nicholson to the station. At the station, Nicholson took the Intoxilyzer 5000, and the machine registered Nicholson's blood alcohol content at .104%.

¶ 4. Nicholson had twice before been convicted of misdemeanor DUI within five years of the present offense. Nicholson's prior convictions were presented to the jury during trial. After deliberations, the jury found Nicholson guilty of felony DUI.

*927 LEGAL ANALYSIS

I.

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT ALLOWING THE DEFENSE TO EXAMINE THE JURY VENIRE WITH A HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION.

¶ 5. During voir dire of the jury venire the following transpired:

By the Defense: If you were in a situation in a trial and you thought nine people were guilty and one person was not guilty. And in order-you had the option to either send them all to jail or let them all free. Now, who would you vote to let them all free?
(A juror raises his hand.)
By the Court: You are number nine; is that correct?
By the Defense: And who would vote to put all ten of them in jail even though one of them you felt was innocent? Who would vote that way?
By the Prosecution: Your Honor, I am going to object to the form of that question, Your Honor.
By the Court: I am going to sustain. I think that-I sustain the objection. That is a situation that would never occur. And they would not ever-a jury would never be asked to do anything but judge each person individually. They would never be in a situation like that. So I am-I think that is irrelevant. And also it is just hypothetical.

¶ 6. The defense argues that the trial court abused its discretion in sustaining the prosecution's objection as the question was within the permissible range of acceptable questioning and because it is impossible to know what actions would have been taken in the selection of the jury if the question had been allowed to be answered. The defense opines that hypothetical questions are allowed if not elicited to get the jury to pledge a particular verdict. "Mississippi case law prohibits attorneys from attempting to elicit promises from the jury promising that under a hypothetical set of circumstances, they will return a specific verdict." Robinson v. State, 726 So.2d 189 (¶ 6) (Miss.Ct.App. 1998) (citing West v. State, 553 So.2d 8, 21 (Miss.1989)).

¶ 7. "The trial court has broad discretion in passing upon the extent and propriety of questions addressed to prospective jurors." Jones v. State, 381 So.2d 983, 990 (Miss.1980) (citing Myers v. State, 268 So.2d 353 (Miss.1972)). See also Johnson v. State, 475 So.2d 1136, 1141 (Miss. 1985). "Although broad, the discretion is not unlimited, and an abuse will be found on appeal where clear prejudice to the accused results from undue constraint on the defense or undue lack of constraint on the prosecution." Jones, 381 So.2d at 990 (citing McCaskill v. State, 227 So.2d 847 (Miss.1969); Leverett v. State, 112 Miss. 394, 73 So. 273 (1916)).

¶ 8. There is no showing, or even an allegation, that the jury selected in the case was not fair and impartial and the defense was prejudiced thereby. There is nothing in the record that reveals that the exclusion of the proposed question prejudiced Nicholson. We find no error in the trial court's exercise of discretion. This assignment of error is without merit.

II.

THE TRIAL JUDGE SHOWED BIAS AND SUCH BIAS PREJUDICED THE DEFENDANT.

¶ 9. Nicholson claims that the trial judge demonstrated bias while presiding over his case because the circuit judge admonished counsel for being three minutes late in front of the jury and rebuked counsel during his cross-examination of a witness for the prosecution. The defense claims that the conduct by the trial judge shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial judge was biased, this bias infected the jury, and he did not receive a fair trial.

*928 ¶ 10. The first instance happened when defense counsel entered the courtroom, according to the trial judge, three minutes late. The trial judge stated, "Mr. Campbell [sic], I am glad you could finally join us. I do not appreciate you not being here at 9:00. Everybody else was." Defense counsel, Mr. Camp, stated, "I apologize to the Court, Your Honor." The defense claims that while defense counsel's tardiness should not have gone unnoticed or forgotten, it should have been inquired about outside the presence of the jury and not in a sarcastic and condescending manner.

¶ 11. The second instance that Nicholson's counsel complains of occurred during the cross-examination of Patrolman Tommy Clark. Defense counsel was trying to impeach Clark based on testimony given at the justice court level. The prosecution objected, stating that the prior testimony had not been provided in discovery. The trial judge sustained as to the form of the questions. After a few more questions were asked by the defense counsel, the prosecution objected, and defense counsel stated "the problem in this situation is that the officer is changing his testimony-." The trial judge stated, "Your statement is not proper, Mr. Camp, and you know it is not.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
761 So. 2d 924, 2000 WL 722592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nicholson-v-state-missctapp-2000.