Powell v. State

925 So. 2d 878, 2005 WL 2496080
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 11, 2005
Docket2004-KA-00635-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 925 So. 2d 878 (Powell 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
Powell v. State, 925 So. 2d 878, 2005 WL 2496080 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

925 So.2d 878 (2005)

Ronald POWELL, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2004-KA-00635-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 11, 2005.
Rehearing Denied January 17, 2006.
Certiorari Denied April 6, 2006.

*879 Michael Lee Knapp, Thomas M. Fortner, Jackson, Lynn Watkins, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory Eleanor, Faye Peterson, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., IRVING and BARNES, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Ronald Powell was convicted by a Hinds County jury of burglary of a building and was sentenced to serve seven years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Powell argues that the trial court erred in admitting certain items into evidence that were not disclosed by the State during discovery and in denying his proposed jury instruction on eyewitness testimony. Finding no reversible error, we affirm Powell's conviction.

FACTS

¶ 2. On the night of August 18, 2002, Robert Finch stopped by his place of employment at a local tire store to use the restroom.[1] As he approached the building, Finch noticed that a truck was parked on the side of the building, and on the back of the truck were several items that had been taken from the store. Upon entering the store, Finch was confronted by a man with a gun. Finch testified that when the man, who was approximately three feet away from him, asked him what he was doing in the store, he informed the man that he was there to use the restroom. When Finch inquired as to the reason why the man was in the building, the man responded that he was "taking [him] some stuff." The man then allowed Finch to use the restroom and loaded several tires onto his truck before leaving the store. Thereafter, Finch called the police and notified the store's owner, Timothy Naylor, of the burglary.

¶ 3. Naylor testified that after arriving at the store, he was standing outside when he observed a truck pass by that matched the description of that driven by the man who had burglarized the store earlier that night. Naylor followed the truck to a local gas station and observed the driver attempting to sell some of the tires that had been taken during the burglary. Naylor left the gas station and notified the police. *880 When Naylor returned, the driver of the truck, who was later identified as Ronald Powell, had been taken into police custody. Thereafter, Finch was taken to the gas station where he immediately identified Powell as the man whom he had seen burglarizing the store.

¶ 4. Powell, however, gave a different version of events. At trial, he testified that he was on his way to a party when he stopped to assist a stranded motorist. Powell further testified that he agreed to load items from the motorist's truck onto his own, and then drove to the gas station to wait for the arrival. Powell testified that he was arrested by the police while waiting on the motorist at the gas station. Additional facts will be related during our discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

(1) Discovery Violations

¶ 5. In his first two assignments of error, Powell argues that the trial court erred in allowing certain items into evidence that were not disclosed by the State during discovery. He specifically contends that the State's failure to tender a record of his prior false pretense conviction and several photographs depicting the stolen property constituted a discovery violation under Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 9.04. In support of his argument, Powell has also filed a motion with this Court, seeking to supplement the record with certain documents provided to him by the State during discovery, namely a copy of his National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) report and several documents which make reference to the photographs at issue. By an order entered contemporaneously with this opinion, we grant Powell's motion. Therefore, we consider the foregoing evidence in our resolution of the issues before us.

¶ 6. We first address Powell's argument that the trial court erred in allowing the State to use his prior false pretense conviction to impeach him. Powell contends that because the NCIC report provided by the State failed to set forth the conviction, the State failed to comply with his discovery request. The State, however, maintains that because Rule 9.04 only requires the disclosure of a defendant's criminal history, and not necessarily certified copies of convictions, the NCIC report provided to Powell constituted sufficient notice of his false pretense conviction.

¶ 7. According to the record, Powell's attorney submitted a written discovery request for a "[c]opy of the criminal record of the [d]efendant." In response, the prosecution provided the defense with a copy of Powell's NCIC report which set forth various charges for which Powell had been arrested. The NCIC report, however, failed to expressly or implicitly reference Powell's false pretense conviction.

¶ 8. During trial, over strenuous objection, the State was allowed to impeach Powell with a certified copy of an abstract of the conviction.[2] In allowing the State to proceed with the impeachment of Powell, the trial court erroneously ruled that no disclosure on the part of the State was required since the conviction was being used for impeachment purposes. Powell never brought to the court's attention that *881 its ruling contravened the clear wording of Rule 9.04 A.3, which provides that a "[c]opy of the criminal record of the defendant, if proposed to be used for impeachment" must be tendered to the defendant as part of pretrial discovery.

¶ 9. In support of his argument, Powell cites Box v. State, 437 So.2d 19 (Miss.1983) as authority. Although the Box case first set forth the appropriate procedures and remedies for the trial court to consider in resolving discovery violations, that procedure is now reflected in Rule 9.04 of the Uniform Circuit and County Court Rules. McCullough v. State, 750 So.2d 1212, 1217 (¶ 18) (Miss.1999) (citing Duplantis v. State, 644 So.2d 1235 (Miss.1994)).

¶ 10. If the prosecution fails to comply with its disclosure obligations, Rule 9.04 provides in part:

If during the course of trial, the prosecution attempts to introduce evidence which has not been timely disclosed to the defense as required by these rules, and the defense objects to the introduction for that reason, the court shall act as follows:
1. Grant the defense a reasonable opportunity to interview the newly discovered witness, to examine the newly produced documents, photographs or other evidence; and
2. If, after such opportunity, the defense claims unfair surprise or undue prejudice and seeks a continuance or mistrial, the court shall, in the interest of justice and absent unusual circumstances, exclude the evidence or grant a continuance for a period of time reasonably necessary for the defense to meet the non-disclosed evidence or grant a mistrial.
3. The court shall not be required to grant either a continuance or mistrial for such a discovery violation if the prosecution withdraws its efforts to introduce such evidence.

URCCC 9.04 I.

¶ 11. We find that the prosecution was clearly in violation of Rule 9.04 for failing to provide Powell with a copy of his false pretense conviction.

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Bluebook (online)
925 So. 2d 878, 2005 WL 2496080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-state-missctapp-2005.