Reynolds v. State

658 So. 2d 852, 1995 WL 384039
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided June 29, 1995·No. 91-KA-01275-SCT·Published·Cited by 57 cases

Opinion

658 So.2d 852 (1995)

Edward REYNOLDS
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 91-KA-01275-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 29, 1995.

*853 Rabun Jones, Dyer Dyer Jones & Daniels, Greenville, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Jackson; Wayne Snuggs, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson; Ellen Y. Dale, Ridgeland, for appellee.

En Banc.

HAWKINS, Chief Justice, for the Court:

Edward Reynolds was indicted for the crime of sale of a controlled substance on October 2, 1991. After he pled not guilty at his November 4 arraignment, Reynolds was tried by a jury and found guilty on November 21. He was then sentenced to 20 years after a November 27, 1991, sentencing hearing. We affirm his conviction, but remand for a new sentencing hearing.

FACTS

On April 9, 1991, four law enforcement officers, Robert Jennings, Murry Roark, Chuck Foster and Milton Gaston, and one confidential informant, Michael Diggs, conducted a drug sting operation at cafe called Rebecca's in Pace, Mississippi. Two versions of what happened at Rebecca's were presented at the trial, that of the drug-bust team and that of Reynolds. The story told at the trial by Milton Gaston was typical of that given by the law enforcement officers. Gaston testified that he and informant Michael Diggs saw Reynolds standing outside Rebecca's, approached him, and asked if he knew where they could buy some cocaine. According to Gaston, Chuck Foster and Murry Roark were positioned in a truck to the west of Rebecca's at this time, while Robert Jennings was positioned to the northwest. After being so approached, Reynolds invited them inside the cafe, and sold them two rocks of crack cocaine for $40. Gaston paid for the cocaine with a hundred dollar bill, the serial number of which had previously been recorded by Officer Murry Roark. Reynolds gave Gaston the two rocks and three twenty-dollar bills in change. Gaston and Diggs then left Rebecca's, contacted the other officers by radio, and were advised to go back to the cafe to try to make another buy.

Gaston and Diggs returned to Rebecca's and asked Reynolds for more cocaine. Reynolds said that he did not have anymore, and asked a black female, who was the only other occupant of the cafe, if he could borrow her car to go get some more. Gaston testified on direct examination by assistant district attorney Patricia Beckett as to what followed:

Q. What happened then?
A. At that time he advised me that he didn't have any more and he asked to borrow the car, I identified myself as a member of the Central Delta Drug Task Force and advised the black male that he was under arrest.
Q. What happened when you advised him that he was under arrest?
A. I didn't have no badge to identify myself — I'm going undercover and you don't usually carry a badge. So I had my service revolver and pulled it and identified myself and went to grab him and he snatched away and myself, him and Michael Diggs came out of the cafe together tussling.

Reynolds' jacket came off as he fled the cafe and struggled with Gaston and Diggs. After running a short distance, he was caught and subdued by Gaston, Diggs, Roark and Foster. Diggs testified that he then retrieved the jacket and gave it to Roark, who searched it and found the hundred dollar bill which was used to buy the cocaine. Reynolds was subsequently taken by the officers to the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department where, according to Jennings, he was booked at 6:30.

*854 Although it is largely identical to the testimony given by the law enforcement officers, Diggs' version of the events differs in one potentially significant way. On cross-examination Diggs stated that at the time of the sale Reynolds had in his possession several rocks of crack cocaine in addition to the two he gave Gaston. Gaston, on cross-examination, testified that the only rocks he saw were the two that he purchased.

Reynolds' story contradicts that of Diggs and the law enforcement officers. According to him, he was standing outside of Rebecca's when Diggs and Gaston drove up and asked him if he knew where they could find some hashish. After he said he did not, they asked him if he knew where they could find some cocaine. He again said no and went inside the club. Diggs and Gaston then followed him into the club and continued to ask him about cocaine. After Reynolds repeatedly told them that he did not know where to find any, Diggs and Gaston left and returned about thirty minutes later. Reynolds testified that after Gaston and Diggs returned:

Gaston pulled his gun and he told me to get down — "Get down. Get down." And I said, "What you want. What you want," just like that. I'm thinking they trying to rob me. And so he never said who he is and so gradually I am moving to the door at the same time, while asking him what he wants. And as soon as I get close to the door, I run out the door.

He further testified that:

Well, uh, as far as my jacket and all that, they searched my jacket and they found nothing. They was all in my sister's purse. They threatened to go in the house and search all in the house for whatever it was they was looking for. So Chuck Foster and Murry Roark they transported me back to the station and give my clothes, uh, to Michael Diggs, — my belongings. So when I get to the sheriff's department, Diggs comes in with my coat and he says, "Oh, look what I got," and then Murry Roark replied "our money," like that.

The two rocks allegedly sold by Reynolds to Gaston were tested by J.C. Smiley of the North Mississippi Crime Laboratory and were identified as cocaine.

After both the prosecution and defense rested, they retired to Judge Hatcher's chambers to discuss jury instructions. One defense instruction concerned the lesser included offense of possession of a controlled substance:

If you find that the state has failed to prove any one of the essential elements of the crime of sale of a controlled substance, you must find the defendant not guilty of sale of a controlled substance and you will proceed with you [sic] deliberation to decide whether the state has proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, all of the elements of the lesser crime of possession of a controlled substance.
The crime of sale of a controlled substance is distinguished from possession of a controlled substance by the absence or failure to prove a sell. If you find from the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant Edward Reynolds, knowingly possessed a controlled substance, then you shall find the defendant guilty of possession of a controlled substance. If the state has failed to prove any one of th [sic] elements of possession of a controlled substance, then your verdict shall be not guilty.

This was refused.

BY THE COURT:
What evidence do you have which would indicate only possession?
BY (defense counsel) MR. CLIFTON:
Well, the only thing I have on that, Your Honor, is that possession is an inherent element of sale. But there was no direct evidence on possession itself except to the extent that he had these in his pockets. So I submitted a lesser included offense, but —
BY THE COURT:
— What witness testified he possessed it, but didn't sell it?
BY MR. CLIFTON:
I don't think there were any witnesses.
BY THE COURT:

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Reynolds v. State, 658 So. 2d 852, 1995 WL 384039 (Mich. 1995).

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