Sanders v. State

757 So. 2d 1022, 2000 WL 224805
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided February 29, 2000·No. 1999-KA-00605-COA·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

757 So.2d 1022 (2000)

Corey SANDERS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1999-KA-00605-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

February 29, 2000.

*1023 Patsy Ann Bush, Hazlehurst, Attorney for Appellant.

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

BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., BRIDGES, AND PAYNE, JJ.

PAYNE, J., for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Copiah County where Corey Sanders was found guilty of burglary of a business and was sentenced to serve a term of five years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Feeling aggrieved of this conviction and sentence, Sanders now appeals to this Court.

FACTS

¶ 2. The incident in question took place at the Club O'Hara in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Charlotte Collins owned the club, which was undergoing renovations and was unoccupied at the time of the burglary. On October 10, 1998, Andrew Black and others entered the club to steal alcohol, as Corey Sanders stood guard for them outside the building.

¶ 3. At the time of the burglary, Carolyn Jordan was standing across the street from the club with Steve Jones and several others. Sanders, standing outside the club, saw Jones leave, and Sanders ran across the street to see where Jones went. Jordan told Sanders that Jones had left to call the police. To alert Black and the others who were still inside the club, Sanders threw rocks at the building and then Sanders, Black, and the others fled the scene only to be apprehended later by the police.

ARGUMENT AND DISCUSSION OF THE LAW

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 4. Appellant Corey Sanders raises two issues with this appeal. First, he argues the trial court erred in admitting hearsay testimony and in failing to grant defendant's motion for new trial; second, Sanders argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant a judgment notwithstanding the verdict as the jury's verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the admissible evidence. Sanders has worded these issues unclearly, and as we review all the matters Sanders raises on appeal, we find not two, but three distinct issues that Sanders asks we address with this appeal. First, Sanders argues the hearsay evidence was improperly admitted; second, Sanders argues he was entitled to a new trial because the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; and third, Sanders argues the trial judge errantly overruled his post-trial motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We proceed in this manner, addressing and distinguishing all issues.

¶ 5. Regarding the first issue concerning evidence, our standard of review regarding the trial court's admission of evidence is well-settled:

Under the Supreme Court's standard of review, the admissibility of evidence rests within the discretion of the trial court.... Furthermore, the trial *1024 court's discretion must be exercised within the scope of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence and reversal will be appropriate only when an abuse of discretion resulting in prejudice to the accused occurs.

Sturdivant v. State, 745 So.2d 240 (¶ 10) (Miss.1999) (citations omitted).

¶ 6. Our standard of review regarding a motion for new trial is stated in McClain v. State:

Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury....
Moreover, the challenge to the weight of the evidence via motion for a new trial implicates the trial court's sound discretion. Procedurally such challenge necessarily invokes [Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 10.05]. New trial decisions rest in the sound discretion of the trial court, and the motion should not be granted except to prevent an unconscionable injustice. We reverse only for abuse of discretion, and on review we accept as true all evidence favorable to the State.

McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778-81 (Miss.1993) (citations omitted).

¶ 7. The final issue Sanders addresses with this appeal regards his post-trial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

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 McClain's 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.... 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.

McClain, 625 So.2d at 778 (citations omitted).

¶ 8. We have reviewed Sanders's case and, applying the foregoing standards, we can find no grounds for reversal. Accordingly, we now affirm the judgment of the trial court.

ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES PRESENTED

¶ 9. We cite Sanders's issues verbatim from his briefs, while making the distinction addressed above with reference to Sanders's misstatement of the issues in this case.

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING HEARSAY TESTIMONY AND IN FAILING TO GRANT DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.

¶ 10. Sanders argues two incidents of hearsay were improperly admitted into evidence. The first concerns Carolyn Jordan's testimony regarding Steve Jones's leaving to get the police. Sanders argues this testimony contained hearsay, as it was offered to prove the truth of the assertion that Jones thought a burglary was taking place. The State argues Jordan presumably had personal knowledge that Jones left to get the police but admits there is no way to tell for certain, since Jones was not called to testify.

¶ 11. Evidence that Jones told Jordan that he was leaving to call the police was admissible over the defense's hearsay objection. In the context of this case, Jordan's testimony of what Jones told her was not hearsay. The testimony was not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted by Jones, i.e., his intent to summon law enforcement authorities. M.R.E. 801(c). Jones's statement of his purpose for leaving could be classed as objectionable hearsay only if the issue in dispute was whether or not he had, indeed, summoned law enforcement officers. Even in that circumstance, the statement may have been admissible as "[a] statement of the *1025 declarant's then existing state of mind," an exception to the hearsay rule set out in M.R.E. 803(3). However, whether or not Jones actually called the police was not the disputed issue in this trial.

¶ 12. The defendant urges that the statement was hearsay because it amounted to an extrajudicial statement by Jones that a crime was, in fact, being committed. Any inference the jury might draw from Jones's remark that, based on his observations, he believed a burglary was in progress was nothing more than an incidental by-product of evidence admissible for other purposes. To the extent that the defendant could convince the trial court that this possible inference was improper and therefore prejudicial to the defense, his remedy would not have been to have the evidence excluded but to have the purposes of its admissibility circumscribed by an appropriate limiting instruction. M.R.E.

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Sanders v. State, 757 So. 2d 1022, 2000 WL 224805 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

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