Smith v. State

984 So. 2d 295, 2007 WL 2770181
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided September 25, 2007·No. 2005-KA-02197-COA·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

984 So.2d 295 (2007)

Ronnie SMITH a/k/a Ronnie Edward Smith, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-KA-02197-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

September 25, 2007.
Rehearing Denied February 19, 2008.

*299 Virginia Lynn Watkins, William R. Labarre, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., CHANDLER and CARLTON, JJ.

CARLTON, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Ronnie Smith was convicted in the Hinds County Circuit Court for the crime of capital murder in the commission of the crime of robbery, in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-19(2)(e) (Rev.2006). He was sentenced to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without parole. Smith appeals and argues: (1) the trial court erred by permitting inadmissible hearsay, (2) the trial court erred by permitting unfairly prejudicial gruesome photographs, (3) the conviction was against the weight of the evidence, and (4) the detective's testimony about Smith's head movements was in violation of his constitutional right to remain silent. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Hampton Ellis's body was found in his kitchen on May 14, 2002, by his niece, Hazel Cannon. Mr. Ellis's pants pockets were found inside out. His bedroom was in disarray and seemed to have been rummaged through.

¶ 3. The autopsy determined that Mr. Ellis had died from stab wounds to his jugular veins. Maggie McMillan, a niece who helped with her uncle's finances, notified Mr. Ellis's credit card companies that Mr. Ellis was dead. One credit card company reported to police that there had been charges on Mr. Ellis's credit card after his death. The cards were used at several places including AutoZone, Wal-Mart, and Cabot Lodge. Police used this information to investigate who had used the cards, which led them to Smith.

¶ 4. Police arrested Smith. While in custody, Smith asked several times why he had been arrested. Police stated that it was in reference to the use of the credit cards. Smith stated, "I didn't kill my uncle," and then the detective testified that he "dropped his head." Smith was later indicted for feloniously murdering Hampton Ellis and feloniously taking or attempting to take his personal property.

DISCUSSION

1. Hearsay Testimony

¶ 5. The well-established standard of review for the admission or suppression of evidence is an abuse of discretion. Miss. Transp. Comm'n v. McLemore, 863 So.2d 31, 34(¶ 4) (Miss. 2003). The decision of the trial court must stand "unless we conclude that the discretion was arbitrary and clearly erroneous, amounting to an abuse of discretion." Id. Furthermore, when an error is made by the trial court regarding the admission or suppression of evidence, this Court "will not reverse unless the error adversely affects a substantial right of a party." Id.

A. Detective Roberts's Testimony

i. Credit Card Information

¶ 6. Smith contends that the trial court erred when it allowed the testimony of the contents of the credit card statements and argues that the trial court erred by allowing Detective Roberts to testify as to how Detective Campbell used that information to investigate. Smith further argues *300 that the State did not call anyone from the credit card company to authenticate that the information was kept during the ordinary course of business and, therefore, it is inadmissible hearsay. The State argues that the information was within the scope and course of Detective Roberts's investigation and is not hearsay. The State contends that since the testimony is not hearsay, it does not need to fall within the records of regularly conducted activity exception to the hearsay rule.

¶ 7. Detective Roberts testified:

I was contacted by Mrs. Debbie Fox from Discovery Systems. She called me and advised me that the niece had contacted her to go ahead and cancel the cards. At that point she said that these cards had been used actually on that day, and they had flagged them. I then asked her if she would fax me that information. And I contacted Detective Campbell, the lead detective in the case, and g[a]ve him this information.
He did follow-up areas where the card was used going back talking with individuals at those locations.

¶ 8. Rule 801(c) states: "`Hearsay' is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted." Statements are not hearsay when they are admitted to explain the officer's course of investigation. Rubenstein v. State, 941 So.2d 735, 764 (¶ 111) (Miss.2006). "[O]ut-of-court statements made to the police during the course of their investigations [are admissible]." Gray v. State, 931 So.2d 627, 631(¶ 14) (Miss.Ct.App.2006) (citing Swindle v. State, 502 So.2d 652, 658 (Miss.1987)).

¶ 9. Detective Roberts's testimony was offered for the purpose of establishing the manner in which the police conducted their investigation and is, therefore, admissible. Detective Roberts's testimony did not go to the content of the credit card report. He merely explained how he received the information and passed it on to Detective Campbell as part of the investigation. In addition, Detective Roberts's testimony that Detective Campbell used the information to question workers where the credit card was used did not go to the substance of what was on the credit card company records, but instead it showed how Detective Campbell proceeded in the investigation. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Detective Roberts's testimony about the credit card usage reports, since the testimony was offered for the purpose of establishing the steps that the police took during their investigation.

ii. Credit Card Company's Financial Information

¶ 10. Smith argues that the trial court erred by permitting Detective Roberts to testify to the contents of the information from the credit card company and further contends that the court erred by allowing Detective Roberts and Detective McDonald to testify at length to the information on and derived from the faxed information from the credit card company. The credit card statements were marked as two exhibits: S-12 and S-13. The information on the statements marked Exhibit S-12 and Exhibit S-13 both show charges to the Discover card which were faxed from Discovery Systems. The difference is that they are different pages from the credit card statement.

Exhibit S-12

¶ 11. Smith argues that the trial court erred by allowing testimony about Exhibit S-12. He contends that the State failed to show the procedure for the credit card company's compilation of information and that the State did not show who compiled *301 that information; therefore, it did not lay the appropriate foundation.

¶ 12. Exhibit S-12 was marked for identification, but was never admitted into evidence during the testimony of Detective Roberts. It was shown to him and he was asked how the information on the exhibit would have been used. Detective Roberts responded that the exhibit was the faxed information sent to him from Discovery Systems and when asked if he followed up

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Smith v. State, 984 So. 2d 295, 2007 WL 2770181 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

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