Spurlock v. State

67 So. 3d 811, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 132, 2011 WL 782256
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMarch 8, 2011
Docket2009-KA-01728-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 67 So. 3d 811 (Spurlock 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
Spurlock v. State, 67 So. 3d 811, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 132, 2011 WL 782256 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

IRVING, P.J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On November 20, 2008, Robert Spurlock was convicted of possession of at least one kilogram but less than five kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute. The Pike County Circuit Court sentenced Spurlock to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with ten years to serve and five years of post-release supervision. On December 1, 2008, Spurlock filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial, which the circuit court denied. On October 22, 2009, Spurlock filed a pro se petition for an out-of-time direct appeal, which the circuit court granted. On appeal, Spurlock argues that the circuit court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress evidence.

¶ 2. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. In September 2007, Spurlock returned to his hometown in Pike County, Mississippi, to visit his ailing grandmother. While there, he reconnected with a high-school friend, Thomas Magee Jr. Spurlock allegedly told Magee that he had marijuana that he wanted to sell, and Spurlock asked Magee if he knew of anyone who would buy it. Magee contacted a former co-worker, Willie Jefferson, and arranged the transaction. According to Magee, Spurlock later met Magee at a local hotel with a ten-pound brick of marijuana, which Spurlock and Magee broke into one-pound bags. Magee then took Spurlock to Jefferson’s home, and Spurlock sold Jefferson a one-pound bag of marijuana. Jefferson called Magee later and requested three more pounds. According to Magee, he and Spurlock agreed to meet Jefferson the next day.

¶ 4. The following day, the local police and officers from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) arrived at Jefferson’s home to execute a search warrant. 1 During the search, Jefferson’s telephone rang. One of the officers assisting with the search answered the telephone. The caller, who did not identify himself, asked, “Are you ready to re-up?” The officer responded, “Bring it on.” He then informed the other officers that someone was approaching the home, possibly to deliver drugs. The officers set up a roadblock along the street that ran in front of Jefferson’s home. Shortly after, Magee and Spurlock arrived in Magee’s pickup truck. Officer Derrick Carr stopped Ma-gee and Spurlock and asked them for identification. Magee stated that he did not have identification, and Spurlock provided his military ID. Officer Carr, who was standing beside the driver’s side of the truck, noticed that Magee had an open container of beer between his legs. Officer Carr testified that he also smelled marijuana coming from the truck. As Officer Carr spoke with Magee, an officer standing beside the passenger side of the truck noticed a handgun on the floorboard, near Spurlock’s feet. The officers re *813 moved both Magee and Spurlock from the truck and handcuffed them. Officer Carr then asked Magee for consent to search the truck. Magee consented to the search. During his search of the vehicle, Officer Carr recovered a backpack from the bed of the truck. The backpack, which had an Army logo, contained five pounds of marijuana broken into one-pound bags, finger scales, and small folding sandwich bags. Agent Billy Ray Warner, an MBN officer, testified that $1,914 was also recovered during the search. Agent Warner testified that a portion of the money was found in Spurlock’s pocket.

¶ 5. Prior to trial, Spurlock filed a motion to suppress the marijuana seized from the vehicle. In his motion, Spurlock argued that the officers did not have probable cause to stop and search the vehicle; therefore, the evidence obtained from the search should be suppressed. The circuit court denied the motion, finding that neither the roadblock nor the search of the truck violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The circuit court reasoned that the telephone call that the officers received at Jefferson’s home gave them reasonable suspicion that an illegal act was imminent. Therefore, the roadblock was not unconstitutional. The circuit court further noted that the officers had probable cause to search the truck given Magee’s open container of beer, the handgun on the passenger-side floor board, and the strong odor of marijuana coming from the truck.

¶ 6. Additional facts, as necessary, will be related during our analysis and discussion of the issue.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUE

¶ 7. When reviewing a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress, an appellate court employs a “mixed standard of review.” Dies v. State, 926 So.2d 910, 917 (¶ 20) (Miss.2006). “Determinations of reasonable suspicion and probable cause should be reviewed de novo.” Id. (citing Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996)). A trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence is reviewed under the abuse-of-discretion standard. Chamberlin v. State, 989 So.2d 320, 336 (¶ 52) (Miss.2008).

¶ 8. Spurlock argues that the police roadblock was unconstitutional; therefore, the evidence seized after police stopped and searched the vehicle should have been suppressed. The State contends that this Court is barred from reviewing this issue because Spurlock failed to include a copy of the transcript from the suppression hearing in the record. The appellant is responsible for providing a “record sufficient to show the occurrence of the error he asserts.” Acker v. State, 797 So.2d 966, 971 (¶ 18) (Miss.2001) (quoting Lambert v. State, 574 So.2d 573, 577 (Miss.1990)). However, we believe that Spurlock has presented an appellate record sufficient to support his assignment of error. Spurlock has provided his motion to suppress along with the order denying the motion. Therefore, we do not find that Spurlock’s failure to include a transcript from the suppression hearing precludes appellate review.

¶ 9. Both the United States Constitution and the Mississippi Constitution protect “an individual’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.” Dies, 926 So.2d at 917-18 (¶ 21) (citing Floyd, 749 So.2d at 114 (¶ 14)). The prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures extends to brief investigatory stops of a vehicle. Id. at 918 (¶ 21). However, “[t]he constitutional requirements for an investigative stop are less stringent than those for a full arrest.” Id. at (¶ 22) (cit *814 ing Floyd, 749 So.2d at 114 (¶ 16)). The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that investigative stops are permissible, provided that an officer has “reasonable suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts, that a person they encounter was involved in or is wanted in connection with a felony or as long as the officers have some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be[,J engaged in criminal activity.” Id. (quoting Floyd, 749 So.2d at 114 (¶ 16)) (emphasis added).

¶ 10. In Dies, MBN agents learned that a woman was either in possession of or trying to sell narcotics at a local bar. Id.

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67 So. 3d 811, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 132, 2011 WL 782256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spurlock-v-state-missctapp-2011.