State v. Jackson

419 S.W.3d 850, 2013 WL 1694548, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 479
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 18, 2013
DocketNo. SD 31571
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 419 S.W.3d 850 (State v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jackson, 419 S.W.3d 850, 2013 WL 1694548, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 479 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GARY W. LYNCH, P.J.

Dewayne Jackson (“Defendant”) appeals his conviction following a jury trial upon a charge by information of the class A felony of trafficking drugs in the second degree, in violation of section 195.223.1 Defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to link him with any of the cocaine base seized during a search of a house he shared with others when he was not present and near the drugs when the drugs were discovered. We disagree and affirm Defendant’s conviction.

Factual and Procedural Background

On August 25, 2010, acting upon the belief that Defendant was trafficking crack cocaine, Highway Patrol Sergeant Mark McClendon met with a confidential informant whom he provided with a digital recorder for audio and a one for video and $35 in currency. The serial numbers on the money, in denominations of one $20 bill and three $5 bills, were recorded by McClendon. The confidential informant was directed to go to Arnita Ross’s home on South Kimball in Maiden to buy drugs. McClendon sent other officers to the South Kimball address to set up for surveillance while he checked on Defendant’s whereabouts at his home on North Decatur. McClendon was familiar with Defendant’s car. McClendon returned to South Kim-ball and parked two to three blocks away from Ross’s home, where he was able to observe activity on the street side and front yard.

When he arrived at Ross’s home, the confidential informant gave the money for the drugs to Ross and waited in the backyard while Ross waited for Defendant in front of her house. McClendon heard from officers watching Defendant’s vehicle at the North Decatur address that Defendant had departed that location, and a short time later, McClendon observed Defendant in his vehicle approach and park on the street in front of Ross’s house on South Kimball. When Defendant drove up, Ross approached the driver’s side of Defendant’s vehicle, and after a few minutes, she returned to her house, and Defendant drove away. Ross returned to her backyard with “a heat-sealed baggie” containing crack cocaine, which she gave to the confidential informant. In the meantime, McClendon followed Defendant as he returned to the North Decatur address. Later, McClendon met with the confidential informant who turned over the crack cocaine he purchased from Ross and the recording devices. McClendon then obtained a search warrant for the North Decatur address.

That night, as officers proceeded to North Decatur to execute the search warrant, two officers stopped Defendant when they encountered him driving a 1986 Pontiac 2 on Howard Street. With Defendant’s [854]*854permission, the officers searched Defendant’s vehicle and found a fully loaded .38-caliber revolver on the driver’s side on the floorboard and $1,020 cash in small denominations on Defendant’s person. The serial numbers on one $20 bill and one $5 bill in Defendant’s possession matched serial numbers recorded by McClendon when he provided the cash for the drug buy to the confidential informant earlier that day. No drugs were found. Believing that Defendant was intoxicated, however, the officers left Defendant in the custody of another trooper in order for them to proceed on to the North Decatur address to assist in executing the search warrant. After failing field sobriety tests, Defendant was arrested and transported to jail.

At Defendant’s residence on North Decatur, officers executed the search warrant. A trained drug dog alerted officers to concealed quantities of drugs in the home. Under a cushion of a couch in the living room, officers found at least two bags containing fifteen pieces of crack cocaine and a small bag of marijuana. In a bedroom used by Defendant, they also found two bags of cocaine and one bag containing crack cocaine3 hidden in the door jamb of a closet door. In all, 22.15 grams of cocaine base and 54.27 grams of powder cocaine were found inside the home.

A digital scale was discovered in the top drawer of a dresser in the same bedroom, where officers also observed clothing belonging to a male. Defendant’s driver’s license was stuck in a mirror on a dresser, and mail addressed to Defendant was found in the room. Officers also searched a Mercury automobile registered to Defendant that was parked outside under a carport. Inside, they found $11,020 in currency. One of the $20 bills bore the same serial number officers had previously recorded prior to providing it for another purchase of drugs two days earlier. Later that evening, Defendant admitted to two officers that he lived at the North Decatur address and that “he’d stayed there for four to five years.”

Defendant testified at his jury trial. He stated that his girlfriend and her brother lived in the house on North Decatur and he was a visitor there sometimes. He had no knowledge about drugs found in the house and denied selling or distributing drugs. When asked about the money found on his person and in his automobile, he said he used the cash to buy used vehicles, which he later repaired and resold. Defendant admitted he had not been employed since 2004. Defendant could account for only approximately $8,000 that he earned repairing and reselling used automobiles since that time.

Following the close of all the evidence, defense counsel moved for judgment of acquittal, which the trial court denied. Defendant was convicted on one count of trafficking drugs in the second degree, a class A felony, and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. He now appeals.

In his sole point relied on, Defendant alleges that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal, contending that the State did not prove the charge against him beyond a reasonable doubt because it did not present sufficient evidence that linked Defendant with the cocaine base found in the house, in that the home where the drugs were found was shared with others and Defendant was not present, or near the drugs when the search ensued.

[855]*855 Standard of Review and Applicable Principles of Law

Upon review of the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction, we accept as true all evidence and inferences drawn therefrom that are favorable to the verdict and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences in order to determine whether a reasonable fact-finder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Gonzalez, 235 S.W.3d 20, 24 (Mo.App.2007). An “inference” is a deduction or conclusion reasonably drawn from facts established by proof. Id. All inferences favorable to the verdict must be logical and reasonably drawn from the evidence, and this court will not supply missing evidence or consider speculative, unreasonable, or forced inferences. Id. “This Court need not believe that the evidence at trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but instead must determine whether ... any rational trier of fact could have found each essential element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Richardson, 296 S.W.3d 21, 23-24 (Mo.App.2009).

“The State may prove its case by presenting either direct or circumstantial evidence connecting the defendant to each element of the crime.” State v. Jones, 296 S.W.3d 506, 509 (Mo.App.2009).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
419 S.W.3d 850, 2013 WL 1694548, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jackson-moctapp-2013.