Synecca Malone v. State of Mississippi

196 So. 3d 1003, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 604, 2015 WL 7436723
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 24, 2015
Docket2014-KA-00725-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 196 So. 3d 1003 (Synecca Malone v. State of Mississippi) 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
Synecca Malone v. State of Mississippi, 196 So. 3d 1003, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 604, 2015 WL 7436723 (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Synecca Malone was convicted of selling Xanax and marijuana. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency and the weight of the evidence. Malone was arrested when an informant made. a controlled purchase of these drugs from him. The informant and the surveilling officers testified about the buy. And after the sale, an officer pulled over Malone and recovered the previously recorded buy money from his pocket. After review, we find that there was sufficient evidence of Malone’s guilt, and the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

¶ 2. On November 17, 2011, confidential informant Rodant Waldrup 1 alerted Investigator Benjamin Swan of the Horn Lake Police Department a man named “QP” was selling marijuana and Xanax “bars.” So investigators had Waldrup make a controlled buy from QP. Waldrup contacted QP — later confirmed to be Malone — and Malone agreed to sell Waldrup an ounce of marijuana and four Xanax bars for $120. The buy would take place at a local Pizza Hut the next day.

¶3.■On November 18, 2011, Waldrup met with Investigator Swan and Detective Nicki Pullen. The officers searched Waldrup and his car for money and drugs and gave him $120 in cash, which had been photocopied to record the serial numbers. *1005 They also wired him with electronic-surveillance equipment.

¶ 4. After the pre-buy procedures, officers followed Waldrup to the Pizza Hut but parked across the street to watch the transaction. The officers saw Waldrup park, get out of his vehicle, and get into Malone’s gray Mustang with Malone. Just as discussed the day before, Malone sold Waldrup an ounce of marijuana and four Xanax tablets for $120.- Waldrup then returned to his own car and met officers at a post-buy location. There, he handed over the drugs and gave a statement about the drug sale.

¶ 5. Meanwhile, Officer Charles Strauser was waiting to “initiate a traffic stop if the [drug transaction] occurred.” Once he got the green light from Investigator Swan that the drug deal had happened, Officer Strauser pulled over Malone. When Officer Strauser asked Malone for his driver’s license, Malone gave hirq an expired Tennessee ID. Officer Strauser determined Malone did not have a valid driver’s license, so he arrested Malone.,, Officer Strauser then patted down Malone and felt something in his pants pocket. Malone gave the officer permission to search his pockets. Inside he found two bundles of cash — one containing $120 and the other $123. The $120 wad was the pre-recorded buy money.

¶ 6, After a jury trial, Malone was convicted of count I, sale of alprazolam (Xa-nax), and count II, sale of marijuana (less than thirty grams). Malone was sentenced as a habitual offender 2 to twenty years on count I and three years on count II, with the sentences to run concurrently. Malone appealed.

; Discussion

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶7. Malone first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. When assessing the legal sufficiency of evidence, “we consider all evidence in the light most favorable to the State.” Grossley v. State, 127 So.3d 1143, 1147 (¶ 10) (Miss.Ct.App.2013) (citing Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 836, 843 (¶ 16) (Miss.2005)). “Credible evidence consistent with guilt must be accepted as true.” Duke v. State, 146 So.3d 401, 405 (¶ 15) (Miss.Ct.App.2014). And “[w]e give the State the benefit of all favorable inferences reasonably drawn from the evidence.” Id. The central inquiry is “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id.

¶8. To prove sale of a controlled substance, the State had to show beyond a reasonable doubt Malone “knowingly or intentionally” sold a controlled substance. Miss.Code Ann. § 41-29-139 (Supp.2015). Malone claims ‘Waldrup never testified specifically :that Malone sold him or gave him any drugs.” We disagree'.

¶ 9. At trial, Waldrup gave the following testimony on direct examination:

Q: [W]ere you able to set up a transaction with him that you told the Horn Lake -Police Department about?
A: Yes. ,
Q: And what did you tell them you could buy from the individual named QP?
A: Marijuana and pills.
[[Image here]]
Q: And before the deal, you had testi- ■ ' fied that you had'negotiated with QP as far as what you were going to purchase and for what price, correct?
*1006 A: That’s right.
Q: Did he give you what he told you he was going to give you during the transaction?
A:’ Yes.

¶ 10. Waldrup’s post-buy written statement was also admitted in evidence and read aloud to the jury. It said:

I, Rodante Waldrup, made contract with detectives Swan and Pullen about pur- • chasing marijuana from an unknown b/m that drives a gray Mustang with MS tag # MSQ 246. I first made contact with detectives on 11/17/2011. I then set up a deal with subject that goes by the name “QP” to buy 1 oz of marijuana and some bars on 11/18/2011 for $120.00. I met with detectives Swan and Pullen on ,11/18/2011 to do a buy bust. They gave me money and video equipment. I received a call from “QP[.j” He wanted to meet at Pizza Hut in Horn Lake to sell me 1 oz of weed and 4 “bars.” I met him at his car (Mustang) and [he] sold it to me. I then met back with detectives and gave them the evidence.

After the statement was read aloud, Waldrup again confirmed it accurately depicted what happened. From this statement alone,'the jury was free to find Malone sold him what they had agreed to — an ounce of marijuana and four Xanax bars.

¶ 11. In addition to Waldrup’s testimony and the statement, a video recording was admitted. The video showed Waldrup enter Malone’s gray mustang at the Pizza Hut. Investigator Swan also testified he saw the two men meet inside Malone’s car. And immediately after the transaction, Waldrup handed over the drugs. A crime-lab analyst testified the substances were 22.9 grams of marijuana-and four dosage units of alprazolam (Xanax). The cash found on Malone matched the recorded money given to Waldrup to make the buy. Viewing all evidence in the light most favorable to the State, there was sufficient evidence supporting the convictions.

II. Weight of the Evidence

¶ 12. Malone also challenges the weight of the evidence, against him. When considering a weight-of-the-evidence challenge, “we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict.” Duke, 146 So.3d at 407 (¶ 22).

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Related

Bush v. State
895 So. 2d 836 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Crook v. State
105 So. 3d 353 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2012)
Grossley v. State
127 So. 3d 1143 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Duke v. State
146 So. 3d 401 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
196 So. 3d 1003, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 604, 2015 WL 7436723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/synecca-malone-v-state-of-mississippi-missctapp-2015.