Thompson v. State

92 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1085848, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 188
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 3, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-KA-02061-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 92 So. 3d 691 (Thompson 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
Thompson v. State, 92 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1085848, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 188 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

RUSSELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A jury in the Neshoba County Circuit Court convicted Lewis Thompson of possession of methamphetamine (Count I) and possession of precursor chemicals with intent to manufacture methamphetamine [694]*694(Count II). He was sentenced to sixteen years without the possibility of parole, suspension, probation or reduction on Count I and sixty years without the possibility of parole, suspension, probation or reduction on Count II. The circuit court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. Thompson asserts four issues on appeal: (1) whether there was sufficient probable cause to issue a search warrant; (2) whether the circuit court erred in admitting his confession into evidence; (3) whether the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence on Count II; and (4) whether the oral or written sentencing order controls. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. On July 20, 2008, Sheriff Donnie Adkins received information from a confidential informant that methamphetamine was being manufactured, used, and sold at the home of Buddy Smith located at 10671 County Road 238, Union, Mississippi, at the second trailer on the right on Road 238. According to the confidential informant, Smith and Thompson were manufacturing methamphetamine in the woods behind the trailer. Sheriff Adkins testified that this confidential informant had provided credible information in the past, leading to arrests and convictions. Based on the information obtained from the confidential informant, Sheriff Adkins prepared a search warrant, affidavit, and supporting underlying facts and circumstances, and presented this information to justice court judge Steve Cumberland for his review and signature. Judge Cumberland reviewed all three documents, found that there was sufficient probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant, and signed the warrant the same day.

¶ 3. Sheriff Adkins and several other officers served the search warrant later that evening at approximately 6:31 p.m. Upon arrival, several adults and children were located on the premises, and Thompson was behind the trailer working on a car. Sheriff Adkins and Deputy Ken Spears approached Thompson, while other officers secured the scene. The other officers discovered two active methamphetamine labs in the woods behind a shed. After the meth labs were discovered, Sheriff Adkins gave Thompson his Miranda warnings with Deputy Spears present. According to Sheriff Adkins, Thompson did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, and Thompson acknowledged that he understood his rights. After Thompson waived his Miranda rights, he showed Sheriff Adkins a black valve containing three small bags of methamphetamine by the shed. Next, Thompson told Sheriff Adkins that there was some methamphetamine on tinfoil inside the shed, which was recovered by Sheriff Adkins. Finally, Thompson directed Sheriff Adkins to Thompson’s truck where a bag of methamphetamine lay inside Thompson’s ball cap on the front seat of the truck. Thompson admitted to Sheriff Adkins that the three bags in the black valve, the methamphetamine on the foil, and the methamphetamine in the ball cap were “his share” of the methamphetamine for “personal use.” Sheriff Adkins also testified that Thompson admitted to doing the “cooking” with Smith:

Q: Now, you had already found what you believed to be an active meth lab. Is that correct?
A: Yes, sir, it was in operation.
Q: Did you inquire of the defendant at all about what you believed to be the lab?.
A: I asked him who was doing the cooking of the meth, and he said that he and Buddy Smith were doing the cooking.
[695]*695Q: So he claimed responsibility for the making of the methamphetamine also.
A: Yes, sir.

¶ 4. Agent Kevin Gregory and Agent Grant Myers testified that they discovered two active meth labs along with several ingredients used to make methamphetamine inside a camouflaged cooler. Specifically, they found cold medicine (ephedrine), icee hot (ammonium nitrate), drain cleaner (sodium hydroxide), liquid fire (sulfuric acid), and camp fuel (hexanes, hep-tanes). The agents also testified that they wore suits for protection as they allowed the meth to finish cooking for safety reasons. They also took samples and sent them to a crime laboratory for testing.

¶ 5. Keith McMahan works for the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and testified that he personally tested the samples from the scene. He stated that there was approximately 1.1 grams of methamphetamine total.

¶ 6. The jury returned a guilty verdict on Count I, possession of methamphetamine, and Count II, possession of precursor chemicals. At the sentencing hearing, the circuit court orally sentenced Thompson to eight years for Count I and twenty-five years for Count II, with the sentences to run consecutively. Later, the circuit court entered a written order sentencing Thompson to sixteen years for Count I and sixty years for Count II, to run concurrently, finding Thompson was a second offender pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 41-29-147 (Rev.2009). Thompson timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether there was sufficient probable cause to issue the search warrant.

¶ 7. “In reviewing a finding of probable cause, this Court does not make a de novo determination of probable cause, but only determines if there was a substantial basis for the determination of probable cause.” Roebuck v. State, 915 So.2d 1132, 1137 (¶ 12) (Miss.Ct.App.2005) (citing Smith v. State, 504 So.2d 1194, 1196 (Miss.1987)). Further, “this Court looks both to the facts and circumstances set forth in the. affidavit for [the] search warrant and ... the sworn oral testimony presented to the issuing judge.” Id. (citing Petti v. State, 666 So.2d 754, 758 (Miss.1995)). “On appeal, the issuance of a warrant will not be reversed where substantial evidence supports the [trial judge’s] determination that probable cause existed.” Phinizee v. State, 983 So.2d 322, 328 (¶ 18) (Miss.Ct.App.2007) (citing McNeal v. State, 617 So.2d 999, 1007 (Miss.1993)).

¶ 8. “A search warrant is validly issued when based upon probable cause.” Phinizee, 983 So.2d at 328 (¶ 18) (citing Zinn v. City of Ocean Springs, 928 So.2d 915, 920 (¶ 11) (Miss.Ct.App.2006)). Our supreme court has stated the following regarding probable cause:

Probable cause is a practical, nontechnical concept, based upon the conventional considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act. It arises when the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge, or of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to justify a man of average caution in the belief that a crime has been committed and that a particular individual committed it.

Strode v. State, 231 So.2d 779, 782 (Miss.1970). Stated simply, “probable cause means more than a bare suspicion but less than evidence that would justify condemnation.” State v. Woods, 866 So.2d 422, 426 (¶ 11) (Miss.2003).

[696]*696¶ 9. “Under Mississippi law, probable cause is determined by assessing the ‘totality of the circumstances.’ ” Phinizee,

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Bluebook (online)
92 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1085848, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-state-missctapp-2012.