Washington v. State

726 So. 2d 209, 1998 WL 881762
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 18, 1998
Docket97-KA-00330 COA
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 726 So. 2d 209 (Washington 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
Washington v. State, 726 So. 2d 209, 1998 WL 881762 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

726 So.2d 209 (1998)

Michael WASHINGTON, a/k/a Michael Jeffery Washington, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 97-KA-00330 COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

December 18, 1998.

*211 Anita Mathews Stamps, Jackson, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, Attorney for Appellee.

Before BRIDGES, C.J., and HINKEBEIN and KING, JJ.

BRIDGES, C.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Michael Jeffery Washington was found guilty of receiving stolen property and conspiracy to receive stolen property in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County and was sentenced to five years on each count to run consecutively and said sentence to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in cause number 2945 in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Washington appeals his conviction assigning five errors:

I. THE EVIDENCE ADDUCED AT TRIAL WAS INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A JURY VERDICT OF GUILTY.
II. THE INDICTMENT WAS WHOLLY INSUFFICIENT AND SHOULD BE QUASHED.
III. THE LOWER COURT COMMITTED ERROR IN ADMITTING EXHIBITS S-33 THROUGH S-37.
IV. WASHINGTON WAS SUBJECTED TO DOUBLE JEOPARDY ON THE CHARGES IN COUNT ONE AND COUNT TWELVE OF THE INDICTMENT.
V. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN DENYING WASHINGTON'S MOTIONS FOR DIRECTED VERDICT AND FOR PEREMPTORY INSTRUCTION.

¶ 2. Finding the issues raised by Washington to be procedurally barred, moot or meritless, we affirm the jury's verdict.

FACTS

¶ 3. On September 8, 1995, a search warrant was executed at the Washington property on Cannonsburg Road in Jefferson County. Six vehicles with altered vehicle identification numbers were seized. Among the vehicles recovered was an automobile with a public vehicle identification number displayed on the automobile identifying the car as a 1985 Buick Regal registered to Michael Jeffery Washington of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. However, the confidential vehicle identification number lifted from the vehicle's transmission and engine described the automobile as a 1987 Buick Grand National *212 registered to Charles Lenzen of Edina, Minnesota, and valued at approximately $9,000.

¶ 4. A twelve-count indictment was handed down by the grand jury charging Timothy James Washington, Michael Jeffery Washington, Undre Washington, Morris Lee Washington, and Prince Earl White, Jr. with altering motor vehicle identification numbers, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy to receive stolen property.

¶ 5. Michael Washington was tried before a jury with co-defendant, Timothy Washington. After the State rested, Michael Washington moved for a directed verdict on all charges. The motion was denied by the trial judge.

¶ 6. In his defense, Michael Washington introduced into evidence an application for title for a 1985 Buick, public VIN 1G4GGM47A9FP231547, dated April 28, 1995, showing the applicant to be Michael Washington and South Metro Auto Brokers as the seller of the vehicle, and an odometer reading from the same vehicle showing Washington as the purchaser. Thereafter, Washington moved for a peremptory instruction which the trial judge denied.

¶ 7. The jury returned a verdict convicting Michael Washington of receiving stolen property and conspiracy to receive stolen property, and acquitted him of the charge of altering a vehicle identification number. The lower court denied Washington's motion for a new trial. Washington was sentenced to serve five years on each count to run consecutively and said sentence to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in cause number 2945 in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved, Washington perfected this appeal.

ARGUMENT AND DISCUSSION OF THE LAW

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING WASHINGTON'S MOTIONS FOR A DIRECTED VERDICT AND FOR A PEREMPTORY INSTRUCTION BECAUSE THE JURY VERDICT WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUFFICIENT CREDIBLE EVIDENCE.

¶ 8. Washington asserts the trial court erred in denying his motions for a directed verdict and for a peremptory instruction claiming the evidence presented is insufficient to support the jury's verdict of guilty. We find the trial court properly submitted the case to the jury.

¶ 9. The standard of review for both motions is the same: the State's evidence is taken as true, together with all inferences that may be drawn from the evidence, and if the evidence is sufficient to support the guilty verdict, then the motions were properly overruled by the trial court. Lewis v. State, 573 So.2d 713, 714 (Miss.1990).

[T]he sufficiency of the evidence as a matter of law is viewed and tested in a light most favorable to the State. The credible evidence consistent with [the defendant's] guilt must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury. We are authorized to reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.

McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss. 1993). In reviewing the evidence, we find that it supports the verdict of the jury.

Miss.Code Ann. § 97-17-70(1) (Rev.1994), reads as follows:

(1) A person commits the crime of receiving stolen property if he intentionally possesses, receives, retains or disposes of stolen property knowing that it has been stolen or having reasonable grounds to believe it has been stolen, unless the property is possessed, received, retained or disposed of with intent to restore it to the owner.

¶ 10. Thus, the statutory requirements for the crime of receiving stolen property are (1) the possession, receipt, retention or disposition of personal property (2) stolen from someone else (3) with knowledge or a *213 reasonable belief that the property is stolen. "[G]uilty knowledge ... is the `gist of the offense of receiving stolen property.'" Lewis, 573 So.2d at 715 (quoting Whatley v. State, 490 So.2d 1220, 1222 (Miss.1986)). Guilty knowledge may be proved by direct evidence, or, since it is rarely the subject of direct and positive proof, by any surrounding facts or circumstances from which knowledge may be inferred.

Evidence of the unexplained possession of recently stolen goods by one charged with unlawfully receiving them is admissible in a prosecution for the offense and is a strong circumstance to be considered with all the evidence in the case on the question of guilty knowledge. Such evidence may be sufficient to warrant a conviction where it is coupled with ... attempts at concealment....
* * *
The circumstances surrounding the accused and his conduct then and immediately thereafter are relevant on the issue.

McClain, 625 So.2d at 779. When the State attempts to prove the crime of receiving stolen property by circumstantial evidence, the state not only must prove each element "beyond every reasonable doubt but to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of his innocence." Lewis, 573 So.2d at 715.

¶ 11. Against this backdrop, we turn to the case sub judice.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 So. 2d 209, 1998 WL 881762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-v-state-missctapp-1998.