Washington v. State

744 So. 2d 397, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 441, 1999 WL 432577
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 29, 1999
DocketNo. 97-KA-01614-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 744 So. 2d 397 (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, 744 So. 2d 397, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 441, 1999 WL 432577 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

DIAZ, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Nathaniel Washington, Jr. and M.B. Vaughn were convicted on November 13, 1997, by a jury of the Coahoma County Circuit Court of conspiracy to commit grand larceny, grand larceny, and attempted grand larceny in connection with the theft of various merchandise from West Building Materials Store #22 in Clarks-dale, Mississippi. At the same time, Carlton Palmer was found guilty of attempted grand larceny. Washington asserts that he is entitled to a new trial because the jury’s verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Palmer and Vaughn, represented by separate counsel, assert that the circuit court erred in allow[399]*399ing a statement by Vaughn before establishing the corpus delicti of an air compressor alleged to have been taken under Count II of the indictment; that the verdict against Vaughn and Palmer was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; and that there was insufficient evidence to convict Palmer on Count III, attempted grand larceny. They further contend that the circuit court erred in not granting their motions for a directed verdict of acquittal as well as for a j.mo.v., or in the alternative, for a new trial. Finding no merit to the assignments of error, we affirm the convictions and sentences of Washington, Palmer and Vaughn.

FACTS

¶ 2. On February 18, 1997, Daniel Lawrence, assistant manager of West Building Materials Store # 22 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, went back to the store to retrieve his car after having dinner with his wife. After his wife dropped him off, he realized that his car would not start. He went inside to turn off the alarm system and to get the keys to one of the delivery trucks from which he hoped to jump start his car. As he got into the delivery truck, he noticed a truck, a car and several people outside one of the entry gates to the property. When he turned on the lights of the truck and started to put it into reverse, one of the vehicles, an old green pick-up truck, sped off. He drove over to the gate where he found Clarksdale Police Officer Nathaniel Washington, who was trying to get through the fence and had gotten stuck when his vest got tangled in the gate. Lawrence noticed a generator still in its box as well as the packaging from a large air compressor. Washington reported a break-in and drove off.

¶ 3. Another police officer arrived several minutes later, asked Lawrence what had happened and drove off again. Washington returned. While he and Lawrence were looking things over, Lawrence noticed a delivery truck with the back raised up a foot or so. Inside was the lid to the air compressor box as well as two stoves. Based on what he saw, he told Washington that it had to have been an inside job.

¶ 4. John Harris, the door shop manager at West Building Materials, testified that earlier that day he and Washington had discussed stealing two gas stoves, one for Washington and one for Carl Palmer, a dock hand at West Building Materials, who needed one for the trailer into which he was moving. Harris and Washington talked on the telephone about the stoves two or three more times that day and Washington stopped by the store around lunchtime. Harris, Palmer and “Little Larry” Jones moved the stoves from the warehouse to the delivery truck and a generator to the area back by the fence.

¶ 5. Around 9:00 p.m. that night, Harris and Washington got together at the home of M.B. Vaughn, who also was an officer with the Clarksdale Police Department, and made plans to pick up the stoves and other items on the truck. Washington, who was on duty and in uniform at the time, was designated as the look-out. Harris and Vaughn drove out to West in Vaughn’s old pick-up truck, where they were to meet Palmer. Harris apparently cut a hole through the fence, while Vaughn, who suffers from a congenital back problem, stayed by his truck.

¶ 6. When Harris saw the light from the truck which Lawrence had started, he jumped into Washington’s patrol car and hid in the back seat. Vaughn, meanwhile, fled from the scene in his pick-up truck. Harris testified that once they saw the lights, Washington had no choice but to call in the crime. He further stated that he did not know who had loaded what, if anything, after that, but later that night, he saw the air compressor at Washington’s house.

¶7. On February 19, Investigator Fernando Harris, John Harris’ brother, noting some irregularities in Washington’s handling of the case, decided to confront him about his failure to pursue the truck which [400]*400he had reported fleeing the scene. He testified that Washington’s account of the burglary “didn’t sound right.” When he asked Washington why he had not pursued the truck,' he was silent. Washington eventually admitted his part in the break-in to Harris. Harris told Washington and John Harris, who also had arrived at Washington’s house, that they had until Friday to turn themselves in or he would lock them up himself.

¶ 8. Washington, Vaughn, Palmer and John Harris1 were indicted by a grand jury of the Coahoma County Circuit Court on June 9, 1997. Count I of the indictment charged Washington, Harris and Vaughn with conspiracy to commit the crime of grand larceny. Under Count II, they were charged “individually or while aiding and abetting and/or acting in concert with each other” with taking an air compressor from West Building Materials. Count III charged all four men “individually or while aiding and abetting and/or acting in concert with each other” with attempting to take two stoves and an electric generator “by removing said items from their place of display and/or storage and or transporting them to an area from which they could more easily be removed from the premises of West Building Materials Store #22 before being detected in the act of stealing said items.... ”

¶ 9. After a three-day trial, the jury found Washington, Vaughn and Palmer guilty as charged on November 13, 1997. Washington’s motion for j.rno.v., or in the alternative, for a new trial, was denied by the circuit court on December 1, 1997. Palmer and Vaughn filed a motion for judgment of acquittal, or in the alternative, for a new trial, which also was denied by the circuit court. The three men were sentenced on December 17, 1997. Aggrieved by their convictions and sentences, Washington, Vaughn and Palmer now appeal to this Court.

DISCUSSION OF THE LAW

A. Nathaniel Washington, Jr.

I. WHETHER THE JURY’S VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE

¶ 10. In his sole assignment of error, Washington asserts that his conviction should not stand because the only evidence of his guilt comes from accomplice testimony and his own statement, made when he had first awakened and was in a “confused” state of mind. Washington provides us with very little in the way of meaningful argument or authority. We find, however, that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury’s verdict.

¶ 11. When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a jury verdict, we look at all of the evidence to determine whether a reasonable, hypothetical juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. State, 614 So.2d 965, 972 (Miss.1993). We accept that evidence which supports the verdict, giving the State the benefit of all reasonable inferences flowing therefrom. Id.; Hammond v. State, 465 So.2d 1031, 1035 (Miss.1985).

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Bluebook (online)
744 So. 2d 397, 1999 Miss. App. LEXIS 441, 1999 WL 432577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-v-state-missctapp-1999.