Watson v. State

722 So. 2d 475, 1998 WL 652253
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1998
Docket97-KA-00656-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 722 So. 2d 475 (Watson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watson v. State, 722 So. 2d 475, 1998 WL 652253 (Mich. 1998).

Opinion

722 So.2d 475 (1998)

Michael Donnell WATSON, a/k/a Donnell Washington
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 97-KA-00656-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

September 24, 1998.

*476 David Vanderburg, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Wayne Snuggs, Attorney for Appellee.

Before SULLIVAN, P.J., and McRAE and SMITH, JJ.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. On September 19, 1996, the appellant, Michael Donnell Watson, a/k/a Donnell Washington was indicted by the Tunica County, Mississippi Grand Jury for conspiracy to sell a controlled substance, cocaine, and for intent to sell a controlled substance, cocaine, in violation of Miss.Code § 97-1-1 and XX-XX-XXX(a)(1) respectively. Also, indicted with Watson was R.D. Bowdery, a/k/a R.D. Franklin.

¶ 2. On March 27, 1997, Watson received a jury trial before Circuit Court Judge John L. Hatcher. A jury of his peers found Watson guilty on Count I, Conspiracy to Sell Cocaine, and not guilty on Count II, Intent to Sell Cocaine. Charges as to coconspirator R.D. Bowdery were nolle prossed. Watson was sentenced by Judge Hatcher to serve a term of five (5) years. Said sentence is to *477 run consecutive to any other sentence previously imposed, and Watson is to pay the crime lab fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00) upon release from custody.

¶ 3. Aggrieved by the conviction and judgement, Watson moved the trial court for a j.n.o.v. and a new trial; the said motion was denied. Watson appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, raising the following issues:

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING JURY INSTRUCTION D-1, THE PEREMPTORY INSTRUCTION AS TO THE CONSPIRACY TO SELL COCAINE?
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ITS DENIAL OF THE MOTION FOR J.N.O.V. OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE A NEW TRIAL?

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 4. Jerome Hudson, narcotics supervisor at the Tunica County Sheriff's Department and member of the North Central Narcotics Task Force, and Kerry Ellington, a fellow officer, were in the vicinity of Essie's Place in Prichard in an undercover vehicle. The two officers planned to meet a group of males at Essie's Place in an effort to buy crack cocaine.

¶ 5. When Hudson and Ellington arrived, they gave the double deuce sign indicating that they wanted to purchase either crack cocaine or marijuana. Michael Donnell Washington a/k/a Donnell Watson touched R.D. Franklin and motioned him to come to the undercover car. The officers asked Franklin for a twenty dollar piece of crack cocaine, and Franklin told the officers he would be right back. The officers circled the block while Franklin walked toward Watson; Hudson saw Watson hand something to Franklin. After the officers made the block, Franklin met them in the parking lot with what appeared to be twenty dollars worth of crack cocaine.

¶ 6. Hudson identified both the appellant and Franklin in the courtroom. A copy of the undercover videotape made by the officers was entered into evidence through Officer Kerry Ellington's identification of the tape. When Franklin told the officers to make the block, Officer Ellington saw Michael Watson have a conversation with Franklin, and he saw the appellant put his hand in his back pocket. He agreed that it took about two minutes to make the block, and that Hudson then gave Franklin twenty dollars for the alleged crack cocaine. Ellington described the content of the videotape as it was shown to the jury. Ellington testified that he had known only one of the five men in the videotape before the undercover buy that day, and that man was Washington.

¶ 7. Continuing its proof of the crime, the State put on Edwina Ard, an analyst from the Tupelo Crime Laboratory. She confirmed that the substance in the bag sent to the laboratory was cocaine base in the amount of .12 grams. Finally, the State put on the coconspirator, R.D. Franklin, who testified that on August 15, 1996, he delivered some cocaine to Jerome Hudson. He recognized the substance in the bag as the substance he delivered and told the jury that he gave it to Hudson, who in return gave him twenty dollars. When the sale was completed, Franklin gave the money to Watson, the appellant. Continuing, Franklin stated that he was testifying as part of a plea bargain for the State; however, he did not know what would happen to the charges against him after his testimony. Franklin testified on cross examination that he did not have an arrangement to sell cocaine with anybody. On redirect, however, he stated that Michael Watson was the man who told him to take the cocaine over to the police officer.

¶ 8. Having been denied a directed verdict of acquittal, Watson put on evidence on his own behalf. Three bystanders testified that they did not see Watson hand Franklin anything. However, there was some doubt as to how they specifically remembered the day in question as it was typical of these witnesses to hang out at Essie's Place daily.

¶ 9. Following closing arguments, the jury was duly instructed on the applicable law, and after deliberations, it returned a verdict of guilty on Count I for Conspiracy to Sell and not guilty on Count II for Intent to Sell Cocaine.

*478 LEGAL ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING JURY INSTRUCTION D-1, THE PEREMPTORY INSTRUCTION AS TO THE CONSPIRACY TO SELL COCAINE?

¶ 10. In his first assignment of error, Michael Donnell Watson alleges that the trial judge erred in refusing to give instruction D-1, a peremptory instruction on the conspiracy charge. The requested instruction reads as follows: "The court instructs the jury to find the Defendant not guilty on Count 1 and Count 2."

¶ 11. Watson argued in his motion for a directed verdict at the close of the State's case in chief and again at the close of all evidence presented to the jury that the State failed to establish a prima facie case of conspiracy to sell cocaine. Watson proposed that there was no agreement between the appellant and R.D. Franklin, stating, "[t]here was no meeting of the minds or union of the minds of the alleged conspirators." He relies on the fact that Franklin, the State's own witness, testified under cross examination that he did not agree to sell cocaine with anybody.

¶ 12. In May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 780-81 (Miss.1984), this Court found that the standard of review for overruling the peremptory instruction is the same as that of a motion for a directed verdict or a j.n.o.v., each of which tests the sufficiency of the evidence as a matter of law, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict. As this Court has stated:

Under the established case law, the trial judge should set aside a jury's verdict only when, in the exercise of his sound discretion, he is convinced that the verdict is contrary to the substantial weight of the evidence. Pearson v. State, 428 So.2d 1361, 1364 (Miss.1983).

Id. at 781.

¶ 13. In the case sub judice the trial judge correctly stated the standard of review for overruling the peremptory instruction, finding that the evidence in the light most favorable to the State allowed the reasonable inference that there was a verbally expressed agreement constituting conspiracy. The judge also commented that the agreement could be proved by the conduct of the parties.

¶ 14. Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-1

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Bluebook (online)
722 So. 2d 475, 1998 WL 652253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watson-v-state-miss-1998.