White v. State

732 So. 2d 961, 1999 WL 62740
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 11, 1999
Docket97-KA-00886-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 732 So. 2d 961 (White 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
White v. State, 732 So. 2d 961, 1999 WL 62740 (Mich. 1999).

Opinion

732 So.2d 961 (1999)

Anita WHITE a/k/a Michelle
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 97-KA-00886-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

February 11, 1999.

*962 Laurel G. Weir, Thomas L. Booker, Philadelphia, Attorneys for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jean Smith Vaughan, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE PRATHER, C.J., McRAE AND WALLER, JJ.

WALLER, Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. A Scott County jury found Anita White guilty of the sale of cocaine in violation of Miss.Code Ann. § 41-29-139(a)(1) (1972). The Honorable Marcus D. Gordon sentenced her to 15 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and fined her $5,000. Subsequently, White moved the trial court for a j.n.o.v. or, in the alternative, a new trial. From denial of said motion, White timely perfected an appeal to this Court seeking a reversal of the judgment and conviction of the trial court.

I. REVERSIBLE ERROR EXISTS BECAUSE THE TRIAL COURT DID NOT PERMIT THE JURY TO HAVE THE TAPES INTRODUCED AS EVIDENCE DURING THEIR DELIBERATION.
II. APPELLANT SHOULD BE DISCHARGED BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE VERDICT OF THE JURY AND JUDGMENT OF THE COURT IS CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE LAW AND EVIDENCE AND NOT SUPPORTED BY ANY LAW OR EVIDENCE AND APPELLANT DID NOT RECEIVE A FAIR AND IMPARTIAL TRIAL.
III. THE COURT ERRED IN REFUSING INSTRUCTIONS REQUESTED BY THE APPELLANT.

*963 STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 2. On June 10, 1996, undercover agent Stanley Wash ("Wash") and Davon Spivey ("Spivey"), a confidential informant, went to Anita White's ("White") home in Scott County to purchase drugs. Spivey asked White if she had anything. White asked what they wanted, and Spivey replied that he wanted a "sixty" or a "double up" of cocaine, meaning double the amount of dope for the money. White told the men to wait a minute and she went inside her trailer returning a few minutes later with the cocaine. White handed Spivey the cocaine and Wash paid her the $60 for the cocaine. The substance which White gave to Spivey and Wash was determined by the Mississippi Crime Laboratory to be crack cocaine.

¶ 3. Prior to the undercover buy, Spivey was provided with a body mike and a transmitter. Jimmie Nichols ("Nichols") and Luis Hawkins ("Hawkins"), both undercover agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, listened to the buy via the transmitter worn by Spivey. The entire transaction was recorded on a micro cassette. At trial, Wash identified the voice on the tape as that of White.

¶ 4. Nichols believed White's first name was Priscilla based on information provided to him by the Sheriff's Department. On the night of the buy, Spivey referred to White's first name as "Chelle" or Michelle. Based on this information, Nichols listed White's name as Michelle on the affidavit. Hawkins used the names of Michelle and Priscilla when referring to White in his reports.

¶ 5. White testified at trial that she did not go by the name of Michelle. She claimed that the agents had in fact purchased the drugs from a woman named Michelle Carr, who lived with White during the time period. White also testified that it was not her voice on the tape but rather that of Michelle Carr. Her defense at trial was that the agents had mistaken her for Carr. She also claimed to be at the casino with Will Hughes on the night of the buy. Neither Carr nor Hughes testified at trial. White denied ever having seen Wash and said she did not know Spivey.

¶ 6. Agent Wash participated in the subsequent arrest of White. First, the agents went to White's home, but Wash said that the woman who came to the door was not the person he had brought drugs from on the night in question. The agents then proceeded to King Lumber Company, White's place of employment, where Wash immediately identified White as the person who had sold him drugs on June 10, 1996.

I. THE TAPE RECORDING ALLEGED BY THE STATE OF THE VOICE OF APPELLANT MUST BE RECEIVED BY A JURY IN EVIDENCE AND REFUSAL OF THIS REQUIRES A REVERSAL.

¶ 7. White alleges that it was error for the trial judge not to allow the jury to take the tape with them when it went to deliberate. Before reaching the merits of White's claim, we briefly address the State's argument that White failed to properly preserve this issue in the lower court.

¶ 8. During the course of trial, White sought to have the original tape admitted into evidence. The following conversation occurred between Mr. Weir, Mr. Booker, both are counsel for White, and the court:

MR. WEIR: If the court please, we need to introduce the original tape into evidence at this time.
THE COURT: I am going to allow a copy of the tape to be introduced into evidence, and the original will be retained by the Bureau.
MR. WEIR: That's all right, Judge, and we appreciate it. One other thing, Your Honor. The jury may need some way to play the tape.
THE COURT: You know that the jury cannot replay the tape in the jury room, Laurel. That's law that has been settled a long time ago.
*964 MR. BOOKER: This is a copy furnished us by the D.A.'s office.

A copy of the tape was then offered into evidence, identified, marked as Defendant's Exhibit No. 1 and made a part of the record thereof.

¶ 9. Generally, a party's failure to pose a contemporaneous objection at trial will operate to waive the issue on appeal. Holland v. State, 656 So.2d 1192, 1197 (Miss.1995). A trial judge cannot be placed in error on a matter that he did not have the opportunity to rule upon. Livingston v. State, 525 So.2d 1300, 1303 (Miss.1988). While not explicitly objecting to the trial judge's comments, White did place the issue of allowing the tape into the jury room before the lower court. Although White could have made a more complete record, we find that the issue is properly before the Court.

¶ 10. Counsel for White claims that the trial court's refusal to allow the tape into the deliberation room denied the jury the opportunity to compare the voice on the tape with that of White, who testified at trial. The State argues that the trial judge was within his discretion to disallow the tape in the jury room.

¶ 11. Rule 3.10 of the Uniform Circuit and County Court Rules states as follows:

The court shall permit the jury, upon retiring for deliberation, to take to the jury room the instructions and exhibits and writings which have been received in evidence, except depositions.[1]

Miss.Code Ann. § 99-17-37 (1994) provides that "[a]ll papers read in evidence... may be carried from the bar by the jury." This Court has had several opportunities to interpret Rule 3.10 and § 99-17-37.

¶ 12. Both parties cite Pettit v. State, 569 So.2d 678 (Miss.1990) as support for their respective positions. Pettit also involved a situation where the trial judge refused to allow a tape recording to go to the jury. Id. at 680. The Pettit Court held that the language found in 5.14[2] is, within reason, mandatory. Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Williams v. State
40 So. 3d 630 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2010)
Dilworth v. State
909 So. 2d 731 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Bush v. State
895 So. 2d 836 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Warren Jerome Dilworth v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2004
Howard v. State
853 So. 2d 781 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Kanynne Jamol Bush v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002
Watts v. State
818 So. 2d 1207 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
Chaney v. State
802 So. 2d 113 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2001)
Bessent v. State
808 So. 2d 979 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2001)
Kendall v. State
772 So. 2d 1089 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Genry v. State
767 So. 2d 302 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000
Love v. State
759 So. 2d 513 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Hall v. State
760 So. 2d 817 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Brown v. State
764 So. 2d 463 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Rushing v. State
753 So. 2d 1136 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2000)
Winston v. State
754 So. 2d 1154 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)
Sykes v. State
749 So. 2d 239 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 1999)
Antwon Ellis v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999
Calvin Winston v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
732 So. 2d 961, 1999 WL 62740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-miss-1999.