Williams v. State

994 So. 2d 821, 2008 WL 1723383
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided April 15, 2008·No. 2007-KA-00143-COA·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

994 So.2d 821 (2008)

Curtis Lee WILLIAMS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2007-KA-00143-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 15, 2008.
Rehearing Denied August 26, 2008.
Certiorari Denied November 20, 2008.

*823 W. Daniel Hinchcliff, Leslie S. Lee, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, attorney for appellee.

Before MYERS, P.J., GRIFFIS and ROBERTS, JJ.

ROBERTS, J., for the Court.

¶1. A jury sitting before the Desoto County Circuit Court found Curtis Lee Williams guilty of burglary of a building and grand larceny. The circuit court found that Williams qualified for sentencing as a habitual offender and sentenced Williams to consecutive sentences of seven years for burglary and five years for grand larceny. On appeal, Williams claims the evidence was insufficient to sustain his grand larceny conviction. Additionally, he claims the photographic lineup by which Tiffany identified him was impermissibly suggestive. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶2. The events that led to Williams's conviction occurred at Ralph and Tiffany Tennis's home in Desoto County, Mississippi. Around 8:45 a.m. on Friday, January 14, 2000, Tiffany was upstairs asleep with her baby when she heard a car door close in her driveway. She looked outside and saw a white early 1990s model Buick Regal backed into her driveway. Two men got out of the car. Tiffany went downstairs and looked out her kitchen window. She saw one man, the passenger, go into a storage shed under her carport.

¶3. Tiffany went outside onto her back porch. When she went to the end of her steps, she ended up face-to-face with one of the men as he exited the shed. The man had various tools in his arms. The man ran to the car, threw the tools in the trunk, and got in the passenger side of the car. The two men fled. However, Tiffany was able to memorize the Arkansas license plate number.

¶4. Tiffany called 911. Members of the Desoto County Sheriff's Department responded "within a few minutes." Tiffany *824 described the men and the car, including the exact license plate number. According to Tiffany, one person was a 6'1" to 6'3" black male who weighed 150 to 160 pounds. The other person was a 5'6" to 5'8" black male who weighed 160 to 170 pounds. The Desoto County Sheriff's Department ran the license plate number, contacted the owner of the car, and found out the car had been stolen.

¶5. The next day Officer John Grandberry of the Memphis Police Department was dispatched to a location approximately a mile and a half to two miles from Horn Lake, Mississippi. When Officer Grandberry responded, he saw two black males stripping what appeared to be an abandoned car—a white four door 1991 Buick Regal with Arkansas plates. When the two men saw Officer Grandberry, they ran to a nearby tree line. Officer Grandberry, among others, spent about an hour and twenty minutes looking for the two men. One man escaped. The other man— Williams—was found lying in a ditch. He had a broken leg.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶6. On February 18, 2000, the Memphis Police Department sent pictures of Williams to Captain Tommy Burkes of the Desoto County Sheriff's Department. Captain Burkes prepared a photographic lineup of six people and asked Tiffany if she could identify anyone. She identified Williams. According to Tiffany, Williams was the man with whom she ended up face-to-face.

¶7. On July 27, 2000, the Desoto County grand jury returned an indictment against Williams and charged him with burglary and grand larceny as a habitual offender. Williams pleaded not guilty and filed an unsuccessful pretrial motion to suppress Tiffany's photographic lineup identification. On October 10, 2006, Williams went to trial before the circuit court. As mentioned, the jury found Williams guilty of both counts.

¶8. After Williams advanced unsuccessful post-trial motions for a judgment not withstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, alternatively, for a new trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Williams had six prior felony convictions between 1990 and 2002. The circuit court concluded that Williams qualified for enhanced sentencing as a habitual offender pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Rev.2007). Accordingly, for count one, the circuit court sentenced Williams to seven years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) as a habitual offender. The circuit court also ordered Williams to pay a $1,000 fine, $100 to the Mississippi Crime Victim's Compensation Fund, $550 restitution, and court costs. Incident to count two, the circuit court sentenced Williams to five years as a habitual offender. The circuit court set count two to run consecutively to count one. Williams appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE EVIDENCE WAS SUFFICIENT TO CONVICT WILLIAMS FOR GRAND LARCENY.

¶9. On appeal, Williams claims the prosecution presented insufficient evidence to sustain his grand larceny conviction. In considering Williams's contention, we must consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984). If there is substantial evidence in the record of such quality and weight that, having in mind the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, reasonable fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions regarding the guilt of *825 the defendant, we have no authority to disturb the jury's verdict. Id.

¶10. Williams's entire written argument incident to his post-trial motion reads as follows:

Pursuant to applicable law, the Defendant, CURTIS LEE WILLIAMS, respectfully moves the Court to grant a judgement [sic] notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and to discharge him, or, alternatively, to grant him a new trial. The basis of the motion is that the finding of the jury was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and that based on the facts and evidence introduced at trial, no reasonable jury could have found the Defendant, CURTIS LEE WILLIAMS, to be guilty of the crimes charged.

During the hearing on his post-trial motions, Williams presented the following argument: "we'd ask the [c]ourt to rule simply on the written [m]otions. There's no argument I could present that the [c]ourt hasn't already heard during this trial. We feel that the overwhelming weight of the evidence was against the conviction and ask the [c]ourt to rule as such."

¶11. It is not enough that a defendant moves for JNOV on the basis that the prosecution failed to demonstrate a prima facie case. Davis v. State, 866 So.2d 1107, 1113(¶21) (Miss.Ct.App.2003). A defendant must specifically state just how the prosecution failed to present a prima facie case. Id. Without such specificity, we will not find the circuit court erred when it overruled such a motion. Id. Accordingly, Williams's first issue is procedurally barred.

¶12. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Williams was not procedurally barred, we would find no merit to this issue. Williams was convicted of grand larceny in violation of the then—applicable Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-17-41(1)(A) (Rev.1997). As of January 14, 2000, section 97-17-41(1)(a) provided:

Every person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously

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Williams v. State, 994 So. 2d 821, 2008 WL 1723383 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

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