Wilson v. State

661 So. 2d 1109, 1993 WL 451343
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 1995
Docket91-KA-0294
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 661 So. 2d 1109 (Wilson 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
Wilson v. State, 661 So. 2d 1109, 1993 WL 451343 (Mich. 1995).

Opinion

661 So.2d 1109 (1993)

Lucathryn WILSON a/k/a Lucatheryn Wilson a/k/a Lucatherine Wilson
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 91-KA-0294.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October 28, 1993.
Opinion Granting Rehearing September 28, 1995.
Dissenting Opinion Grant of Rehearing September 28, 1995.

*1110 David G. Hill, Hill White & Minyard, Oxford, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Ellen Y. Dale, Sp. Ass't. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, C.J., and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr. and SMITH, JJ.

En Banc.

Dissenting Opinion by Justice Smith on Grant of Rehearing September 28, 1995.

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING

[Filed Sept. 28, 1995]

Hawkins, Chief Justice, for the Court:

This case is before the Court on petition for rehearing after being previously affirmed by per curiam decision. We now reverse and remand.

The Petition for Rehearing in this case is granted with the following opinions of this Court.

Lucathryn Wilson has appealed her conviction in the circuit court of Marshall County of the sale of cocaine. Because of the erroneous cross-examination of Wilson in a weak case factually, we reverse and remand.

FACTS

There are three individuals involved in this case: Donna Conner, an investigator in the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN), Esau Shaw, a confidential informant, and Lucathryn Wilson, the defendant.

Agent Conner, who worked out of the Oxford office, was asked by her sergeant, Eddie McCullough of the MBN, who worked out the Tupelo office, to assist him in an investigation in Holly Springs and Marshall County.

She went to Holly Springs on February 25, 1987, and met with McCullough, another MBN officer and Shaw. After Shaw was searched, he got into Conner's car, an official state vehicle, and the two went to a building on Memphis Street (also Old Highway 78), which housed a district office of MBN and also "Moffitt's Hair Care Center." Conner parked in the parking lot. It was between 6:30-6:35 p.m.

Conner saw Shaw go into the beauty parlor and return with a black female who Shaw identified as Lucatheryn Wilson. (Whether it was then or later that Shaw told Conner it was Wilson is not made clear in the record.) According to Conner the car light in her car was on. The woman entered on the passenger side of the car and got onto the back seat. Shaw got into the front seat, passenger side. In a transaction lasting not more than two minutes, Shaw purchased a white packet of cocaine from the woman, and Conner paid her $100. A recording was made of the purchase, but somehow Conner lost it at a later date after the defense made a motion to hear it.

Before that evening Conner had never seen the woman from whom they made the purchase.

No arrest was made then or subsequently by the MBN. Instead, the MBN presented the matter to the Marshall County grand jury 20 months later, and on October 14, 1988, Wilson was indicted for the felonious sale of cocaine, a controlled substance, under Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-115(A)(a)(4) (1972) and for violation of Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-139(a)(1) (1972). Conner did not see Wilson in the interim. On cross-examination Conner testified she did not see Wilson from February 25, 1987, until 18 months later when she was indicted in October 1988. R.II, 119. On redirect examination during trial, she testified she had seen Wilson "a couple of times from then until now at different times." R.II, 134.

From this record Conner's identification of Wilson at trial was based solely upon the sale which occurred February 25, 1987. She had not seen the seller of the packet of cocaine before that evening, and not again until indictment.

Shaw's confused testimony at trial was of no benefit to the State.

The case went to trial November 8, 1990. Wilson testified in her own behalf, vigorously denying any sale of cocaine. On cross-examination Wilson was first asked if she participated in the drug transaction of February 25, 1987, which she denied. She was then asked if she had any knowledge of it, which she *1111 again denied. She was then asked if she knew Esau Shaw, and she replied that she did, and had known him a long time. Had she had any dealings with him? She had not.

Further on cross-examination she denied knowing what cocaine looked like. Upon further questioning she testified the first time she ever saw Conner was at a hearing after she had been arrested following her indictment. R.II, 174. The following testimony was then elicited on cross-examination:

Q. And I guess you're going to tell us you don't even know anybody that fools with cocaine?
A. Say what now.
Q. I guess you're going to tell us you don't know anybody that fools with drugs?
A. I don't fool with anybody that fools with drugs. I hear of people fooling with drugs but I don't fool with anybody that fools with drugs.
Q. Well, do you know Percy Eckells?
A. I sure do.

Objection was made, the jury retired and a motion was made for a mistrial, because Eckells was under indictment for a drug offense. The State argued it was being offered for impeachment purposes, and the court overruled the objection. The jury returned and the cross-examination continued.

Q. My last question was do you know Percy Eckells?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know that he's charged with some type of drug offense?
A. Yes.

Another objection, again overruled.

Q. And is it your opinion — how do you know Percy Eckells?
A. Well, he's my boyfriend.
Q. And you've known him for a long while, several years?
A. About four or five years.
Q. And are you saying that the charges against you are just crumped [sic] up — made up — a lie?
A. Yes. It's a lie.
Q. And then you're also saying, I presume, that the charges against him were made up?
A. Yes.

With this the State concluded its cross-examination and both sides rested. No proof was offered as to Eckells.

Before this transaction Wilson had never been charged with any drug offense.

LAW

While factually weak, the State did make a jury issue on whether or not the woman who sold the packet to Conner was Wilson.

The cross-examination of Wilson above-quoted was inflammatory and prejudicial. She was charged with the sale of cocaine. She had pleaded not guilty and just testified, denying any sale to Shaw or Conner. None of her testimony on direct examination opened the door to a line of inquiry by the prosecution, asking her to deny she even knew anybody who fooled with drugs. This was compounded by asking her if she knew Percy Eckells, followed by the prosecution informing the jury that Eckells was charged with a drug offense. It was compounded even further by making her admit or deny the charges against Eckells. Wilson's acquaintance with Eckells was totally irrelevant to the indictment against her.

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Bluebook (online)
661 So. 2d 1109, 1993 WL 451343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-state-miss-1995.