Wiseman v. State

771 So. 2d 977, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 433, 2000 WL 1342522
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 19, 2000
DocketNo. 1999-KA-00299-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 771 So. 2d 977 (Wiseman 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
Wiseman v. State, 771 So. 2d 977, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 433, 2000 WL 1342522 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

BRIDGES, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. This appeal comes from the Circuit Court of Grenada County, Honorable Joseph H. Loper Jr. presiding, where Myles Wiseman was convicted of one count of uttering a forgery and was sentenced to serve a term of fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Correc- ' ms as a habitual offender. On appeal to Mirt, Wiseman raises two issues

1. WHETHER THE STATE PROVED BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT APPELLANT HAD KNOWLEDGE THAT THE CHECK WAS A FRAUDULENT INSTRUMENT?

2. WHETHER OR NOT THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY OVERRULING THE APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR A DIRECTED VERDICT OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, MOTION FOR A JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT?

Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 2. On December 20, 1997, Myles Wise-man entered Spain’s Supermarket in Grenada, Mississippi. Wiseman and the State offered conflicting views of what happened that night. According to Wiseman’s testimony, while there he bought a few items and was waiting near the customer service desk when the facts from which this case is based arose. Wiseman claims he saw a young man at the customer service desk trying to cash a check. Wiseman testified that the young man appeared nervous, and the store clerk was examining the check while she called her boss in the back of the store.

¶ 3. Wiseman testified he approached the young man and told him that if he was doing something wrong then he should get out of there because in Wiseman’s opinion the young man was about to get arrested. The young man turned to leave but stopped to pick up some things he dropped on the ground. Wiseman bent down to help the young man and picked up several checks, some money, and the young man’s identification, but was unable to return them to the young man because the young man left. As Wiseman stood up, the owner of the store was there holding the check, and so were the police. Wiseman was arrested and taken to the precinct.

¶4. The version of the facts that the State put on during its case was much different. The store clerk, Michelle Beach [979]*979Wiggins, testified that on December 20, 1997, she was working the customer service desk at Spain’s Grocery Store in Grenada. She claimed the appellant approached her at the desk and stated he wanted to have a check cashed. Upon examination of the check, Ms. Wiggins discovered the check was from the George Garner Insurance Company and that the check was made out to a person named Igen Troy Stewart. Ms. Wiggins and everyone who worked at the store were on notice that some checks had been stolen from the Garner Insurance Company, and that they were not to cash any of these checks.

¶ 5. Ms. Wiggins then asked for some identification from the appellant, and he offered her a Tennessee driver’s license in the name of Igen Troy Stewart. She then called the back of the store and talked with Mrs. Angie Golding. Mrs. Golding is the wife of the owner of the store, Mr. Tim Golding, whom she called to ask what Wiggins should do. Mr. Golding told her to stall him while he called the police. Mr. Golding also called one of his male employees, Marshall Jones, to go up to the front of the store with him to wait while the police came. Mr. Golding then went to the front of the store and asked Wiseman for the check and his identification. Wiseman gave them to him. Then Mr. Golding asked Wiseman to endorse the check. Wiseman did so and then bent over to tie his shoes.

¶ 6. The police had arrived by this time, and as Wiseman was standing back up, they took him into custody. While they were arresting him, the police found several more checks made out to Igen Tory Stewart in his wallet. When asked for his name, the defendant responded that his name was Kerry Johnson. After Wiseman was read his Miranda rights, one of the police officers, Officer Lee Murphree, testified that while he was explaining to Wise-man the reason they were arresting him, that Wiseman stated, “[T]hat we had him — I want to say dead to right, but he was caught trying to pass that check.” It was at the police precinct, while signing a waiver that Wiseman revealed to the police that his true name was Myles Wiseman.

¶ 7. Wiseman was charged with uttering a forgery, and he was tried on the nineteenth and twentieth of August 1999. Wiseman was found guilty by the jury of the crime of uttering a forgery and was sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections as a habitual offender. After the judgment was entered by the trial judge, Wise-man filed a motion for a directed verdict or, in the alternative, a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The trial judge dismissed Wiseman’s motion, and Wiseman now appeals to this Court.

ANALYSIS OF THE LAW

STANDARD OF PROOF

¶ 8. The standard that must be proven to show the crime of uttering a forgery is laid out in statute at § 97-21-59 of the Mississippi Code. It is:

Every person who shall be convicted of having uttered or published as true, and with intent to defraud, any forged, altered, or counterfeit instrument, or any counterfeit gold or silver coin, the forgery, altering, or counterfeiting of which is declared by the provisions of this chapter to be an offense, knowing such instrument or coin to be an offense, knowing such instrument or coin to be forged, altered, or counterfeited, shall suffer the punishment herein provided for forgery.

Miss.Code Ann. § 97-21-59 (Rev.1994).

¶ 9. The standard of review for denial of a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and directed verdict are identical. American Fire Protection, Inc. v. Lewis, 653 So.2d 1387, 1390 (Miss.1995). Under this standard, this Court uses the following analysis:

[The evidence is considered] in the light most favorable to the appellee, giving [980]*980that party the benefit of all favorable inference that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. If the facts so considered point so overwhelmingly in favor of the appellant that reasonable men could not have arrived at a contrary verdict, [then the Court is] required to reverse and render. On the other hand if there is substantial evidence in support of the verdict, that is, evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair minded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment might have reached different conclusions, affirmance is required.

Id. (citations omitted). In other words, the Court must consider the motion in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Eselin-Bullock & Assocs. Ins. Agency, Inc. v. National Gen. Ins. Co., 604 So.2d 236, 240 (Miss.1992).

DISCUSSION

WHETHER THE STATE PROVED BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT APPELLANT HAD KNOWLEDGE THAT THE CHECK WAS A FRAUDULENT INSTRUMENT?

¶ 10. Under this assignment of error, Wiseman argues that the State was unable to prove Wiseman actually knew the instrument was a fraudulent instrument because, as he claims, he did not offer it to be cashed, but only picked it up when some young man dropped it. His knowledge that the check was fraudulent is important, as it is one of the elements that must be shown to prove a case of uttering a forgery under the statute. Miss.Code Ann.

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771 So. 2d 977, 2000 Miss. App. LEXIS 433, 2000 WL 1342522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiseman-v-state-missctapp-2000.