Campbell v. State, 89-KA-385

Decision Date22 August 1990
Docket NumberNo. 89-KA-385,89-KA-385
Citation566 So.2d 475
PartiesPortrene CAMPBELL v. STATE of Mississippi.
CourtMississippi Supreme Court

Herman F. Cox, Jimmy D. McGuire, McGuire & Cox, Gulfport, for appellant.

Mike C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Deirdre McCrory, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and PITTMAN and BLASS, JJ.

BLASS, Justice, for the Court:

Defendant, Portrene Campbell, was indicted for possession of cocaine, a schedule II controlled substance, on May 23, 1988. She was then tried, found guilty, and sentenced to twenty (20) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on October 25, 1988. After filing post trial motions, defendant's trial counsel requested and was granted leave to withdraw. Notice of substitute counsel, along with a supplemental motion for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict was filed on February 24, 1989. The supplemental motion alleged that the court had erred in its sentencing and pursuant to MISS.CODE ANN. Sec. 41-29-139(c)(1) (Supp.1989), sentencing should have been limited to three (3) years. The court sustained the sentencing portion of the j.n.o.v. motion and resentenced defendant to three (3) years and then overruled the remainder of the motion.

I.

The defendant, on the evening of April 10, 1988, was a passenger in a car driven by one Deric Johnson. Officer Butler, a patrolman with the Pascagoula Police Department, upon receiving information that the car had been involved in a shooting, stopped the car and subsequently arrested Deric Johnson. Officer Butler searched the defendant's purse, wherein he found a partially smoked marijuana cigarette and thirty-six hundred dollars ($3,600). The testimony is contradictory as to whether or not the defendant consented to the search.

Officer Butler testified that when he arrested the defendant he noticed that she had a bulge in her pants, but he did not search her. The defendant was then handcuffed and placed in the backseat of Officer Leonard's car along with Deric Johnson. Officer Leonard then drove the defendant and Deric Johnson to the police station. Officer Leonard testified that when he reached the station he escorted the defendant out of the vehicle and turned her over to the jailer. Afterwards, he went outside, popped the back seat loose from the car, leaned it forward and found a plastic bag containing three (3) patties of rock cocaine. Defendant was then arrested and indicted for possession of cocaine.

II.

The only issue we need to address here is whether or not the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. The standard of review for challenges to legal sufficiency of evidence was recently set out by this Court in Garrett v. State, 549 So.2d 1325 (Miss.1989), as follows:

When on appeal one convicted of a criminal offense challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence, our authority to interfere with the jury's verdict is quite limited. We proceed by considering all of the evidence-not just that supporting the case for the prosecution-in the light most consistent with the verdict. We give the prosecution the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the accused with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, reversal and discharge are required. On the other hand, if there is in the record substantial evidence of such quality and weight that, having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable and fairminded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment may have reached different conclusions, the verdict of guilty is thus placed beyond our authority to disturb.

Garrett, 549 So.2d at 1331.

In the case sub judice, the defendant was indicted for possession of cocaine, and the testimony clearly established that the contraband was not found on the defendant's person, but in the patrol car, which was used to take both the defendant and Deric Johnson to the police station. Because the defendant neither had control of the premises nor actual possession of the substance, the State had the burden of producing competent evidence which would connect the defendant to the cocaine. This is in line with Powell v. State, 355 So.2d 1378 (Miss.1978) wherein this Court held that "[w]here the premises upon which contraband is found is not in the exclusive possession of the accused, the accused is entitled to acquittal, absent some competent evidence connecting him with the contraband." Powell, 355 So.2d at 1379.

Recently, the Court reiterated its position on proof of possession in Pate v. State, 557 So.2d 1183 (Miss.1990) There must be sufficient facts to warrant a finding that defendant was aware of the presence and character of the particular substance and was intentionally and consciously in possession of it. It need not be...

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    ...evidence unmistakably connects Maldonado with the drugs found in the rental car. See Guerrero, 746 So.2d at (¶ 18); Campbell v. State, 566 So.2d 475, 477 (Miss.1990); Keys v. State, 478 So.2d 266, 268 (Miss.1985); Powell v. State, 355 So.2d 1378, 1379 (Miss. ¶ 37. Further, we note an observ......
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