Coleman v. State

• Decision Date: 07 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2004-CT-00346-SCT.,2004-CT-00346-SCT.
• Parties: W.A. COLEMAN v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

947 So.2d 878

W.A. COLEMAN v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2004-CT-00346-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 7, 2006.

Rehearing Denied February 15, 2007.

David M. Holly, Greenwood, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI.

DICKINSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Without authorization, a deacon of Pillow Chapel Missionary Baptist Church ("Pillow Chapel") in Greenwood, wrote church checks to himself. He was indicted, tried, and convicted under Mississippi's embezzlement statute, Miss.Code Ann. Section 97-23-19 (Rev.2004) ("Embezzlement Statute"). The question presented is whether the deacon was indicted and tried under the correct statute.

BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

¶ 2. W.A. Coleman and James Brown, the two deacons at Pillow Chapel, were responsible for collecting monthly offerings from church members, depositing the funds into the church's bank account, and paying for authorized maintenance and repairs to the church building and facilities.

¶ 3. Between January and July 2001, Coleman wrote checks¹ totaling approximately $1,600.00 to himself, with no documentation of the purpose for the expenditures. When Brown became aware of Coleman's conduct, he notified law enforcement officials, and an investigation ensued. Coleman was indicted under the Embezzlement Statute. The indictment stated:

That W.A. Coleman, that [sic] between the 22nd day of January, 2001 and 8th day of July, 2001, in Leflore County, Mississippi, being a deacon and in a position of trust at Pillow Chapel M.B. Church, and by virtue of his position as deacon, he, the said W.A. Coleman, he had in and under his care money, an amount being Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($250.00) or more, and did fraudulently and feloniously embezzle and convert said money to his own use, without the consent of James Brown, Trustee, and Pillow Chapel, M.B. Church, against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi.

¶ 4. In January 2004, the case proceeded to trial. The essence of Coleman's defense was that he had written those checks to compensate himself for payments he made from his own funds for repair of church property, including plumbing and electrical work, as well as maintenance of the church's lawn mower. The church's pastor, however, testified that before any authorized work could be done for the church, the deacons were required to obtain approval from the congregation. The pastor also testified that the plumbing work which had been done was minor, there had been no electrical work done at the church, and the repairs performed were not worth $1,600.00.

¶ 5. At the completion of the State's case in chief, Coleman moved for a directed verdict on the basis that the State had failed to prove the money had been embezzled from either an "incorporated company" or a "private person" as required by the Embezzlement Statute, under which he was indicted. Coleman also argued the State had failed to prove any misappropriation for personal use.

¶ 6. The trial court denied Coleman's motion, and the trial proceeded. Coleman did not testify, but he called various witnesses to testify concerning the alleged work and repairs. The jury found Coleman guilty, and he was sentenced to a ten-year term of incarceration and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,255.00. The trial court denied Coleman's motion for a new trial or, in the alternative, for J.N.O.V., and he timely perfected an appeal, which we referred to the Court of Appeals.

¶ 7. Although Coleman briefed a variety of issues, the Court of Appeals addressed only the trial court's denial of his motion for a directed verdict, holding that the State did not carry its burden of demonstrating that Coleman embezzled from an incorporated company or a private person, as required by the Embezzlement Statute. In reversing and rendering Coleman's conviction, the Court of Appeals noted that Pillow Chapel was unincorporated, and insufficient evidence existed to prove that Coleman had embezzled from any private person. Coleman v. State, No. 2004-KA-00346-COA, 947 So.2d 964, 967, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 795, at *11 (Miss.Ct.App. Nov. 1, 2005).

¶ 8. The State applied to this Court for a writ of certiorari, and we granted that petition. Now, after careful review of the entire record, the briefs, and the arguments presented, we find the decision of the Court of Appeals was correct, and accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals and reverse Coleman's conviction.

DISCUSSION

I.

¶ 9. The interpretation of a statute presents a question of law which we are required to review de novo. Sykes v. State, 757 So.2d 997, 999 (Miss.2000). We begin our review by recognizing that this Court's constitutional responsibility is not to determine whether Coleman committed a criminal act by violating some statute, but rather to determine whether his conduct, as proven to the jury, constituted a violation of the particular statute under which he was indicted. The State chose to seek an indictment under the Embezzlement Statute, which provides:

If any director, agent, clerk, servant, or officer of any incorporated company, or if any trustee or factor, carrier or bailee, or any clerk, agent or servant of any private person, shall embezzle or fraudulently secrete, conceal, or convert to his own use, or make way with, or secrete with intent to embezzle or convert to his own use, any goods, rights in action, money, or other valuable security, effects, or property of any kind or description which shall have come or been intrusted to his care or possession by virtue of his office, place, or employment, either in mass or otherwise, with a value of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or more, he shall be guilty of felony embezzlement, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than ten (10) years, or fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.

Miss.Code Ann. § 97-23-19 (Rev.2004).

¶ 10. It is bedrock law in Mississippi that criminal statutes are to be strictly construed against the State and liberally in favor of the accused. McLamb v. State, 456 So.2d 743, 745 (Miss.1984). When the words of a statute are plain and unambiguous there is no room for interpretation or construction, and we apply the statute according to the meaning of those words. Harrison v. State, 800 So.2d 1134, 1137 (Miss.2001). It is only when a statute is unclear or ambiguous that we look beyond the language of the statute to determine its meaning. Id. (citing Kerr-McGee Chem. Corp. v. Buelow, 670 So.2d 12, 17 (Miss.1995); Allred v. Webb, 641 So.2d 1218, 1222 (Miss.1994); Clark v. State ex rel. Miss. State Med. Ass'n, 381 So.2d 1046, 1048 (Miss.1980)). In State v. Traylor, 100 Miss. 544, 558-59, 56 So. 521, 523 (1911), this Court outlined our duty when statutes are presented for judicial interpretation: "The court has no right to add anything to or take anything from a statute, where the meaning of the statute is clear. . . . The law is that criminal statutes must be strictly construed. Such has been the law from time immemorial."

¶ 11. Furthermore, this Court has held that "the critical inquiry is whether the evidence shows `beyond a reasonable doubt that [the] accused committed the act charged, and that he did so under circumstances that every element of the offense existed. . . .'" Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 836, 843 (Miss.2005) (quoting Carr v. State, 208 So.2d 886, 889 (Miss.1968)). In reviewing the denial of a motion for directed verdict, if we determine the evidence points in favor of the defendant on any element of the offense such that a reasonable juror could not have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, we must reverse the conviction. Edwards v. State, 469 So.2d 68, 70 (Miss.1985).

II. Miss.Code Ann. Section 97-23-19

¶ 12. This Court does not get to decide what are the necessary or appropriate elements for the commission of a particular crime. The Mississippi Constitution grants that arduous responsibility to the Legislature which long ago² determined that there should be a crime in Mississippi called embezzlement. The Embezzlement Statute, in a most specific, particular, and unambiguous manner, describes those who may be convicted under that statute for embezzlement. It follows that those not included on that list may not be convicted thereunder. The list is limited to certain persons who steal from "any incorporated company," and certain persons³ who steal from "any private person." Stated another way, the statute clearly provides only two categories of potential victims against whom the crime of embezzlement may be committed: either (1) "any director, agent, clerk, servant, or officer of any incorporated company," or (2) "any trustee or factor, carrier or bailee, or any clerk, agent or servant of any private person. . . ." Miss. Code Ann. § 97-23-19 (emphasis added).

¶ 13. Thus, the potential victims under the statute are "any incorporated company," and "any private person," and part of the State's burden of proof is to demonstrate that the defendant committed the wrongful act against one of those two potential victims. That being so, we must then determine whether Pillow Chapel was either an incorporated company or a private person when Coleman took the money. Because it is undisputed in this case that Pillow Chapel was not incorporated, we turn to the question of whether it was a "private person," as that terminology was understood when the Legislature employed it in 1848.

III.

Private person

¶ 14. One might, at first blush, think that the "common and ordinary acceptation and meaning"⁴ of "private person" is uncomplicated and easily understood. However, some have argued that because Pillow Chapel is an entity made up of private persons, the entity itself is also a private person. Others posit that since an organization such as a religious society (or a church) is an ...