Johnson v. State

• Decision Date: 13 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2010–CT–01978–SCT.,2010–CT–01978–SCT.
• Citation: 155 So.3d 733
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: Angela Denise JOHNSON a/k/a Angela Johnson v. STATE of Mississippi.

155 So.3d 733

Angela Denise JOHNSON a/k/a Angela Johnson

v.STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2010–CT–01978–SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 13, 2014.

Cynthia Ann Stewart, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Billy L. Gore, John R. Henry, Jr., attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

KITCHENS, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. A Neshoba County jury convicted Angela Johnson of one count of possession of methamphetamine, one count of possession of precursor chemicals, and one count of false pretense. The Court of Appeals affirmed Johnson's convictions, and this Court granted certiorari to resolve the question of whether admission into evidence of two search warrants and an underlying facts-and-circumstances affidavit which included hearsay statements attributed to a confidential informant constituted reversible error. Because we find error, we reverse the judgments of the trial court and the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the Circuit Court of Neshoba County for a new trial.

FACTS¹ AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 9, 2010, Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Ralph Sciple received information from a confidential informant that Johnson was in possession of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals in her home in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Officer Sciple was also told that individuals were making false identification cards in order to buy precursor chemicals. Based on this information, two search warrants were issued. One search warrant targeted the methamphetamine and precursor chemicals on the premises, and a second search warrant targeted the computers and equipment used to make forgeries.

On January 10, 2010, at 10:40 p.m., the search warrants were executed. The adults present when the search warrant was executed were Johnson, Calvin Johnson, and Kenneth Brian Stevens. They were taken to the living room and given a Miranda warning. Johnson stated that she understood the warning.

Inside of the home, officers found two laptop computers. On one computer, a Dell, the screen was open. The officers observed a picture of a Nebraska driver's license showing an individual who Officer Sciple “knew didn't live in Nebraska.” The picture was of Alicia Wells, a Neshoba County resident. The other computer, a Toshiba, was closed and connected to a charger. Officer Sciple questioned Johnson regarding the computers. She stated the Dell computer was hers, and the Toshiba computer belonged to Stevens. Officer Sciple also found a document on Johnson's computer detailing how to make false identification cards. In addition to the computers, eleven identification cards were found in a purse in the residence. Nine of the identification cards purported to show a photograph of Johnson. One was Johnson's actual driver's license, two of them were fake Nebraska driver's licenses, and the rest were fake Mississippi identification cards or driver's licenses.

During the search, officers found a box located in the computer room containing an Instant Ice compress, pseudoephedrine pills, and lithium batteries. A bottle of drain cleaner was discovered in the master bathroom of the house. A can of Coleman camp fuel was retrieved from the laundry room of the residence. Finally, a bag of fertilizer was found outside the front door of the home. A forensic scientist with the Mississippi Crime Lab testified at trial and stated the items collected all contained chemicals in commonly found precursors used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

During the search, the officers also found two empty ziplock bags and a third ziplock bag containing a “crystal[-]like substance.” The forensic scientist testified regarding the testing of the ziplock bags at the crime lab. According to the scientist, one ziplock bag contained methamphetamine, and the two empty ziplock bags tested positive for trace amounts of methamphetamine.

Johnson, Calvin, and Stevens were all arrested on January 10, 2010, the night the warrant was executed. On January 12, 2010, Officer Sciple interviewed Johnson. Before any questioning, he advised Johnson of her Miranda rights, and she signed a waiver. She then made certain confessions to Officer Sciple, which he condensed into written statements signed by Johnson. In the first statement, Johnson acknowledged that she was in possession of methamphetamine. In the second statement, she admitted that she had bought Claritin–D and that Stevens had bought pseudoephedrine. They planned to take the pills out of the county for someone else to make methamphetamine. Johnson claimed she only intended to use the medicine and never planned to make the methamphetamine herself. In her final statement, she stated that she had used a false identification card with a Social Security number that was not her own.

On May 4, 2010, the grand jury indicted Johnson for Count I, possession of methamphetamine; Count II, possession of precursor chemicals; and Count III, false pretense. The trial began on November 11, 2010.

Johnson v. State, 155 So.3d 822, 824–26 (Miss.Ct.App.2013).

¶ 2. The search warrants and accompanying documents were introduced by the State and admitted as substantive evidence at trial. Each included the following statement by the issuing justice court judge: “WHEREAS RALPH SCIPLE KNOWN TO ME TO BE A CREDIBLE PERSON, HAS THIS DAY MADE COMPLAINT ON OATH BEFORE ME AS FOLLOWS.... This Court, having examined and considered the Affidavit, and also having heard all considered evidence in support thereof from the affiant named therein does find that probable cause for the issuance of a Search Warrant does exist.”

¶ 3. Attached to each search warrant was an underlying facts-and-circumstances affidavit, which included the curriculum vitae of Officer Sciple:

Affiant, Ralph Sciple has been in law enforcement since 1980. Sciple has served as Constable in Kemper County for 12 years, served with the DeKalb Police Department for 8 years, several of those years as Chief of Police and served as Sheriff of Kemper County for 1 ½ years. Sciple is presently serving with the Neshoba County Sheriff's Department where he has been for the past 10 plus years and has been an Investigator for over 9 of those years. Sciple is a certified law enforcement officer and a graduate of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy in Pearl, Mississippi and has attended numerous in service training on the subject of criminal investigations. Sciple has effected numerous felony arrests and investigated numerous cases. Sciple has applied for and received many search warrants in his career.

¶ 4. The underlying facts-and-circumstances affidavit attached to the search warrant for methamphetamine and precursor materials included the following:

Inv. Sciple has received information for the past several days from a confidential informant that Inv. Sciple knows to be a credible person and has given creditable information in the past that has led to arrest and convictions that Methamphetamine was being made at 10132 county road 369 at the residence of Angela D. Johnson. On this day 01–09–10 the same informant gave the following information that he/she saw lithium batteries, fertilizer, camp fuel, drain cleaner and plastic tubing at the residence of 10132 county road 369. The informant stated there was always Methamphetamine at the residence. On 01–09–10 Inv. Sciple began preparing an affidavit for Search Warrant, with supportive Underlying Facts and Circumstances, this being within the past 24 hours. It is based on these facts that your affiant respectfully request a search warrant be issued for this residence, 10132 Road 369 Philadelphia, MS 39350 to include all persons, outbuildings and vehicles.

¶ 5. Similarly, the underlying facts-and-circumstances affidavit attached to the search warrant for fake IDs and fake ID manufacturing equipment stated:

Inv. Sciple has received information for the past several days from a confidential informant that Inv. Sciple knows to be a credible person and has given credible information in the past that has led to arrest and convictions that Fake ID's were being made at 10132 county road 369 Philadelphia, MS 39350 at the residence of Angela D. Johnson. On this day 01–09–10 the same informant gave the following information that he/she saw Fake ID's made and other names on fake ID's at the residence of 10132 county road 369 Philadelphia, MS 39350. On 01–09–10 Inv. Sciple began preparing an affidavit for Search Warrant, with supportive Underlying Facts and Circumstances, this being within the past 24 hours. It is based on these facts that your affiant respectfully request a search warrant be issued for this residence, 10132 Road 369 Philadelphia, MS 39350 to include all persons, outbuildings and vehicles.

¶ 6. At trial, Johnson moved to suppress the search warrants on grounds of staleness and unreliability. Johnson objected repeatedly on the same grounds, and she renewed her previous objections in a motion for directed verdict. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, overruled the objections, and denied the motion for directed verdict. On direct appeal, Johnson challenged the search warrants, arguing that their admission at trial:

(1) allowed the informant to testify via hearsay that methamphetamine was being manufactured at the residence, (2) violated her right to confront the witness, (3) constituted “other crime evidence” inadmissible under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 404(b), and (4) permitted Officer Sciple to vouch for the credibility of the informant.²

Johnson, 155 So.3d at 826. The Court of Appeals held that the issues were procedurally barred because they were not raised before the trial court. Johnson, 155 So.3d at 827. See Walker v. State, 913 So.2d 198, 217 (Miss.2005) (“Failure to raise an issue at trial bars consideration on an appellate level.”); Montana v. State, 822 So.2d 954, 959 (Miss.2002) ( “asserting grounds for an objection on appeal that differs from the ground given for the objection at the trial level does not properly...