Winters v. State

• Decision Date: 07 December 2021
• Docket Number: 2020-KA-00809-COA
• Citation: 334 So.3d 1214
• Parties: Clinton WINTERS, Jr. a/k/a Clinton S. Winters, Appellant v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

334 So.3d 1214

Clinton WINTERS, Jr. a/k/a Clinton S. Winters, Appellant

v.STATE of Mississippi, Appellee

NO. 2020-KA-00809-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

December 7, 2021

Rehearing Denied March 8, 2022

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER BY: GEORGE T. HOLMES, Jackson, CLINTON WINTERS (PRO SE)

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: BARBARA WAKELAND BYRD, Jackson

BEFORE CARLTON, P.J., LAWRENCE AND EMFINGER, JJ.

LAWRENCE, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. On June 2, 2020, a Panola County jury convicted Clinton Winters of possession of more than ten but less than thirty grams of methamphetamine. The circuit court sentenced Winters as a violent habitual offender to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without eligibility for parole.¹ Winters filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), or alternatively, a new trial. The circuit court denied Winters' post-trial motion, and he appealed.²

¶2. On appeal, Winters raises four claims: (1) the circuit court erred in allowing information related to his grand-larceny charge and prior felony convictions into evidence under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 404(b) ; (2) the circuit court erred in denying his request for a circumstantial-evidence instruction; (3) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction; and (4) the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm Winters' conviction and sentence.

FACTS

¶3. Winters and Kimberly King met in early January 2019. They started out as friends but became involved in a romantic relationship around one month later. On February 3, 2019, Winters sent King several messages on Facebook Instant Messenger. Winters asked King to meet him at her place in Pope, Mississippi, so they could "finally be alone." Winters also said, "I got a[n] oz[.] to share with you. Before I go back to prison."³ Winters and King met at her house later that day, and Winters brought methamphetamine for them to smoke. Winters and King continued to smoke together for several days and also traveled together to Tunica, Mississippi, to go to some casinos.

¶4. On the morning of February 8, 2019, Winters and King left Tunica and headed toward Batesville, Mississippi. Unbeknownst to King, Winters scheduled a meeting with his federal probation officer in Batesville. King drove Winters' truck to Batesville, and they stopped at a gas station, where two local officers were waiting to arrest him for allegedly stealing a trailer.⁴ Winters asked King to hold the leftover methamphetamine because she would not be searched. King placed the leftover methamphetamine in her bra. The two then exited the truck as the officers approached them and began to question them separately. The two officers were Investigator Justin Maples of the Panola County Sheriff's Department and Officer Beau Dickson of the Batesville Police Department. Both officers noticed the smell of marijuana on King and Winters. Investigator Maples arrested Winters on the grand-larceny charge involving the stolen trailer. No drugs were found on Winters or in his vehicle. As Officer Dickson approached King to conduct a search, she handed the officers two marijuana cigarettes from her pocket. King then lifted her shirt to get rid of the methamphetamine hidden in her bra. Officer Dickson also seized a glass pipe from King's left pocket and a flashlight containing methamphetamine from her right pocket. At that point, King was arrested. Both Winters and King were taken to the police station for questioning.

¶5. King signed a Miranda⁵ waiver and provided a written statement to the police, stating that she had no knowledge of Winters' involvement with a stolen trailer. She also stated that when she was searched, she "voluntarily" discarded the methamphetamine from her bra and that she was not aware that the flashlight in her pocket contained methamphetamine. King stated that she took the flashlight from Winters' truck console because she had no electricity at her house.

¶6. Winters also signed a Miranda waiver and provided audio and written statements. Investigator Maples and Officer J.P. Wallace of the Batesville Police Department were present for both statements. In his audio statement, Winters said that a man named Marcus Price asked him to move a trailer from Batesville to Webb, Mississippi, and that Price paid him "$1,200, a quarter sack of weed, and some ice"⁶ for the job. Winters' written statement was consistent with his audio statement in regard to the form of "payment." In his written statement, he added that the methamphetamine he received from Price as payment for transferring the trailer was the same methamphetamine found on King's person.

¶7. In October 2019, Winters was indicted for possession of between ten and thirty grams of methamphetamine. His case proceeded to trial on June 1, 2020. King was the State's key witness. She first testified about Winters' Facebook messages, in which he invited her to come do drugs with him. Those Facebook messages were introduced into evidence. The remainder of King's testimony mirrored her written statement, which was introduced into evidence by the State on redirect examination. She maintained that the methamphetamine did not belong to her and that Winters asked her to "hold onto it" while they stopped in Batesville.

¶8. Investigator Maples and Officer Dickson testified to the details surrounding the searches and arrests of Winters and King. Investigator Maples and Officer Wallace authenticated Winters' audio and written statements, which were both introduced into evidence. A forensic scientist from the Mississippi Crime Laboratory testified that the substance King discarded from her bra was 11.756 grams of methamphetamine and the substance retrieved from the flashlight was 1.819 grams of methamphetamine.

¶9. Winters was the only witness to testify on his behalf. He denied writing the Facebook messages previously admitted into evidence and denied having any connection to the methamphetamine found on King's person. He also denied ever giving an audio statement or a written statement.

¶10. The jury ultimately found Winters guilty of possession of a controlled substance pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 41-29-139(c)(1)(D) (Rev. 2015). Winters' post-trial motion was denied, and he appealed.

ANALYSIS

1. Rule 404(b)

¶11. Winters first argues that the circuit court erred in allowing information related to his grand-larceny indictment and prior felony convictions into evidence under Rule 404(b). Winters filed numerous motions in limine.⁷ In the first motion in limine, he sought to "exclude [his] other charges, indictments regarding his grand larceny indictment from being presented by the State or any witness at the trial of this case." In the second motion in limine, he sought to "prevent the eliciting of or the introducing of testimony or the admission into evidence of [his] past felony convictions ...."

¶12. At the pretrial hearing, Winters first argued that any evidence of his prior felony convictions was more prejudicial than probative and in direct violation of Rule 404(b). The State argued that it could not tell a complete story of the events without mentioning that Winters was scheduled to meet with his probation officer at the time the controlled substance was found. The State maintained that it planned to be "very cautious ... to minimize the impact on the jury." With that in mind, the State informed the court that it did not intend to elicit any testimony as to Winters' prior felony convictions. Ultimately, the court denied Winters' motion based on the understanding that the State would not delve into the specifics of those prior felony convictions.⁸ The court agreed with the State that "there's no way to explain why these two people are in the same place at the same time, being the defendant and the probation officer, without there being information before the jury that there was a probation officer."

¶13. Next, Winters requested that the court "exclude or suppress any references to the fact that Mr. Winters is being accused of grand larceny in another indictment." The State informed the court that it had "no intention of asking in [its] case in chief whether or not [he] had been indicted for grand larceny ...." The State did, however, plan to reference the trailer (the source of the grand-larceny indictment) because it could not tell a complete story of the events without referencing the trailer, as it was the alleged source of payment for the methamphetamine found on King's person. The court ultimately found that "at this point in time the testimony, if it is laid out as the State intends it to be, I would have to deny the defendant's motion to exclude evidence pertaining to the exchange of that trailer and the identity and knowledge of the methamphetamine."

¶14. "A trial judge enjoys a great deal of discretion as to the relevancy and admissibility of evidence. Unless the judge abuses this discretion so as to be prejudicial to the accused, the Court will not reverse this ruling." Gore v. State , 37 So. 3d 1178, 1183 (¶13) (Miss. 2010) (quoting Price v. State , 898 So. 2d 641, 653 (¶29) (Miss. 2005) ). Rule 404(b) provides:

(1) Prohibited Uses. Evidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not admissible to prove a person's character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.

(2) Permitted Uses. This evidence may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident.

MRE 404(b).

¶15. Before admitting evidence of prior bad acts, a circuit court must filter the evidence through Mississippi Rule of Evidence 403 and determine whether the evidence's probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect to the defendant. Derouen v. State , 994 So. 2d 748, 756 (¶20) (Miss. 2008). If a circuit court...