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White v. State8/17/1999
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/06/1997
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. LAMAR PICKARD
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: COPIAH COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
BY: JEAN SMITH VAUGHAN
NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION: 11/05/1997: UNLAWFUL SALE OF COCAINE WITHIN 1500 FEET OF A CHURCH: SENTENCED TO SERVE A TERM OF SIXTY YEARS WITH THE MDOC
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART - 08/17/1999
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
. This case against Michael White stems from a judgment of conviction of the Copiah County Circuit Court of one count of sale of cocaine in a church zone in violation of Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-29-139 and 41-29-142. White appeals this conviction and his sentence of sixty years imprisonment.
. Finding the trial court correctly overruled the motion for JNOV and finding no valid Batson argument exists, we affirm the trial court on those issues.
. Regarding the issue of sentencing and in light of the recent case of Davis v. State, 724 So. 2d 342 (Miss. 1998), we reverse and remand the issue of sentencing to allow the trial Judge to comply with the Davis requirements.
FACTS
. On December 17, 1996, Levon Turner, an informant acting undercover for the Hazlehurst Police Department, engaged in a purchase of crack cocaine from the appellant. Prepared for an undercover purchase of drugs with county money and wired with a body microphone by Officer Ron Crew, Turner had a prebuy meeting with Crew and Officer Keith Mangold where Turner was given forty dollars in U.S. currency to purchase drugs.
. Backed by surveillance from the officers, Turner went to an apartment located approximately 1,500 feet from Temple church where he found Michael White. Turner asked White what he could get for thirty-five, and White replied he could get two for forty, meaning two rocks of cocaine for forty dollars. The exchange was made, and Turner returned to the police station with the officers. Mississippi Crime Lab test results showed the substance Turner purchased from White was crack cocaine.
. Following this undercover operation, White was charged with unlawful sale of cocaine within 1,500 feet of a church in violation of Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-142 (Rev. 1993). White was subsequently tried and convicted and sentenced to sixty years imprisonment, the maximum penalty under law -- thirty years for cocaine sale, doubled because the sale was within 1,500 feet of a church Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-139(b)(1) (Rev. 1993).
ARGUMENT AND DISCUSSION OF THE LAW STANDARD OF REVIEW
. White raises three issues for this Court's review: (1) the trial court was incorrect in denying his motion for JNOV; (2) the State was allowed to strike jurors because of their race, which violated Batson; and (3) White's sentence of sixty years constituted cruel and unusual punishment and should be set aside.
. The first issue for review regards the lower court's denial of motion for JNOV. Our standard of review for a JNOV is stated in Taylor v. State, 656 So. 2d 104, 107-08 (Miss. 1995):
"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 reason
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