State v. Rogers
| Docket Number: | 2002-CA-00590-SCT | |
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 06-12-2003 Opinion Author: Diaz, J. Holding: PRESENTED QUESTIONS ANSWERED |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Sale of cocaine - Peremptory challenges - Two-theory instruction - Judgment of acquittal - Section 99-35-103(b) Judge(s) Concurring: Pittman, C.J., McRae and Smith, P.JJ., Waller, Cobb, Easley and Carlson, JJ. Judge(s) Concurring Separately: Graves, J., Specially Concurs Without Separate Written Opinion Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CIVIL - OTHER |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 03-15-2002 Appealed from: Warren County Circuit Court Judge: Frank G. Vollor Disposition: The jury found the Appellee not guilty. Case Number: 020006-CR-V |
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| Note: | This was an appeal by the state after defendant was acquitted by a 7 black and 5 white jury for the sale of cocaine. Jury selection. | |
| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | State of Mississippi |
G. GILMORE MARTIN |
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| Appellee: | Lash Deon Rogers | KEVIN JEROME PAYNE |
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Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Sale of cocaine - Peremptory challenges - Two-theory instruction - Judgment of acquittal - Section 99-35-103(b) |
| Summary of the Facts: | Lash Rogers was found not guilty of the sale of cocaine. The State appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Issue 1: Peremptory challenges The State argues that the court incorrectly overruled its Batson objection and did not afford it an opportunity to provide authority to support a Batson objection. The State raised a Batson motion when Rogers exercised four peremptory challenges excluding four Caucasian jurors. Where the State has challenged a defendant's peremptory strikes on the basis of race, regardless of whether the struck jurors were black or white, the court should use the same Batson analysis. Therefore, the court should have allowed the State to make a Batson objection and gone forward with the analysis of whether the Batson objection was warranted. Issue 2: Two-theory instruction The State argues that the court erroneously gave an instruction which is equivalent to the two-theory instruction commonly given in a circumstantial evidence case, because this particular case was not a circumstantial evidence case. It is only in entirely circumstantial evidence cases that such an instruction is required. A circumstantial evidence case (for the purposes of granting a two-theory instruction) is one in which there is neither an eyewitness nor a confession to the crime. Here, two witnesses for the State stated that they saw the drug sale. Therefore, the case is clearly based on direct evidence, and the two-theory instruction should not be given. Under section 99-35-103(b), the judgment of acquittal cannot be reversed, but the questions presented are answered for the future guidance of the courts and other interested persons. |
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