Watts v. State
| Docket Number: | 2010-KA-00917-SCT | |
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 02-02-2012 Opinion Author: Kitchens, J. Holding: Affirmed. |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Felony fleeing - Double jeopardy - Jurisdiction - Sufficiency of evidence - Reasonable suspicion - Section 63-11-30 Judge(s) Concurring: Waller, C.J., Carlson and Dickinson, P.JJ., Randolph, Chandler, Pierce and King, JJ. Concur in Part, Concur in Result 1: Lamar, J., Concurs in Part and in Result Without Separate Written Opinion Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 02-18-2010 Appealed from: Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge: Robert Bailey Disposition: Appellant was convicted of felony fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to five years in custody, with two years suspended and three years of post-release supervision. District Attorney: Bilbo Mitchell Case Number: 484-08 |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | Fredrick Watts |
LISA MISHUNE ROSS |
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| Appellee: | State of Mississippi | OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: DEIRDRE MCCRORY SCOTT STUART |
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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: | Felony fleeing - Double jeopardy - Jurisdiction - Sufficiency of evidence - Reasonable suspicion - Section 63-11-30 |
| Summary of the Facts: | Frederick Watts was convicted of felony fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to five years in custody, with two years suspended and three years of post-release supervision. He appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Issue 1: Double jeopardy Watts argues that he could not be tried for felony fleeing in the circuit court after he had been convicted of misdemeanor reckless driving in justice court. Former jeopardy is not implicated when the court which first tried the accused lacked jurisdiction finally to adjudicate all of the pending charges, for a court without jurisdiction to try the person for the crime charged cannot place the accused in jeopardy. Watts pled guilty to a misdemeanor – reckless driving – in justice court while he was under indictment for felony fleeing. Both charges arose from the same incident and the same conduct. Because the justice court lacked jurisdiction to try the pending felony charge, Watts could not be acquitted or convicted in justice court and later succeed in asserting former jeopardy as a bar to the already-pending felony charge in circuit court. Issue 2: Sufficiency of evidence Watts argues that the State failed to prove that the officers had reasonable suspicion to believe that he had committed a crime. Watts fails to mention in his argument that the officer who initially approached Watts’s vehicle at the roadblock testified that he had detected the scent of an “intoxicating beverage” coming from the vehicle. Thus, he does not refute the State’s position that the officer had reasonable suspicion to believe that Watts had been driving under the influence of an intoxicating beverage in violation of section 63-11-30. |
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