Case Name: James SIMS v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1975-05-12
Citations: 313 So. 2d 27
Docket Number: No. 48187
Parties: James SIMS v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: GILLESPIE, C. J., and BROOM, J., join in this specially concurring opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 313
Pages: 27–32

Head Matter:
James SIMS v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 48187.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
May 12, 1975.
Roy Pitts, Meridian, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Vera Ma-del Speakes, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Opinion:
SMITH, Justice:
James Sims was convicted of the unlawful sale of marijuana, a controlled substance, in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County and sentenced to serve a term of four years in the penitentiary. He has appealed from that conviction.
Except for a chemical identification of the substance as marijuana, the State's case against Sims consisted of the testimony of a single witness, an agent of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
The agent testified:
He had received a telephone call from an "informer" at about 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon. He was told by the informer that he, the informer, had arranged a drug deal for that evening and requested that the agent meet him at 8:00 o'clock in the parking lot of a local Junior College. From thence, the agent followed the informer, who drove his own car, to the parking lot of Matty Hersee Hospital. When the agent got there he found the informer engaged in a conversation with Sims, the appellant. The agent said that they engaged in a discussion about a "rather large marijuana transaction." But, according to the agent, Sims said that he could not contact the person from whom he, Sims, intended to buy the marijuana, but told the agent that "he knew where he could get a small quantity," if the agent wanted it. The three, the agent, the informer and Sims together drove from the hospital parking lot to the Esperanza Restaurant. There, the agent testified, Sims went to a nearby apartment and knocked upon the door of "Apartment B." About two minutes later, Sims came back and joined the others, handing to the agent four "lids" of marijuana. All three then returned to the parking lot of Matty Her-see Hospital. From there Sims and the informer drove away together and the agent left in his car.
The defense offered by Sims was in the form of an alibi. In other words, Sims contended and so testified, that he was not present on the occasions testified about by the agent, had not participated in any such transactions and knew nothing about them. Several witnesses supported Sims' testimony that he was elsewhere at the times involved.
At the trial, appellant requested the court to require the State to divulge the identity of the alleged informer. This request was denied by the trial court upon the ground that the informer occupied a privileged and confidential position which should be protected in the interests of society.
We think in so doing, under the facts here, the trial court was in error.
According to the State's version, the informer openly showed himself to Sims, had made all of the arrangements with Sims, accompanied and was present with Sims throughout, and he and Sims drove away together when the transaction had been completed. Obviously, there was nothing secret, confidential or "undercover" about this so-called informer. If the events involving Sims, the informer and the agent transpired as stated by the agent, the informer should have been known to Sims.
But, as stated, Sims' defense was an alibi, that is, no such transactions involving him had taken place at all, as he was elsewhere. It necessarily follows, if that is true, that no informer had participated with Sims in the alleged sale of mariju-na as described by the agent. Whether this is actually true or not, we cannot, of course, say, but Sims was entitled to a fair chance to put forward and establish this defense, if it could be done.
We have then, according to the State, an informer who did a great deal more than merely supply information secretly or confidentially to a law officer. The informer in this case, according to the State's version, was present and openly participated throughout in all of the events resulting in the commission of the offense. In fact, he had actually arranged the whole affair. He was an actual eyewitness to the commission of the offense.
In Young v. State, 245 So.2d 26, 27 (Miss.1971) this Court stated:
An informer apparently advised the police officers that they could purchase marijuana from defendant. The circuit court overruled defendant's motion for disclosure of the informer's identity. Ordinarily, disclosure of the identity of an informer, who is not a material witness to the guilt or innocence of the accused, is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Strode v. State, 231 So. 2d 779 (Miss. 1970). On the other hand, where the informer is an actual participant in the alleged crime, the accused is entitled to know who he is. Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957). However, in the instant case the evidence shows that the informer was not an active participant or eyewitness to the offense. The trial court offered defendant's counsel an opportunity to furnish proof as to whether the informer was a participant, but no such evidence was tendered.
(Emphasis added).
In McCormick v. State, 279 So.2d 596 (Miss.1973), this Court declined to reverse upon the ground that the trial court erred in refusing to require disclosure of the identity of an informer. This Court said:
We find no error in this regard (failure to require identification of the informer) and we hold that appellant here was not unconstitutionally deprived of the right to confront a witness against him on the ground that the state did not produce the informant as a witness, or did not identify the informant.
(279 So.2d at 599).
This Court, in considering McCormick, supra, in Ward v. State, 293 So.2d 419 (Miss.1974), said:
However, the informer privilege is not without limitations. Where the informer is present and an eye witness to the sale and where the revelation of his identity is essential to a fair determination of the case, the state is required to reveal his identity.
(293 So.2d at 421).
While it is true that in Ward the Court reached the conclusion that, under the facts in that case, the conviction should not be reversed, it again made the critical distinction between those cases in which disclosure of an informer's identity is re quired and those in which disclosure rests within the sound discretion of the trial court.
The rule is again stated in Veto Mills v. State of Mississippi, 304 So.2d 651 (Miss. 1974).
Under the circumstances of this case, the State should have been required to reveal the identity of the so-called informer, who actually witnessed and took part in the events described by the agent, in order that Sims might have been afforded a fair opportunity to establish, if he could, whether (1) the informer would identify Sims as the person who made the sale; (2) would testify that Sims was not the person involved; or (3) whether in fact, any such person as the alleged informer could be produced. To have required the State to do this in the present case would not have violated any confidential obligation on the part of the State to keep secret the identity of an undercover or secret informer since, according to the agent's own testimony, participation of the informer was open and not secret. The status of the so-called informer in this case is the same as that of any other eyewitness to the commission of an alleged crime.
The trial court was in error in refusing to require disclosure of the identity of this alleged witness, and for that reason the case must be reversed and the case remanded.
On retrial, as a cautionary measure, we reiterate what we have said on many former occasions, testimony should not be given tending to show that the defendant has committed offenses other than that for which he is on trial.
Reversed and remanded.
All Justices concur.