Title: State v. Parks
Citation: 415 So. 2d 704
Docket Number: 53244
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: June 9, 1982

415 So. 2d 704 (1982) STATE of Mississippi v. Lucious PARKS. No. 53244. Supreme Court of Mississippi. June 9, 1982. *705 Gerald W. Chatham, Hernando, for appellant. Rhett R. Russell, Memphis, Tenn., for appellee. Before SUGG, P.J., and ROY NOBLE LEE and DAN M. LEE, JJ. DAN M. LEE, Justice, for the Court: This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of DeSoto County wherein Lucious Parks, defendant/appellee, was indicted for possession of a controlled substance, namely, approximately fourteen pounds of marijuana. The drug was seized from the trunk of Parks' automobile after Parks was stopped for violation of a traffic ordinance. The trial court sustained Parks' motion to suppress the evidence on the ground that the law enforcement officers were without justification for seizing Parks' automobile and that there was no probable cause to inventory the trunk of the automobile. From this finding the state appeals. Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-35-103 (1972) provides: In State v. Burrill, 312 So. 2d 1 (Miss. 1975), we stated: The state may not appeal a criminal case except where specific statutory authority grants it the right to do so. State v. Key, 93 Miss. 115, 46 So. 75 (1908). In the following cases we have allowed the state to appeal from adverse rulings on the admission or exclusion of evidence. State v. Sisk, 209 Miss. 174, 46 So. 2d 191 (1950); State v. Johnson, 166 Miss. 591, 148 So. 389 (1933); State v. McMullins, 156 Miss. 663, 126 So. 662 (1930); and State v. Ireland, 89 Miss. 763, 42 So. 797 (1906). However, an examination of these cases *706 reveals that there was a final judgment acquitting the defendant; therefore, the appeal was proper under subsection (b) of section 99-35-103. 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law section 1659 (1961) provides in part: The appeal now sought by the state does not fall within any of the categories authorized by section 99-35-103. There was no judgment sustaining a demurrer to, or a motion to quash an indictment, or an affidavit charging crime. Nor was there a judgment rendered acquitting or convicting defendant. The appeal by the state is therefore interlocutory which is not authorized by statute and therefore must be dismissed. For the above reasons, appellee's motion to dismiss the appeal is sustained and the appeal dismissed. APPEAL DISMISSED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH and SUGG, P. JJ., and WALKER, BROOM, ROY NOBLE LEE, BOWLING and HAWKINS, JJ., concur.