Title: Barrett v. State
Citation: 482 So. 2d 239
Docket Number: 55252
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: January 22, 1986

482 So. 2d 239 (1986) Donny BARRETT v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 55252. Supreme Court of Mississippi. January 22, 1986. Lee B. Agnew, Jackson, for appellant. Edwin L. Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Robert D. Findley and DeWitt Allred, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before WALKER, P.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ. WALKER, Presiding Justice, for the Court. Donny Barrett was convicted by the Circuit Court of Scott County of sale and delivery of a Schedule I controlled substance, namely marijuana in an amount less than one ounce. Barrett was sentenced to serve a term of three (3) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and to pay a fine in the amount of $2,000.00. On December 7, 1982, Shirlene Anderson, an undercover agent for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, and an unidentified female informant went to appellant's apartment. The two women asked him about purchasing some marijuana. He said he did not have any but took them to another apartment in the same apartment complex where Barrett obtained two small plastic bags of marijuana from the occupant of the apartment, a black female named "Pat," and gave them to Anderson and the informant. Anderson gave Barrett $20.00 on *240 the way to the apartment to pay for the marijuana. On appeal, the appellant assigns the following as error: The day before the trial was scheduled to begin, appellant filed a motion to require disclosure of the identity and location of the female informant-participant. The district attorney conceded that the appellant was entitled to this information but presented testimony from the law enforcement personnel involved in the investigation that the identity and whereabouts of the informant was unknown. The question on appeal is whether the State made a good faith effort to disclose the informant's identity and whereabouts. We think not. Appellant argues that the trial court erred in overruling the motion for disclosure and not granting a continuance. In Copeland v. State, 423 So. 2d 1333 (Miss. 1982) we held the burden is on the State in a proper case to make a good faith effort to disclose the identity and location of the informer. Both parties to this appeal cite Copeland, which states: In our opinion, the evidence of the State the testimony of Shirlene Anderson and Steve Campbell from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics that they did not know the confidential informant's whereabouts and did not have a file on her as is the customary procedure; and, the testimony of Sheriff Glenn Warren of Scott County that he did not know who she was or her whereabouts although he had written her name on a piece of paper but could not find it does not constitute a good faith effort to produce this information to the appellant. It was therefore error for the trial court to overrule appellant's motion for a continuance and error not to direct the State to conduct a more thorough investigation as to the confidential informant's identity and whereabouts. *241 For the above reason the cause is reversed and remanded to the lower court for a new trial. REVERSED AND REMANDED. PATTERSON, C.J., ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and HAWKINS, DAN M. LEE, PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.