Opinion ID: 1879499
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the trial court erred in denying instruction a-19 for the defendants, an accomplice cautionary instruction.

Text: The facts of the case sub judice make resolution of this issue troublesome. Standing alone, we cannot say that this issue would be resolved one way or the other. However, the combination of Cuz's status as an accomplice with his contradictory sworn statement and trial testimony make it difficult to view this issue in isolation. Here, we are faced with a witness who was an accomplice and who have a prior inconsistent statement which could be used to impeach the credibility of his trial testimony. Were it not for the reversible error in the lower court's failure to give the impeachment instruction, supra, it would be necessary for us to decide whether this issue, standing alone, warranted reversal of the case sub judice. But, since resolution of this issue is not necessary for disposition of the case sub judice, we decline to do so. Nevertheless, a review of this issue is beneficial to our jurisprudence. The Ferrills characterize both Cuz and Wall as co-conspirators/accomplices and contend that instruction A-19 would have assisted the jury in weighing the evidence submitted in the case, especially since the only testimony linking them to the charged crime consisted of that of Wall and Cuz. Accordingly, Mark and Roxanne argue that proposed jury instruction A-19, an accomplice cautionary instruction, should have been submitted to the jury. The proposed jury instruction stated as follows: JURY INSTRUCTION A-19 The Court instructs the Jury that the testimony of the alleged accomplices, Larry V. Wall a/k/a Donnie Wall and James Thomas Nobles, should be weighed with great caution and the Jury may disbelieve their testimony altogether if they believe it untrue, the Jury being the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses. Although proposed instruction A-19 was refused by the lower court judge, the last portion of that proposed instruction, regarding the jury as the judge of the credibility of witnesses, was duplicated in instruction C.1, which was given to the jury. Instruction C.1 stated, inter alia, as follows: INSTRUCTION C.1 As sole judges of the facts in this case, your exclusive province is to determine what weight and credibility will be assigned the testimony and supporting evidence of each witness in this case. You are required and expected to use good common sense and sound honest judgment in considering and weighing the testimony of each witness who has testified in this case. Since the jury was generally instructed on the issue of weight and credibility of all the witnesses, the pertinent question becomes whether distinct and separate language cautioning the jury about the testimony of co-conspirators/accomplices should be given upon the request of a defendant. We answered that question in a prior case before this Court, Derden v. State, 522 So.2d 752 (Miss. 1988). There, we said that: As a general rule a trial judge should not hesitate to grant the cautionary instruction when the State is relying upon the testimony of co-conspirators. In Van Buren v. State, 498 So.2d 1224, 1229 (Miss. 1986), this Court said, the granting of a cautionary instruction regarding the testimony of an accomplice is discretionary with the trial judge. However, that discretion is not absolute; it may be abused. Two aspects in determining whether or not the discretion has been abused are (1) was the witness in fact an accomplice, and (2) was the testimony without corroboration. Derden v. State, 522 So.2d 752, 754 (Miss. 1988) (emphasis added  citations omitted). In another case in which we addressed the issue of cautionary instructions, we reiterated our prior holdings, stating: Where the state's evidence rests solely upon the testimony of an accomplice witness, this Court has said that the trial court errs in failing to give a cautionary instruction. Additionally, the Court has found abuse of discretion where there is some question as to the reasonableness and consistency of the testimony of the accomplice or the defendant's guilt is not clearly proven. ... [T]his Court delineated a two-part test to determine whether a trial judge abused his discretion. First, was the witness an accomplice, and secondly, was his testimony without corroboration. An accomplice for these purposes is a person who is implicated in the commission of the crime. That is to say, that if the evidence admits a reasonable inference that the witness may have been a co-perpetrator or the sole perpetrator the cautionary instruction should be given. The remaining question is whether there is sufficient corroboration to excuse the failure to give the instruction. On close examination, this is but another way of inquiring whether the failure to grant the instruction is harmless. Burke v. State, 576 So.2d 1239, 1242 (Miss. 1991) (emphasis added  citations omitted). The State concedes that Cuz was an accomplice, however, the same is not conceded with regard to Wall's status. Nevertheless, Cuz's status as an accomplice satisfies the threshold requirement; therefore, the remaining sub-issues are: 1) whether the State's evidence rested solely upon the testimony of Cuz or, if not, whether Cuz's testimony was reasonable and consistent; and 2) whether Cuz's testimony was corroborated. Cuz's testimony was not the only evidence implicating the Ferrills. However, important to our discussion here, his testimony was inconsistent with his prior sworn statement and it was virtually the only concrete evidence which established the fact that Mark instructed Cuz to deliver and sell the marijuana to Wall  a crucial feature of the prosecution's case. Therefore, Cuz's testimony constituted weighty evidence which implicated the Ferrills, but it was inconsistent with his prior sworn statement which was read to the jury and introduced as evidence at the trial. Regarding the sub-issue of corroboration, the tape-recordings could be viewed as supportive of Cuz's trial testimony. But, in light of Cuz's pre-trial affidavit which was given under oath, resting on the tape-recordings as support for his subsequent diametrically opposed trial testimony is skating on thin ice.