Opinion ID: 1817285
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: whether the trial court erred in permitting officer sammy webb to testify to appellant's admission of former convictions without readministering his miranda rights?

Text: Upon a conviction of guilty, appellant appeared for a sentencing hearing (the second portion of the bifurcated trial) to determine whether he was an habitual criminal under Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81 (1972). Defense counsel objected to the admission of former convictions on the grounds that the State of Mississippi had not proven that appellant was the same person as the individual named in said convictions. Further evidence, the testimony of Officer Sammy Webb, was offered to which defense counsel also objected. Said objections were overruled and appellant was sentenced as an habitual criminal. Despite the simple statement of error, appellant's complaint is multiplicious. He variously argues that (1) the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of witness Webb of appellant's admissions of prior felonies without reinforming him of his Miranda rights; (2) the State failed to prove the identity of appellant as to prior convictions; and (3) the burden of proving identity impermissibly shifted to the defendant. We quickly dispose of assertions (2) and (3), above, and simply say that they are without merit. With regard to assertion (1), above, appellant would have this Court rule that this is a situation controlled by Rule 1.03 of the Mississippi Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice which in pertinent part reads: The Miranda Warnings should be given prior to any subsequent interrogation session with the person in custody, even though the warnings were given in the prior interrogations. Appellant argues that no further warnings were given him at any time and that the trial court was in error for allowing Officer Webb to testify concerning such admissions. Next, appellant asserts that Mississippi's Rule 1.03 is consistent with the case of Proctor v. U.S., 131 U.S.App.D.C. 241, 404 F.2d 819 (1968). This may or may not be correct, but this Court is convinced that neither Rule 1.03 or Proctor, supra is applicable to the case at hand. The simple fact is that there was no subsequent interrogation session as described in Rule 1.03 above. Instead, there was only one session in which Officer Webb sought biographical information from appellant and such only occurred after appellant was given his Miranda Warnings. There is no testimony in the record which hints of a second session at a later point in time. We find appellant was adequately forewarned of his Miranda Rights prior to answering questions regarding his prior criminal record. Absent any additional coercive evidence his assignment of error is without merit.