Opinion ID: 1879671
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: and 2. The State's Motion In Limine

Text: Approximately $500 to $600 was found inside Sample's Camaro at the time the cocaine and marijuana were seized. Previously, the State had unsuccessfully sought to have this money forfeited in a civil forfeiture proceeding. In the civil proceeding, the trial court had ruled in favor of the defendant because the State failed to refute Sample's claim that he had earned the money legitimately. On the day of the criminal trial, the Assistant District Attorney moved to prohibit Sample from mentioning, or introducing into evidence, the civil judgment of the court entered in the forfeiture proceeding. Sample objected to the lateness of the motion for he intended to offer the judgment into evidence during trial, claiming it was relevant to the issue of his innocence. Sample's reasoning was articulated by his counsel as follows: He can say to the jury, `If I was involved in the drug trade why was my money given back to me?' It's very relevant to his innocence. Following a declaration by the State that it did not intend to use or mention the money at trial, the circuit judge sustained the State's motion in limine, thereby precluding Sample from either introducing into evidence or mentioning in any way the prior judgment entered in the civil forfeiture case. Sample reasons that because the $500 or $600 found in the same automobile was not forfeited to the State, a jury could rationally infer from this fact alone that Sample was not linked to the drugs. By virtue of Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-153 (Supp. 1992), all money which is used or intended for use in violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Law, § 41-29-101 et seq., is subject to forfeiture. The standard of proof placed upon the petitioner in regard to property forfeited under the provisions of the Uniform Controlled Substances Law is a preponderance of the evidence. Hickman v. State, ex rel. Mississippi Department of Public Safety, 592 So.2d 44, 47 (Miss. 1991); See Mississippi Code Ann. § 41-29-179(2) (Supp. 1993). The trial judge in the civil proceeding explained that the reason he ruled in favor of Sample during the forfeiture proceeding was because the State failed to refute Sample's claim made during pretrial discovery that he had received the money during a legitimate business transaction. In this case, the court specifically ruled that the civil judgment issued in Sample's favor in the forfeiture proceeding would not be relevant to his guilt or innocence of cocaine or marijuana possession in the subsequent criminal proceeding, but even if it were, by virtue of Rule 403, M.R.E., relevant evidence may be excluded when its probative value is outweighed by its tendency to mislead, to confuse, or to prejudice the jury. [1] The cases cited and relied upon by Sample demonstrate that a civil judgment is admissible under certain circumstances. While acknowledging this fact, the State argues that those circumstances are not found in the present case. This Court agrees. The fact the trial judge did not require Sample to forfeit a certain sum of money found inside his automobile would not have a tendency to make more or less probable his innocence of marijuana or cocaine possession. Rule 401, M.R.E. defines relevant evidence as evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Rule 403, M.R.E., which allows for the exclusion of relevant evidence, states that [a]lthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. Given the contours of Rules 401 and 403, this Court cannot say the trial judge abused his judicial discretion in ruling that the civil judgment declaring the money to be nonforfeitable was inadmissible. Its admission into evidence would add no probative value on the issue of Sample's guilt or innocence of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. Cf. King v. State, 580 So.2d 1182, 1189 (Miss. 1991). Assuming the existence of some relevancy, the trial judge did not abuse his broad judicial discretion in finding specifically that any probative value possessed by the civil judgment was substantially outweighed by the danger of confusing the issues or misleading the jury. Foster v. State, 508 So.2d 1111, 1117-18 (Miss. 1987). The fact finder should not be placed in the position of trying the civil forfeiture as well as the criminal charges contained in the indictment. Injection of forfeiture into the trial of this case would have confused the issues. It is not our task as a reviewing court to engage in a new balancing process. Rather, we determine whether or not the trial judge abused his discretion in excluding this evidence. This Court concludes that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in his ruling.