Opinion ID: 1103881
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: the court erred in granting instruction s-5

Text: The pertinent portions of Rule 5.03 of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure state: JURY INSTRUCTIONS At least twenty-four hours prior to the time that a case is set for trial each of the attorneys shall number and file his jury instructions with the clerk and submit to opposing counsel a numbered copy of the instructions so filed in this case... . Except for good cause shown, the court will not entertain a request for additional instruction or instructions which have not been pre-filed in accordance with the above. We first observe the court should have excluded the requested instruction as not being timely, and the state gave no good cause for not complying with the rule. Thus far, however, this Court has never reversed a case because the trial judge permitted the state to violate this rule. See: Evans v. State, 457 So.2d 957 (Miss. 1984); Greene v. State, 406 So.2d 805 (Miss. 1981); Henry Gray v. State of Mississippi, 387 So.2d 101 (Miss. 1980); Newell v. State, 308 So.2d 68 (Miss. 1975); and Ferrill v. State, 267 So.2d 813 (Miss. 1972). Moreover, the instruction should not have been given in any event. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-5 provides: Findings of jury. On an indictment for any offense the jury may find the defendant guilty of the offense as charged, or of any attempt to commit the same offense, or may find him guilty of an inferior offense, or other offense, the commission of which is necessarily included in the offense with which he is charged in the indictment, whether the same be a felony of misdemeanor, without any additional count in the indictment for that purpose. [Emphasis added] The state is, of course, correct in its position that the proper procedure in a case coming under this section is to instruct the jury. See: Crocker v. State, 272 So.2d 664 (Miss. 1973); c.f. Anderson v. State, 290 So.2d 628 (1974). This is not a case in which the instruction was authorized, however. Noting again pertinent portions of Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-139: ... it is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally: (1) To sell ... transfer ... or possess with intent to sell, ... transfer ... It is apparent that under the statute and instruction, to transfer, as well as to possess with intent to transfer cocaine is not an inferior or lesser included offense, but another offense of the same gravity as selling cocaine. While a literal reading of this statute appears to authorize a jury to convict of another offense of the same gravity which is necessarily included in the offense with which he is charged in the indictment, all of this Court's cases under this section have dealt with an inferior offense necessarily included within the more serious offense. See: Gillum v. State, 468 So.2d 856, 861 (Miss. 1985); Cannaday v. State, 455 So.2d 713, 725 (Miss. 1984); Biles v. State, 338 So.2d 1004 (Miss. 1976); Gray v. State, 220 Miss. 220, 70 So.2d 524 (1954); Boggan v. State, 176 Miss. 655, 170 So. 282 (1936); Brown v. State, 103 Miss. 664, 60 So. 727 (1913); Bedell v. State, 50 Miss. 492 (1874). We have also held it error to instruct that jury on an offense not necessarily included in the indictment. See: Wilcher v. State, 455 So.2d 727, 734 (Miss. 1984); Barnes v. State, 249 So.2d 383, 386 (Miss. 1971); Bell v. State, 149 Miss. 745, 115 So. 896 (1928); Scott v. State, 60 Miss. 268 (1882); Moore v. State, 59 Miss. 25 (1881). In Callahan v. State, 419 So.2d 165 (Miss. 1982), citing this section, we stated: The law is clear that on indictment for any offense the jury may find the defendant guilty of the offense as charged or any attempt to commit the same offense or may find him guilty of an inferior offense. We have also held that if the proof in a case shows the crime was completed, the accused may not be convicted of an attempt to commit the offense. See: Williams v. State, 178 Miss. 899, 174 So. 47 (1937); and Holley v. State, 175 Miss. 347, 166 So. 924 (1936). [4] The language of this statute has not been changed since Hutchinson's Code of 1857. It would appear to be a manifest impossibility that another offense of the same magnitude could ever be necessarily included in the indictment. This rationale appears to prevail in all other jurisdictions as well. Thus, in Sparf v. United States, 156 U.S. 51, 15 S.Ct. 273, 39 L.Ed. 343 (1895), the Supreme Court had occasion to interpret Section 1035 of the Revised Statutes providing that ... in all criminal cases the defendant may be found guilty of any offense the commission of which is necessarily included in that with which he is charged in the indictment ... The Court held the other offense meant a lesser offense, even though the literal language of the statute does not require the other offense to be lesser. Section 1035 of the Revised Statutes was codified into 18 U.S.C. § 565. This statute in turn was restated in Rule 31(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. While the language in the body of the Rule does not specifically state a lesser offense, the heading recognizes the intent. Thus, the Rule, with heading, reads: Rule 31. Verdict       (c) Conviction of Less Offense. The defendant may be found guilty of an offense necessarily included in the offense charged or of an attempt to commit either the offense charged or an offense necessarily included therein if the attempt is an offense. [Emphasis added] In Berra v. United States, 351 U.S. 131, 76 S.Ct. 685, 100 L.Ed. 1013 (1955), the Supreme Court held as to Rule 31(c): Rule 31(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that a defendant may be found guilty of an offense necessarily included in the offense charged. In a case where some of the elements of the crime charged themselves constitute a lesser crime, the defendant, if the evidence justified it, would no doubt be entitled to an instruction which would permit a finding of guilt of the lesser offense. [Footnote omitted] In Berra the defendant was charged with income tax evasion. Two federal statutes were applicable, one a misdemeanor, the other a felony, but the proof required for each was the same. The same facts would authorize conviction under them both. Rejecting the defendant's contention that he was entitled to an instruction authorizing conviction of the misdemeanor, the Court held that since the proof of each offense was the same the defendant was not entitled to a separate instruction covering only the misdemeanor. Following Berra, the U.S. Supreme Court in Sansone v. United States, 380 U.S. 343, 85 S.Ct. 1004, 13 L.Ed.2d 882 (1965) stated: A lesser included offense instruction is only proper when the charged greater offense requires the jury to find a disputed factual element which is not required for conviction of the lesser-included offense. [Emphasis added] 11 A.L.R. Fed 173, summarizes the rule as follows, p. 178: § 2. Summary [a] Generally The principles emerging from the cases demand that two requirements exist concurrent in order for an offense to constitute a necessarily included offense under Rule 31(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. If either of the two requirements is not present, the claimed included offense cannot constitute a necessarily included offense under Rule 31(c). Firstly, the offense which is claimed to be a lesser, necessarily included offense must indeed be lesser than the charged offense. This requirement can be met only where the included offense involves fewer of the same constituent elements as the charged greater offense, and where the claimed lesser offense has a lighter penalty attached to it than does the charged offense. And secondly, the two offenses must share common elements. thus, the claimed included offense must have the same elements as, although fewer of those elements than, the charged greater offense. [Emphasis added; footnotes omitted] 42 C.J.S. Indictment and Information, §§ 271-298, under the heading Conviction of Offenses Included in Charge, deal with innumerable cases throughout the United States under the common law and statutes similar to ours. Invariably the courts require the offense to be lesser included. See also: Wharton, Criminal Procedure, 12th Ed., Vol. 4, § 545. As an example of this rationale, in Brown v. State, 206 So.2d 377 (Fla. 1968), the Florida Supreme Court was interpreting the Florida statute requiring an instruction of any offense which is necessarily included in the offense charged. The court stated, pp. 381-382: ... This simply means that the lesser offense must be an essential aspect of the major offense. In other words, the burden of proof of the major crime cannot be discharged, without proving the lesser crime as an essential link in the chain of evidence. For example, in order to prove a robbery, the state must necessarily prove a larceny as an essential element of the major offense. This is so because every robbery necessarily includes a larceny. Arnold v. State, 83 So.2d 105 (Fla. 1955). It is legally impossible to prove a robbery without also proving a larceny. [Emphasis added] The state in its brief cites but one case, which is distinguishable from this case, State v. Young, 54 N.C. App. 366, 283 S.E.2d 812 (N.C. 1981). In that case Young was indicted under that state's robbery statute. He was convicted under the state's larceny statute. Both statutes carried the same penalty. Young argued on appeal that larceny was not a lesser included offense because it carried the same penalty. The Court answered this contention as follows, p. 813: While larceny from the person does carry the same penalty as common law robbery, the North Carolina courts have treated larceny from the person as a lesser included offense. The North Carolina court simply held that the crime of larceny under its facts was a lesser included offense: whenever robbery was proved larceny would necessarily also be proved, but not the converse. Larceny included some, but not all the essential ingredients of robbery. In this case we are not dealing with crimes under two separate statutes, one of which has some, but not all of the necessary ingredients of the larger offense. Rather, we have a single statute in which the Legislature has defined the offenses separately, but carrying the same penalty. It is also worth noting that a cogent dissent was filed in the North Carolina case, arguing that the same penalty for both offenses should have precluded the granting of the instruction. The dissent concluded as follows: ... I believe the procedure used in this case, whereby the defendant was exposed to conviction for an offense requiring proof of fewer elements without the corresponding benefit of being exposed to a lesser potential penalty if convicted of that offense, is inherently unfair and violates the defendant's due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and under Article I § 19 of the Constitution of North Carolina... . We are persuaded, aside from the distinction between the two cases, that the dissent follows the rationale of the vast majority of jurisdictions and is better supported by reasoning. For example, in James v. U.S., 16 Alaska 513, 238 F.2d 681 (C.A. 9th Cir.1956), the defendant was charged with burglarizing a dwelling house, when the proof showed the house was unoccupied. It was urged upon the court to sustain a conviction of burglary of a house. It so happened, however, that burglary of a dwelling carried a lesser penalty than burglary of an unoccupied house. The court stated, p. 683: We are not disposed to hold that the included offense rule is meant to apply where the claimed `lesser' offense prescribes a greater minimum punishment than the so-called `greater' or including offense. In this case, if the state had desired to prosecute Sanders for possession of cocaine with intent to transfer it to another person, it should have presented the question to the grand jury and secured an indictment specifically charging him with the offense. It is manifestly unfair to indict the defendant for one offense, which he prepares to defend, and then secure an instruction authorizing the jury to convict him of another distinct offense of the same magnitude. While the authority to convict a lesser included offense began as a weapon of the prosecution, it has become a defense tool as well. Whether applied for the benefit of the state or defense, in order to authorize such instruction the more serious offense must include all the elements of the lesser offense, that is, it is impossible to commit the greater offense without at the same time committing the lesser included offense. Also, there must be some evidence to support the lesser included offense. See: Lee v. State, 469 So.2d 1225 (Miss. 1985); Ruffin v. State, 444 So.2d 839 (Miss. 1984); Lambert v. State, 462 So.2d 308 (Miss. 1984); Colburn v. State, 431 So.2d 1111 (Miss. 1983); and Presley v. State, 321 So.2d 309 (Miss. 1975). In view of our decision, we need not address the far more difficult question of whether in actual fact it is impossible to be guilty of selling cocaine without at the same time being guilty of possession of cocaine with the intent to transfer. Nor, need we address the equally difficult question, since the instruction was given at the request of the state, did the indictment for sale of cocaine sufficiently inform Sanders he could also be prosecuted for possession with intent to transfer to comply with the 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 3, Section 6 of the Mississippi Constitution. [5] For the reason stated, we reverse and remand for a new trial. REVERSED AND REMANDED. PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER and ROY NOBLE LEE, P.JJ., and DAN M. LEE, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and ANDERSON, JJ., concur. PRATHER, J., not participating.