Donna Duncan Brooks v. State of Mississippi
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2002-KA-01058-COA
DONNA DUNCAN BROOKS
APPELLANT
v.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
DATE OF TRIAL COURT JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:
DISTRICT ATTORNEY:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
APPELLEE
5/15/2002
HON. MIKE SMITH
WALTHALL COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
GUS GRABLE SERMOS
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: JOHN R. HENRY
JAMES DANIEL SMITH
CRIMINAL - FELONY
TWO COUNTS OF SALE OF A CONTROLLED
SUBSTANCE WITHIN 1,500 FEET OF A
CHURCH. SENTENCED TO CONCURRENT
SIXTY YEAR TERMS IN THE CUSTODY OF
THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS ON EACH COUNT WITH
THIRTY YEARS SUSPENDED ON EACH
COUNT AND THIRTY YEARS OF SUPERVISED
PROBATION ON EACH COUNT AND THIRTY
YEARS TO SERVE ON EACH COUNT.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND
REMANDED IN PART: 11/04/2003
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
CERTIORARI FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
BEFORE KING, P.J., BRIDGES AND LEE, JJ.
KING, P.J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
A Walthall County Circuit Court jury convicted Donna Duncan Brooks on two counts of unlawful
sale of a controlled substance within fifteen hundred feet of a church. One count was for the unlawful sale
of oxycodone and the other was for the unlawful sale of hydromorphone. Brooks was sentenced to
concurrent sixty year sentences on each count, enhanced pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section
41-29-142 (Rev. 2001). She was ordered to serve the first thirty years on each count and to spend the
remaining thirty years on each count on post-release supervision. The first five years of her post-release
supervision was to be on reporting status and the remaining twenty-five years was to be on non-reporting
status. Brooks was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $100 to the Walthall Tylertown Drug
Task Force, $343 to Walthall County Justice Court, $187.47 for medical bills incurred while she was
incarcerated, a $25,000 fine, court costs and attorney fees. Following the denial of her motion for JNOV,
or in the alternative a new trial, Brooks perfected this appeal asserting as her only issue the claim that the
trial court erred in failing to grant her motion for JNOV.
¶2.
Finding no reversible error in the matter of her conviction this Court affirms; however, finding error
in the matter of sentencing this Court reverses and remands on that issue.
FACTS
¶3.
At trial, Brooks rested without putting on a defense. The facts as presented by the State indicate
that Brooks' arrest and indictment were the result of a "controlled buy" operation conducted by the Walthall
Tylertown Drug Task Force. Confidential informant Kevin Goldman had agreed to assist local drug
enforcement officials in exchange for leniency with regard to a criminal charge of conspiracy to sell
oxycodone pending against him.
2
¶4.
On the day of the buy, Brooks, a Louisiana resident, was lured to a location near a church in
Walthall County, Mississippi, just inside the Mississippi/Louisiana state lines to conduct the sale transaction.
Brooks was not acquainted with the confidential informant, Goldman; however, she was acquainted with
an associate of Goldman's named Brian Spears who owed Brooks money at the time of the buy. Goldman
contacted Brooks pretending to be Brian Spears' brother, Bradley Spears (who was also unknown to
Brooks), and enticed Brooks to the location with a promise to pay Brian's debt as well as purchase drugs.
¶5.
At the pre-buy meeting, Goldman was searched for money and drugs then wired with a body
transmitter and a digital cassette recorder. He was also provided with two one-hundred-dollar bills from
the task force's funds with which to purchase the drugs. The serial numbers from the bills were recorded
by the task force agents who worked with Goldman on the buy. Goldman was driven to the buy location
by one of the agents while two other agents followed in another vehicle equipped with a listening and
recording devise. Brooks arrived shortly thereafter.
¶6.
Goldman exited the vehicle he was in and approached Brooks who remained seated in her vehicle,
a small pickup truck. She had brought along her young son who was also seated in the truck. Goldman
asked about the amount of Spears' debt. Brooks told him the debt was $55. He then asked to purchase
three hydromorphone pills at $30 each for a total of $90 and one oxycodone pill at $50 each, bringing the
total amount owed to $195. Goldman gave Brooks the two one-hundred-dollar bills he had been given
by the task force and in return received from Brooks a five dollar bill as change with the four pills wrapped
inside the bill.
3
¶7.
The controlled buy had originally called for the surveillance team to move in and make the arrest
immediately following the sale; however, Brooks prepared to leave the scene before the team could arrive
so the agent accompanying Goldman made the arrest.
¶8.
At trial, the tape from the buy was played, all of the agents and Goldman testified as to what
transpired, the money was identified, and a state crime lab analyst testified as to the chemical composition
of the pills. Also, each of the State's witnesses, except the crime lab witness, testified that the buy took
place in Walthall County within a few feet of the church. One of the agents who participated in the buy and
another State's witness who was employed by the 911 Commission to measure roads and assign addresses
both testified to having taken measurements to verify that the buy took place within fifteen hundred feet of
the church in Walthall County. All of the State's witnesses and physical evidence stand uncontradicted in
the record.
ANALYSIS
Did the Trial Court Err in Failing to Grant The Motion For Judgment
Notwithstanding The Verdict?
¶9.
The entirety of Brooks' argument on appeal is that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that Brooks knowingly or intentionally sold controlled substances to the informant, Kevin Goldman,
while they were physically located in Walthall County, Mississippi; therefore, the circuit court erred in failing
to grant her motion for JNOV. The facts, as related previously, resoundingly reflect otherwise.
¶10.
This Court's standard of review on a claim of erroneous denial of a motion for JNOV is set forth
in McClain v. State, 625 So. 2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993) (citations omitted):
In appeals from an overruled motion for JNOV the sufficiency of the evidence as a matter
of law is viewed and tested in a light most favorable to the State. The credible evidence
4
consistent with . . . guilt must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the
benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence . . . .
We are authorized to reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of
the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded
jurors could only find the accused not guilty.
¶11.
On the basis of the undisputed evidence presented at trial, this Court finds that reasonable and fair-
minded jurors could only have found Brooks guilty as charged; accordingly, the Court also finds that this
assignment of error has no merit.
¶12.
On the issue of Brooks' sentencing; however, this Court must, on the basis of plain error, reverse
and remand. Brooks was sentenced to thirty years of supervised probation which is in clear violation of
Mississippi Code Annotated Section 47-7-34 (Rev. 2000), which establishes that the maximum amount
of time that the Mississippi Department of Corrections may supervise an offender on post-release
supervision is five years. This Court remands this case to the trial court with instructions to correct that
portion of the sentencing order providing for supervised probation of thirty years, to provide for a period
of supervised probation not to exceed five years.
¶13. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WALTHALL COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT OF
CONVICTION OF TWO COUNTS OF THE UNLAWFUL SALE OF A CONTROLLED
SUBSTANCE WITHIN FIFTEEN HUNDRED FEET OF A CHURCH IS AFFIRMED. THE
JUDGMENT OF SENTENCE IS REVERSED AND REMANDED. ALL COSTS OF THIS
APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO WALTHALL COUNTY.
McMILLIN, C.J., BRIDGES, THOMAS, LEE, IRVING, MYERS, CHANDLER AND
GRIFFIS, JJ., CONCUR. SOUTHWICK, P.J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY.
5
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
