Brown v. Mississippi
Annotate this CaseA D’Iberville police officer arrested Damian Brown after spotting a firearm during a traffic stop. Brown appealed his resulting conviction for three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The trial court sentenced Brown to a total of twenty-four years to be served day for day without the benefit of early release or probation under Mississippi Code Section 99-19-81 (Rev. 2020), the habitual offender statute. Brown’s defense counsel filed a motion for JNOV or, alternatively, a new trial. The court denied the motions. To the Mississippi Supreme Court, Brown contended the trial court erred in denying his motions. The Supreme Court concluded the jury instructions given fairly and accurately announced the law of the case concerning constructive possession. The Supreme Court further found the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying Brown’s proposed jury instruction D-11 as it had already been fairly covered elsewhere in the instructions by the State’s jury instruction S-5, a more complete and accurate statement of the law. Furthermore, the Court concluded Brown was not entitled to a circumstantial evidence jury instruction based on Nevels v. Mississippi. Therefore, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court.
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