James Allen Walker v. State of Mississippi ( 2003 )


Menu:
  •                    IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
    NO. 2003-KA-00313-SCT
    JAMES ALLEN WALKER
    v.
    STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
    DATE OF JUDGMENT:                         1/30/2003
    TRIAL JUDGE:                              HON. GEORGE B. READY
    COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:                DESOTO COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
    ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT:                   BOBBY TAYLOR VANCE
    ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:                    OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
    BY: JOHN R. HENRY
    DISTRICT ATTORNEY:                        JOHN W. CHAMPION
    NATURE OF THE CASE:                       CRIMINAL - FELONY
    DISPOSITION:                              AFFIRMED - 08/05/2004
    MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
    MANDATE ISSUED:
    BEFORE WALLER, P.J., CARLSON AND DICKINSON, JJ.
    WALLER, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
    ¶1.   James Allen Walker appeals from a jury verdict convicting him of possession of two
    precursor chemicals (pseudoephedrine and lithium), knowing that the precursor chemicals
    would be used to unlawfully manufacture a controlled substance (methamphetamine).
    ¶2.   On June 12, 2001, an employee of Sam's Club in Southaven called the Southaven
    Police Department, reporting that a white male had bought large amounts of ephedrine. As
    the police arrived, a GMC pickup truck occupied by two white males was leaving the
    parking lot. The driver of the truck matched the description (white male, mid-30s, wearing
    a pullover shirt with three large stripes) given by the employee. The police proceeded to
    follow the truck and then noticed that the truck had no brake lights. They stopped the truck
    and informed the occupants, James Allen Walker and William Stanley Miller, that they had
    received a report about someone buying large quantities of ephedrine. The occupants
    verbally consented to a search of the truck. The police recovered several boxes of ephedrine
    and several packs of lithium batteries. Walker and Miller were arrested for possession of
    two or more precursors.
    ¶3.    After a trial, Walker was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in the custody
    of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with 10 years suspended conditioned on future
    good behavior. After considering the issues Walker raises on appeal, we affirm the
    conviction and sentence.
    DISCUSSION
    I.     THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF MISS. CODE
    ANN. § 41-29-313(1)(a)(ii).
    ¶4.    Walker argues that Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-313(1)(a)(ii) (Supp. 2003), the statute
    under which he was convicted and sentenced, is unconstitutionally vague. The statute
    provides in pertinent part as follows:
    (1)(a) Except as authorized in this section, it is unlawful for
    any person to knowingly or intentionally:
    ***
    (ii)   Purchase, possess, transfer or distribute any two
    (2) or more of the listed precursor chemicals or
    drugs in any amount, knowing, or under
    circumstances where one reasonably should
    know, that the listed precursor chemical or drug
    2
    will be used to unlawfully manufacture a
    controlled substance.
    ***
    (3)    The terms "listed precursor drug or chemical" means a
    precursor drug or chemical that, in addition to legitimate
    uses, may be used in manufacturing a controlled
    substance in violation of this chapter. . . . The following
    are "listed precursor drugs or chemicals": . . . (d)
    Ephedrine; . . . (f) Lithium; . . . .
    Walker contends that:
    [t]he reasonable person who sees legal and legitimate items for
    sale with no notice that the brand or name under which they are
    sold may contain an ingredient [that] is a precursor and that the
    purchase of two or more legitimate, legal items may subject the
    purchaser to criminal prosecution does not have notice and such
    lack of notice denies the American consumer of common
    household products constitutional due process.
    ¶5.    "Legislative acts are . . . cloaked with a presumption of constitutionality, and
    unconstitutionality must appear beyond reasonable doubt." Mauldin v. Branch, 
    866 So. 2d 429
    , 435 (Miss. 2003) (citing In re Estate of Smiley, 
    530 So. 2d 18
    , 21-22 (Miss. 1988)).
    A statute's validity is presumed:
    We adhere here to the rule that one who assails a
    legislative enactment must overcome the strong presumption of
    validity and such assailant must prove his conclusions
    affirmatively, and clearly establish it beyond a reasonable
    doubt. All doubts must be resolved in favor of validity of a
    statute. If possible, a court should construe statutes so as to
    render them constitutional rather than unconstitutional if the
    statute under attack does not clearly and apparently conflict with
    organic law after first resolving all doubts in favor of validity.
    Loden v. Miss. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 
    279 So. 2d 636
    , 640 (Miss. 1973) (citations omitted).
    We must presume that the Legislature "intended to comply with the organic law, and the
    3
    statute should be given a reasonable interpretation which is consistent with that presumed
    intent and which would permit the upholding of the act." 
    Mauldin, 866 So. 2d at 435
    (citing
    Berry v. Southern Pine Elec. Power Ass'n, 
    222 Miss. 260
    , 
    76 So. 2d 212
    , 214 (1954)).
    ¶6.    "[T]he wording of a statute does not necessarily offend the requirements of due
    process as long as the language provides a 'sufficient warning as to the proscribed conduct
    when measured by common understanding and practices . . . .'" Perkins v. State, 
    863 So. 2d 47
    , 54 (Miss. 2004) (citing Cassibry v. State, 
    404 So. 2d 1360
    , 1368 (Miss. 1981) (following
    Roth v. United States, 
    354 U.S. 476
    , 
    77 S. Ct. 1304
    , 
    1 L. Ed. 2d 1498
    (1957))).
    ¶7.    We find that Walker has failed to overcome the presumption that the statute is
    constitutional. Walker's argument that an ordinary person buying a box of decongestant
    would not know that he or she was committing a crime fails because the statute requires
    mens rea, i.e., either having known or should have reasonably known that the decongestant
    would be used in the manufacture of a controlled substance. See Village of Hoffman
    Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 
    455 U.S. 489
    , 
    102 S. Ct. 1186
    , 1193, 
    71 L. Ed. 2d
    362 (1982) ("[A] scienter requirement may mitigate a law's vagueness, especially with
    respect to the adequacy of notice to the complainant that his conduct is proscribed."). See
    also Tobacco Accessories & Novelty Craftsmen Merchants Ass'n v. Treen, 
    681 F.2d 378
    (5th Cir. 1982); Florida Businessmen for Free Enterprise v. City of Hollywood, 
    673 F.2d 1213
    (11th Cir. 1982).
    ¶8.    This claim is without merit.
    II.    WHETHER THE POLICE OFFICER'S ACTS OF
    FOLLOWING WALKER'S TRUCK AND MAKING
    4
    AN INVESTIGATORY STOP WERE BASED ON
    REASONABLE SUSPICION.
    ¶9.    Walker claims that probable cause and/or reasonable suspicion did not exist because
    Officer Greg Smorowski, the first officer on the scene, began following Walker's truck
    before Officer Smorowski was able to determine that Walker's appearance matched that of
    the description given. Indeed, the record shows:
    . . . Dispatch put out a call that there was a white male subject
    inside Sam's attempting to purchase a large amount of
    ephedrine. So I told dispatch that I was in the area, and I pulled
    up onto the parking lot trying to locate the subjects or the
    vehicle.
    At that time, they didn't have a vehicle description. [A]
    blue pickup truck . . . was leaving the parking lot as I was
    pulling up on the parking lot. It was occupied by two white
    males. . . . I looked down at it, and it didn't have any brake
    lights on the vehicle. So I pulled in behind it and waited for
    traffic to clear.
    When they got a break in traffic, the vehicle made a left
    turn out onto Goodman Road, and at that time, I made a left turn
    out on Goodman Road after the vehicle, and I was able to
    observe the driver of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle, as
    the call was put out was supposed to be a white male wearing a
    striped shirt where the stripes ran up and down.
    ¶10.   Walker is mistaken that probable cause was needed to (1) watch the truck because of
    the defective brake lights; (2) follow the vehicle after matching Walker's description with
    that given by the Sam's employee; and (3) make an investigatory stop. All that is needed for
    these activities is reasonable suspicion:
    [T]he Fourth Amendment . . . requires that in every situation the
    officer must make the intrusion into the person's privacy as
    limited as reasonably possible. On the other hand, as aptly
    stated in United States v. West, 
    460 F.2d 374
    (5th Cir. 1972),
    5
    "The local policeman . . . is also in a very real sense a guardian
    of the public peace and he has a duty in the course of his work
    to be alert for suspicious circumstances, and, provided that he
    acts within constitutional limits, to investigate whenever such
    circumstances indicate to him that he should do so."
    Singletary v. State, 
    318 So. 2d 873
    , 876 (Miss. 1975). The constitutional requirements for
    an investigative stop and detention are less stringent than those for an arrest. An investigative
    stop of a suspect may be made so long as an officer has "a reasonable suspicion, grounded
    in specific and articulable facts, that a person he encounters was involved in or is wanted in
    connection with a felony." Floyd v. City of Crystal Springs, 
    749 So. 2d 110
    , 114 (Miss.
    1999)). Put another way, the investigative stop exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant
    requirement allows a police officer to conduct a brief investigative stop if the officer had a
    reasonable suspicion, based upon specific and articulable facts which, taken together with
    rational inferences from those facts, result in the conclusion that criminal behavior has
    occurred or is imminent. Terry v. Ohio, 
    392 U.S. 1
    , 19, 
    88 S. Ct. 1868
    , 1878-79, 
    20 L. Ed. 2d
    889, 904-05 (1968).
    ¶11.   We find that Officer Smorowski did have a reasonable suspicion to pick out Walker,
    to begin to follow him, and to make an investigatory stop. The officer knew that a white
    male had bought a large quantity of ephedrine. The Sam's employee could not have called
    the police department until the person checked out because there was no way to determine
    what the person was purchasing until check-out. Therefore, the officer reasonably opined
    that the person would be in the parking lot by the time the officer arrived. He saw Walker's
    truck with two white male passengers. At that point, it was reasonable to suspect that the
    white male who purchased the ephedrine could be one of the occupants of the truck. He
    6
    noticed that the truck did not have brake lights, so, as the truck had stopped at the entrance
    to the parking lot in order to make a left-hand turn, the officer pulled in behind it. As the
    truck pulled out into traffic, the officer was able to see that the driver (Walker) of the truck
    had on a pullover shirt with three wide stripes, matching the description given by the Sam's
    employee. The officer began to follow the truck and then made an investigatory stop.
    ¶12.   The United States Supreme Court has stated that, as a general rule, "the decision to
    stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a
    traffic violation has occurred." 
    Floyd, 749 So. 2d at 115
    (citing Whren v. United States, 
    517 U.S. 806
    , 810, 
    116 S. Ct. 1769
    , 1772, 
    135 L. Ed. 2d 89
    (1996)). Miss. Code Ann. § 63-7-
    13(3) (Rev. 1996) provides that "every motor vehicle . . . shall be equipped with at least one
    rear lamp mounted on the rear, which, when lighted, shall emit a red light plainly visible
    from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear." Therefore, because Walker's truck violated
    § 63-7-13(3), and a traffic violation had occurred, stopping the truck was reasonable. This
    issue is without merit.
    III.    WHETHER THE POLICE OFFICERS HAD
    PROBABLE CAUSE TO EFFECTUATE A
    SEARCH AND SEIZURE.
    ¶13.   Walker contends that his consent to the search of his truck "was tainted, as a matter
    of law, by the unlawful detention during which it was elicited," and that his "detention
    became unreasonable and unduly excessive in scope at the point when the officers shifted
    the focus of their investigation from the improper equipment to the possibility of locating
    contraband within the vehicle." He further argues that the police officers could not have
    seen any contraband in plain view.
    7
    ¶14.   "The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 3, Section 23
    of the Mississippi Constitution contain almost identical language expressing a person's right
    to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures." 
    Floyd, 749 So. 2d at 114
    . The
    prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures "applies to seizures of the person,
    including brief investigatory stops such as the stop of a vehicle." 
    Id. ¶15. A search
    is not unreasonable when it is based on probable cause. Probable cause
    exists where the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer's knowledge and of
    which they had reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant
    a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been or is being committed.
    Godbold v. State, 
    731 So. 2d 1184
    , 1189 (Miss. 1999); Craig v. State, 
    739 So. 2d 410
    , 412
    (Miss. Ct. App. 1999).
    ¶16.   Two exceptions to the rule that a search cannot be conducted without probable cause
    are as follows: When a driver voluntarily consents to a search of his or her vehicle, there is
    no need for a search warrant. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 
    412 U.S. 218
    , 219, 
    93 S. Ct. 2041
    , 2043-44, 
    36 L. Ed. 2d 854
    (1973); Luton v. State, 
    287 So. 2d 269
    , 272 (Miss. 1973).
    "If police are lawfully in a position from which they view an object, if its incriminating
    character is immediately apparent, and if the officers have a lawful right of access to the
    object, they may seize it without a warrant." Minnesota v. Dickerson, 
    508 U.S. 366
    , 375,
    
    113 S. Ct. 2130
    , 
    124 L. Ed. 2d 334
    (1993) (referencing the "plain view" doctrine).
    ¶17.   Sergeant Steve Stewart of the Southaven Police Department testified that he pulled
    in after Officer Smorowski had stopped Walker's vehicle:
    8
    While [Walker] was speaking with Officer Smorowski
    on the stop on the Krystal lot, I observed a Wal-Mart bag on the
    front passenger floorboard which contained several boxes of
    antihist[amine] tab[let]s or ephedrine and possibly some batters
    in that pack. It seemed like multiple boxes.
    ***
    I first explained to [Walker] why I was there because of
    the call that we had received and asked him did he have any
    Sudafed in the truck, and he advised that he had purchased
    several boxes for his store; and then I asked him would he mind
    if I looked, and he said, "Yeah, sure. Go ahead. That's all I
    have in there."
    ¶18.   Walker testified that when he got out of his vehicle after Officer Smorowski pulled
    him over, he left the driver's side door open. This testimony undermines Walker's claim that
    Sergeant Stewart could not have seen anything inside the vehicle in plain view.
    ¶19.   The Court of Appeals has recently addressed this exact factual situation: After an
    investigatory stop, the police officer observed a shopping bag containing ephedrine on the
    back seat. The driver consented to a search of the car. When a driver voluntarily consents
    to a search of his vehicle, there is no need for a search warrant. Burchfield v. State, 
    2004 WL 1244746
    *2 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004) (citing Luton v. State, 
    287 So. 2d 269
    , 272 (Miss.
    1973)). Here, Walker put on absolutely no evidence that he did not consent to the search.
    He only contends that the stop was unlawful. Because we find that the investigatory stop
    was based on a reasonable suspicion, we also find that, after the ephedrine was seen in plain
    view, the officers had probable cause to search the vehicle.
    IV.    WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN
    ALLOWING EVIDENCE OF PRIOR CRIMES
    AND OTHER BAD ACTS.
    9
    ¶20.   Walker argues that receipts found in the vehicle were inadmissible because:
    there was no chain of custody established, no predicate laid,
    there [was] no personal knowledge by the State and its
    witnesses as to who, what, when, where and how the receipts
    came to be in the vehicle[,] no lab results obtained and no
    physical evidence of the pre-June 12, 2000 [the day of the
    search and seizure] receipts.
    He cites no authority in support of this issue.
    ¶21.   The court ruled that Walker "opened the door" to testimony about the receipts,1 and
    that Walker was charged with, among other things, knowingly possessing "precursor drugs
    or chemicals that, in addition to legitimate uses, may be used in manufacturing a controlled
    substance . . . ." The receipts which were found in the driver's side door pocket, showed
    purchases of lithium batteries, a small turner, a pitcher, two boxes of salt, one measuring cup,
    one spoon, one package of Sudafed, one large gallon container, and two cans of starting
    fluid. The items were purchased from several different stores. Sergeant Stewart testified as
    follows:
    The salt is part of a process to cook the dope. [T]he container is
    used as a gas generator. When you pour professional Drano,
    when you mix it with salt, it causes a reaction, and it's used to
    bubble off the dope. It's called the gassing off process, and they
    use these containers to do that. The gallon jug would be used
    1
    BY THE DEFENSE:             It's your statement that quantity alone makes a legal
    substance illegal?
    BY SGT. STEWART:            If it's more than 250 pills or 30 milligrams . . . of
    Sudafed, whether it's crushed or boxed or two or more
    precursors . . , it can be illegal if you can establish its
    purpose for use; and I believe the purpose for use was
    established by the trail of receipts and other items . . .
    10
    for a pill soak . . . . We're seeing they want to use plasticware
    instead of glassware most of the time.
    ¶22.     We find that the receipts were properly admissible because they were for items used
    in manufacturing methamphetamine and because the defense opened the door to the
    admission of the receipts. Further, we find that the receipts were within the immediate
    physical vicinity of Walker inasmuch as they were found in the driver's side door pocket and
    Walker was driving the vehicle. The receipts were therefore under his immediate control
    and were properly linked to Walker. See Keys v. State, 
    478 So. 2d 266
    , 267 (Miss. 1985)
    (Constructive possession may be proved by showing a suspect had dominion and control
    over the location in which the contraband is found). We find that, even though because the
    products listed in the receipts were not found in the vehicle, the receipts were admissible
    because they tended to prove Walker's intent to manufacture methamphetamine. United
    States v. Valencia-Amezcua, 
    278 F.3d 901
    , 910 (9th Cir. 2002) (Conviction for production
    of methamphetamine amply supported by "powerful circumstantial evidence, the receipts for
    the purchase of household tools used in methamphetamine production, found in Amezcua's
    possession at the time of the arrest and showing purchases from stores near Amezcua's
    home."). Finally, we find that no State Crime Lab authentication was needed for unopened
    boxes of ephedrine which were in unbroken blister packages. There was no evidence that
    the substance within the ephedrine boxes was anything but ephedrine. This issue is without
    merit.
    V.     JOHNNY COX'S TESTIMONY.
    11
    ¶23.   Johnny Cox testified as an expert in the field of methamphetamine investigative
    procedures. He testified that the items located in Walker's truck and all of the items listed
    on the receipts located in the truck were consistent with the manufacture and production of
    methamphetamine. He also testified about clandestine laboratories, the methamphetamine
    manufacturing process, and the DEA's formula of calculating the amount of finished
    product/yield produced with the number of pills and/or precursors that were in Walker's
    possession at the time of the arrest.
    ¶24.   Walker contends that this testimony was inadmissible because, prior to trial, the State
    stipulated that Walker was not a methamphetamine manufacturer and that it would not
    "introduce any evidence of manufacture in its case-in-chief." This argument is not well
    taken. Walker was not charged with the manufacture of methamphetamine; he was charged
    with the possession of precursors with the intent that the precursors would be used in the
    manufacture of methamphetamine. This charge clearly does not state that Walker was the
    person who engaged in the manufacture of methamphetamine. However, it is very relevant
    to the charge of possession of precursors that someone with expertise testify as to the
    manufacture of methamphetamine so that the precursors which were found in Walker's
    possession would be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
    ¶25.   This claim is without merit.
    VI.    WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN
    REFUSING TO GIVE A JURY INSTRUCTION ON
    ENTRAPMENT.
    ¶26.   Our standard of review for the grant or denial of jury instructions is:
    12
    [T]he instructions are to be read together as a whole, with no
    one instruction to be read alone or taken out of context. A
    defendant is entitled to have jury instructions given which
    present his theory of the case. However, the trial judge may
    also properly refuse the instructions if he finds them to
    incorrectly state the law or to repeat a theory fairly covered in
    another instruction or to be without proper foundation in the
    evidence of the case.
    Howell v. State, 
    860 So. 2d 704
    , 761 (Miss. 2003) (quoting Thomas v. State, 
    818 So. 2d 335
    , 349 (Miss. 2002) and Humphrey v. State, 
    759 So. 2d 368
    , 380 (Miss. 2000)).
    ¶27.      Entrapment is the act of inducing or leading a person to commit a crime not originally
    contemplated by him, for the purpose of trapping him for the offense. The defense of
    entrapment is an affirmative defense and must be proved by the defendant. If the defendant
    already possessed the criminal intent, and the request or inducement merely gave the
    defendant the opportunity to commit what he or she was already predisposed to do,
    entrapment is not a defense. Hopson v. State, 
    625 So. 2d 395
    , 399 (Miss. 1993).
    ¶28.      Walker's convoluted theory of entrapment is that the Sam's employee who called the
    police:
    . . . was acting as the agent of the Southaven Police Department.
    Sometimes, however, police agents may "encourage" persons to
    engage in criminal behavior, by seeking to buy from them or to
    sell to them narcotics or contraband or by seeking to determine
    if public employees or officers are corrupt by offering them
    bribes.
    ***
    What is even more egregious is that Sam[']s offers for sale for
    monetary profit the very items that may subject it[s] customers
    to prosecution when without any notice that "Sam[']s"is
    watching and surreptitiously calling police to apprehend those
    that Sam[']s determines to be committing "alleged crimes."
    13
    Walker is in essence stating that he was entrapped because Sam's sold him an ordinary
    household product which happened to be a precursor for the manufacture of
    methamphetamine and because Sam's reported him to the police when he was merely doing
    what Sam's had induced him to do.
    ¶29.   The very nature of good citizenship in this country is to report any suspicious
    behavior to law enforcement. Pharmacies in particular have an additional responsibility to
    watch for signs of drug abuse and suspicious behavior. In Taylor v. Johnson, 
    796 So. 2d 11
    , 14 (La. Ct. App. 2001), a drugstore customer sued a pharmacist for the infliction of
    emotional distress. The pharmacist had called the police to report the customer's suspicious
    behavior, resulting in the customer's arrest. Dismissing the claim, a Louisiana appellate
    court found that the pharmacist's actions were "logical" and "reasonable" under the
    circumstances.
    ¶30.   A South Carolina United States District Court has discussed the public policy
    favoring pharmacists' reporting suspicious behavior:
    This Court together with all pharmacists, law
    enforcement officers and informed citizens are aware of the
    drug abuse problem in this country. Strict laws have been
    adopted relating to the dispensing of drugs, including
    Biphetamines, and the defendant Green would be shirking his
    responsibility as a pharmacist to close his eyes to circumstances
    which raise a suspicion that a prescription may be a forgery or
    that the drug laws may be violated through his filling of a
    prescription. Pharmacists have not only the right, but the duty
    to report any suspicious circumstances concerning drugs to the
    proper authorities, which is all that defendant Green did in the
    present case.
    14
    Hemmerle v. K-Mart Discount Stores, 
    383 F. Supp. 303
    , 307 (D.S.C. 1974) (emphasis
    added).
    ¶31.   Walker's contention that Sam's induced him to buy the ephedrine is patently absurd.
    Sam's is a business and its primary purpose is to make money by selling to consumers. It
    had the duty to report suspicious behavior. We find that the proposed entrapment jury
    instruction did not have a proper evidentiary foundation. Walker's claim is without merit.
    VII.   THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.
    ¶32.   A motion for new trial goes to the weight of the evidence. In determining whether
    a jury verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, we must accept as true the
    evidence which supports the verdict and will reverse only when convinced that the circuit
    court has abused its discretion in failing to grant a new trial. Hubbard v. State, 
    819 So. 2d 1192
    , 1196 (Miss. 2001); Grant v. State, 
    762 So. 2d 800
    (Miss. Ct. App. 2000). The
    standard of review in determining whether a jury verdict is against the overwhelming weight
    of the evidence is well settled. "[T]his Court must accept as true the evidence which
    supports the verdict and will reverse only when convinced that the circuit court has abused
    its discretion in failing to grant a new trial." Dudley v. State, 
    719 So. 2d 180
    , 182 (Miss.
    1998). On review, the State is given "the benefit of all favorable inferences that may
    reasonably be drawn from the evidence." Griffin v. State, 
    607 So. 2d 1197
    , 1201 (Miss.
    1992). "Only in those cases where the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of
    the evidence that to allow it to stand would sanction an unconscionable injustice will this
    Court disturb it on appeal." 
    Dudley, 719 So. 2d at 182
    .
    15
    The standard of review for denials of motions for directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding
    the verdict and a request for a peremptory instruction is the same. Jefferson v. State, 
    818 So. 2d 1099
    , 1110-11 (Miss. 2002). A directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding a verdict
    and a request for peremptory instruction all challenge the legal sufficiency of the evidence
    presented at trial. 
    Id. ¶33. Accepting the
    State's evidence as true, and/or giving the State the benefit of all
    favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence, we find that ample
    evidence supports the guilty verdict. Through the use of the receipts, the State showed that
    Walker had bought several everyday household items that could be used for the manufacture
    of methamphetamine. He bought a few of these items at each of several different stores. At
    the time of the investigatory stop and search, he was in possession of boxes of ephedrine and
    several lithium batteries. All of this evidence shows that he was in possession of precursors
    to the manufacture of methamphetamine, with the intent that these products would be used
    to manufacture methamphetamine.
    ¶34.   Walker contends that his testimony that he bought these products for resale in the
    store that he owned was uncontradicted, and therefore the State did not prove each element
    of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury is the finder of fact, and it evidently
    believed the State's witnesses more than Walker's self-serving testimony. Besides, why
    would a store owner go to retail stores in another city to purchase products for resale when
    he could buy them wholesale? This issue is without merit.
    CONCLUSION
    16
    ¶35.   For these reasons, we affirm the conviction and sentence imposed upon James Allen
    Walker.
    ¶36. CONVICTION OF POSSESSION OF TWO (2) OR MORE PRECURSOR
    CHEMICALS, AND SENTENCE OF TWENTY (20) YEARS IN THE CUSTODY OF
    THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, PAYMENT OF A FINE
    IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,000.00, RESTITUTION IN THE AMOUNT OF $100.00 TO
    THE SOUTHAVEN POLICE DEPARTMENT, WITH CONDITIONS, AND ALL
    COSTS, AFFIRMED. APPELLANT SHALL SERVE THE FIRST TEN (10) YEARS
    WITH THE REMAINING TEN (10) YEARS SUSPENDED PENDING FUTURE
    GOOD BEHAVIOR.
    SMITH, C.J., COBB, P.J., CARLSON, DICKINSON AND RANDOLPH, JJ.,
    CONCUR. EASLEY, J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY. GRAVES, J., DISSENTS
    WITHOUT SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. DIAZ, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
    17