Robert Fisher, Jr. a/k/a Robert Fisher a/k/a Robert Earl Fisher, Jr. v. State of Mississippi, 354 So.3d 284

On May 20–22, 2019, Yazoo County officers responded to Davis Mini Storage after a customer complained of a strong marijuana odor in a climate-controlled building.
Deputy Ferrell used a ladder (with owner’s permission) to look down into Unit 404 and observed large bundles in black trash bags; the owner identified Fisher as the lessee.
Officers obtained a search warrant for Unit 404, seized ~31 kg of marijuana, then obtained warrants for Fisher’s arrest and home; additional drugs and firearms were found at his residence.
Fisher did not object at trial to admission of the storage-unit evidence, did not testify, and was convicted of multiple drug-trafficking and possession counts.
At sentencing the court declared Fisher a habitual offender but the State introduced no evidence of prior convictions; the court nevertheless imposed two consecutive 25-year mandatory terms under the aggravated-trafficking statute.
Fisher appealed raising (1) denial of right to testify, (2) unlawful search via ladder/looking into a ceilingless unit, and (3) improper habitual-offender sentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Fisher)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Right to testify	Trial court failed to inquire or advise Fisher of his right to testify; waiver cannot be presumed from silence	Fisher was represented by counsel; record is silent with no showing he wished to testify, so no reversible error	No reversible error; failure to advise is not fatal where record shows counsel representation and no indication defendant wanted to testify (affirmed)
Warrantless ladder peek into unit — search?	Looking into a ceilingless unit from a ladder was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment/Miss. Const. art. 3 §23; evidence should be suppressed	Officers were in common area with owner’s permission; unit was open at top; no trespass and no reasonable expectation of privacy in visible contents	No search occurred: no trespass and no reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents visible from the ladder; evidence admissible (affirmed)
Habitual-offender finding / sentencing	Trial court erred—State failed to prove prior felony convictions, so habitual-offender status not proven; requests resentencing	State concedes lack of proof of priors but notes sentence imposed equals mandatory minimums under trafficking statute, so Fisher suffered no prejudice	Trial court erred in finding habitual-offender status without proof, but reversal/resentencing unnecessary because imposed sentences were already the statutory mandatory minimums for aggravated trafficking (affirmed)

Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44 (recognizes constitutional right to testify)
Culberson v. State, 412 So. 2d 1184 (Miss. 1982) (trial court should advise defendant of right to testify when silent record)
Dizon v. State, 749 So. 2d 996 (Miss. 1999) (reversal where defendant repeatedly expressed desire to testify and record showed counsel expected him to)
Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (supra–reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test)
Jones v. United States, 565 U.S. 400 (adds trespassory test to Katz inquiry)
California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207 (privacy expectations and visibility from public vantage)
Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83 (standing and legitimate expectation of privacy analysis)
New York v. Burger, 482 U.S. 691 (diminished privacy expectations in commercial premises)
Swinney v. State, 241 So. 3d 599 (Miss. 2018) (plain-error preservation rules)
Keyes v. State, 549 So. 2d 949 (Miss. 1989) (requirements for proving habitual-offender status)