Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

A jury sentenced Willie Russell to death for murdering a correctional officer. Russell later claimed he was intellectually disabled and thus could not be executed under Atkins v.Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). In 2014, the trial court set an Atkins hearing to determine if Russell was intellectually disabled. Prior to the hearing, the State moved to assess Russell based on his claimed intellectual disability. But Russell opposed the State’s expert conducting the evaluation; years earlier, Russell had undergone psychological testing ordered in a separate aggravated-assault case. But that testing was for his competency to stand trial, not assessing intellectual disability. Although the State had initially proposed that the 2006 assessment cover both issues, Russell’s attorney also objected back then to the State evaluating Russell’s Atkins claim in that proceeding. So Russell was never evaluated on the specific criteria for intellectual disability under Atkins. The record showd both Russell and the State understood that the 2006 testing would not serve as his complete Atkins assessment. Even the State's expert felt additional testing was required. Still, the trial court denied the State’s motion to evaluate Russell, concluding the prior testing was sufficient. "Consequently, the court’s denial led to what was essentially a one-sided Atkins hearing." At the end of the hearing, the trial court ruled that Russell was intellectually disabled under Atkins and Chase v. Mississippi, 873 So.2d 1013 (Miss. 2004), and vacated his death sentence. The State appealed. After review, the Mississippi Supreme Court found the trial court reversibly erred: the trial judge abused her discretion by denying the State’s well-supported motion to evaluate Russell prior to the Atkins hearing. View "Mississippi v. Russell" on Justia Law

Jerry McGill saw someone in Bobby Brewer's Volvo and called police. McGill pursued the man on foot, later identified as Charles Naylor. Naylor had in his possession Brewer’s global positioning system (GPS) and an insurance card that bore Brewer’s name. He was convicted of burglary of an automobile and was sentenced, as an habitual offender pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-19-81 (Rev. 2015), to seven years’ imprisonment without parole. On appeal, Naylor claimed the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Finding no merit in Naylor’s claim on appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed. View "Naylor v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Two officers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) observed Donald Bernius speeding on the Tchoutacabouffa River in Harrison County, Mississippi. Prior to effecting a stop, the officers ordered Bernius to move his boat to what they contended was a safer location on the river; but Bernius fled in the opposite direction. Bernius’s vessel collided with a boat operated by Christopher Webb. The collision killed Webb and seriously injured Shane Webb. Two hours after the collision, Bernius’s blood-alcohol content was .25 percent. Kathleen Webb, individually and on behalf of Christopher Webb’s wrongful-death beneficiaries, and Candace Webb, as Shane Webb’s guardian, filed a lawsuit pursuant to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA) against the MDWFP, arguing that the officers had acted in reckless disregard for the safety of others. After a bench trial, the Circuit Court agreed and ruled in favor of the Webbs. The Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed and rendered a judgment in favor of the MDWFP, finding that the evidence did not demonstrate that the officers had acted with reckless disregard. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted Candace Webb’s Petition for certiorari review. Finding that the Mississippi Court of Appeals misapplied the applicable standard of review and substituted its judgment for that of the trial court, the Supreme Court reversed the judgment of that court and reinstated and affirmed the Circuit Court's judgment. View "Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries &Parks v. Webb" on Justia Law

After exhausting the administrative remedies program within the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Forrest Thomas III appealed to the circuit court for review of the Department’s decision denying him trusty time credit and meritorious earned time credit, the denial of which was based upon his conviction of kidnapping a child under the age of sixteen and classification as a sex offender. The circuit court denied relief too, so Thomas appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. After review, the Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's affirmance of the Department's decision with respect to credit on his kidnapping conviction. The case was remanded for the circuit court to order the Department to run Thomas’s sentences consistently with the sentencing orders. View "Thomas v. Mississippi Dept. of Corrections" on Justia Law

After exhausting the administrative remedies program within the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Forrest Thomas III appealed to the circuit court for review of the Department’s decision denying him trusty time credit and meritorious earned time credit, the denial of which was based upon his conviction of kidnapping a child under the age of sixteen and classification as a sex offender. The circuit court denied relief too, so Thomas appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. After review, the Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's affirmance of the Department's decision with respect to credit on his kidnapping conviction. The case was remanded for the circuit court to order the Department to run Thomas’s sentences consistently with the sentencing orders. View "Thomas v. Mississippi Dept. of Corrections" on Justia Law

Sedric Sutton was indicted by a grand jury on two counts: (1) possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and (2) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After a trial by jury, Sutton was convicted on the first count and acquitted on the second. The trial court sentenced Sutton as a habitual offender to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He appealed. The Mississippi Supreme Court found that all of the State’s evidence in the case stemmed from an unconstitutional search pursuant to an invalid warrant which failed adequately to describe the property to be seized by the executing officers. Pretrial, the court denied Sutton’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the search. After review, the Supreme Court reversed Sutton’s conviction and sentence and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Sutton v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Craig Sallie was charged with one count of aggravated assault for shooting Gregory Johnson in the back and one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. A jury found Sallie guilty of both counts, and the circuit court sentenced him to twenty years and ten years, respectively, with sentences to run concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). The circuit court also sentenced Sallie to an additional ten years pursuant to the firearm-enhancement statute under Mississippi Code Section 97-37-37 (Rev. 2014), with that sentence to run consecutively to the other sentences, for a total sentence of thirty years in the MDOC. The Court of Appeals affirmed. On writ of certiorari, a majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court found “Sallie was not given adequate pretrial notice that an enhanced punishment would be sought until after his conviction,” which violated his right to due process. The majority affirmed Sallie’s convictions for aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm but vacated Sallie’s sentence and remanded the case to the circuit court for resentencing. On remand, the circuit court restructured Sallie’s remaining sentences to run consecutively instead of concurrently, resulting in a thirty-year sentence without the enhanced penalty portion prescribed by Section 97-37-37. Finding no error, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Sallie petitions the Mississippi Supreme Court again, for review of whether the trial court’s decision to change the sentences to run [consecutively] on Count I and Count II was error because the Court of Appeals affirmed those convictions and sentences and the Mississippi Supreme Court remanded only the sentence pursuant to [Section 97-37-37]. Following the Supreme Court’s order of remand for resentencing, the circuit judge stated for the record that when he imposed Sallie’s original sentence, he thought Sallie “was going to have another 10-year sentence that would [run] consecutively” to the two sentences running concurrently, effectively giving Sallie a thirty-year sentence in the custody of the MDOC. The circuit judge then restructured Sallie’s sentence to implement his original intention. As the Court of Appeals held, the circuit court had authority to do so, and therefore, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Sallie v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

In 2005, Joey Chandler was convicted for the murder of his cousin Emmitt Chandler and sentenced to life in prison under Mississippi Code Section 97-3-21 (2005). His conviction and sentence was affirmed on appeal. In 2015, Chandler received a new sentencing hearing for his murder conviction in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012). Following the hearing, the circuit court sentenced Chandler to life in prison. Chandler appealed, requesting that he be resentenced because the trial court failed to analyze all the factors identified in Miller and adopted in the Mississippi Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Parker v. Mississippi, 119 So. 3d 987 (Miss. 2013). The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed, finding the trial court did not automatically resentence Chandler to life in prison or perceive a legislative mandate that Chandler must be sentenced to life in prison without parole in violation of Miller. As required by Miller and the subsequent decision in Parker, the trial court held a hearing and, after considering all that was presented as well as the entire court file, sentenced Chandler to life in prison. The trial court took into account the characteristics and circumstances unique to juveniles. Although the trial court had the authority to sentence Chandler to life in prison with the possibility of parole, it chose to sentence Chandler to life in prison, which was also within its authority. Because the trial court satisfied its obligation under Miller and Parker, the Supreme Court found the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Chandler to life in prison. View "Chandler v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Casey Woods was indicted on one count of first degree murder, stemming from the shooting of his girlfriend’s estranged husband. Woods also was indicted on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The counts were severed and the case proceeded to trial solely on the murder charge. A jury found Woods guilty of second degree murder, for which Woods was sentenced as a habitual offender under Mississippi Code Section 99-19-83 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Woods’s trial counsel did not file any post-trial motions. Woods appealed, arguing: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to overcome the presumption afforded by the Castle Doctrine that he acted reasonably when he killed Pierre Tenner; and (2) he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. Woods waived his insufficient evidence argument; however, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel with regard to Woods’s trial counsel’s failure to file a post trial motion for a new trial challenging the weight of the evidence. View "Woods v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Joseph Patton was convicted by jury of murdering his uncle with an ax to the throat. Patton appealed, claiming his trial was rendered fundamentally unfair by the trial court’s refusal to strike for cause two prospective jurors from the jury venire who said during voir dire examination they knew the decedent’s son. Finding no merit in Patton’s claim, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Patton’s conviction. View "Patton v. Mississippi" on Justia Law