Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

After a nearby ditch began to erode causing significant property damage and mold-related health issues, Plaintiffs John and Patsy O’Callaghan filed an inverse condemnation action under the Takings Clause of the Mississippi Constitution, requesting that the City of Tupelo compensate the couple for both personal injuries and significant property loss. The City presented an interlocutory appeal challenging the County Court’s order denying its motion for summary judgment on the matter. Finding that personal injuries were not recoverable in a claim under the Takings Clause and that the three-year limitations period under Mississippi Code Section 15-1-49 was applicable to takings claims, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling, rendering a decision for the City. View "City of Tupelo v. O'Callaghan" on Justia Law

Justin Crockett pled guilty in Panola County Justice Court to headlighting a deer. Crockett appealed his conviction to the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Panola County. After a bench trial de novo, that court found Crockett guilty. Crockett then appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, arguing solely that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction. Finding sufficient evidence in the record to sustain Crockett’s conviction, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Crockett v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

On the morning of his client’s trial, defense attorney A. Randall Harris tried to withdraw as counsel. When the judge declined his request, Harris told the judge he was “wrong” for doing so, and he “was not going to participate” in the trial. Harris’s refusal to abide by the court’s order forced a continuance. And the judge held him in direct criminal contempt. Harris appealed, but the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment finding Harris guilty of direct criminal contempt and ordering Harris to pay a $100 fine and $1,200 for the cost of the jury venire. View "Harris v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Charles Crawford, a Mississippi death row inmate, filed a civil lawsuit, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging various federal constitutional claims relating to the anesthetic, a compounded version of pentobarbital not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to be utilized in his execution. After a hearing, the chancery court transferred the case to the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County where the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) renewed its motion to dismiss. The circuit court granted the motion to dismiss, holding that the Section 1983 claims were the same as or similar to issues which were at the time pending in the Mississippi Supreme Court. Because the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County erroneously dismissed Crawford’s Section 1983 lawsuit on the basis of a factual misapprehension, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded back to that court for further proceedings. View "Crawford v. Fisher" on Justia Law

Ceasar Johnson was convicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for the 2012 murder of Gregory Johnson. He was sentenced to life in prison. He appealed, arguing: (1) because the State’s case rested solely on conjecture and supposition, and because Ceasar presented a reasonable hypothesis consistent with his innocence, the State presented insufficient evidence to convict Ceasar of first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm; and (2) because the State’s case against Ceasar amounted to nothing more than a hunch, and because Ceasar presented compelling corroborated evidence of a reasonable hypothesis consistent with his innocence, the overwhelming weight of the evidence required a new trial. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Johnson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

A jury convicted James Willie of deliberate design murder. He appealed the conviction, arguing on appeal: (1) that the trial court erred in allowing the State’s ballistic expert to give definitive testimony matching bullets from the crime scene to a gun linked to Willie; (2) that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to the ballistics testimony; (3) that the jury returned a guilty verdict against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; and (4) that the trial court improperly answered a question submitted by the jury. The Supreme Court held that the judge erred in answering a question posed by the jury during deliberations, and reversed Willie’s conviction and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Willie v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Carolyn McAdams, mayor of the City of Greenwood, appealed a decision of the Leflore County Circuit Court, which held that the Greenwood City Council’s decision to hire legal counsel to represent the city’s interest in an election contest exceeded its power and violated the Mississippi Constitution. Finding error in the trial judge’s interpretation of Mississippi Code Sections 25-1-47 and 21-17-5, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "McAdams v. Perkins" on Justia Law

The State appealed the Circuit Court’s order granting partial relief on Michael Drankus’s motion for declaratory and injunctive relief. Drankus, an inmate in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), sought a declaratory judgment that Mississippi Code Section 47-7-3.1 was a mandate to MDOC which required MDOC to develop a “case plan” for all parole-eligible inmates and that MDOC was in violation of that section. Drankus also sought an order that would reverse an adverse decision by MDOC’s Administrative Remedy Program (ARP); an injunction directing MDOC to promulgate policies and procedures that comply with Section 47-7-3.1; and an order directing MDOC to develop a case plan for Drankus. The circuit court ruled only on MDOC’s adverse ARP decision, found that, based on the circuit court’s interpretation of Section 47-7-3.1, Drankus was entitled to receive a case plan pursuant to Section 47-7-3.1. MDOC appealed that decision. Finding that Drankus was not entitled to a case plan, the Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s order. View "Fisher v. Drankus" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Kelvin Jordan of two counts of capital murder in 1996, for which he received the death penalty. Jordan was denied post-conviction relief (PCR). He filed a successive petition for post-conviction relief in which he argued that his previous attorneys were constitutionally ineffective, that the death sentence is disproportionate, and that the trial judge erred in evidentiary decisions at trial. The Supreme Court held that all of Jordan’s claims except his claim of ineffective post-conviction relief counsel are barred as untimely, as successive, by res judicata, or a combination of all three. His claim of ineffective assistance of post-conviction relief counsel was not permitted to proceed because attorneys were not permitted to raise claims of their own ineffectiveness. View "Jordan v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

A grand jury indicted Jelani Miles for shooting into a vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and murder. The case proceeded to trial but, after the State had called two witnesses, the circuit judge declared a mistrial. When the parties appeared at a hearing to argue the State’s motion to revoke Miles’s bond while awaiting a new trial, the judge transferred the case to a different county over Miles’s objection. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted Miles’s petition for interlocutory appeal to consider the circuit judge’s authority to transfer venue over Miles’s objection. Because the circuit judge lacked that power, the Court reversed and remanded for a trial in Yazoo County. View "Miles v. Mississippi" on Justia Law