Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Dawn Jodoin and Chris Different married in February 2005 while they were living in South Carolina. Jodoin’s two children, B.B. and J.B., also lived with them. In May 2010, Jodoin and Different moved to Rankin County, Mississippi, with Different’s sister and her husband. B.B. was fourteen years old and entering the ninth grade at the time the family moved to Rankin County. After about a month and a half, Jodoin and Different moved to Pearl, Mississippi. Jodoin decided to end her marriage with Different in 2011. B.B. and J.B. moved back to South Carolina in August 2011, and Jodoin moved back in September 2011. Jodoin and Different’s divorce was finalized in January 2012. The following month, Jodoin married Brian Jodoin. In February 2012, while living in Ohio, B.B. told her younger brother, J.B., that Different had sexually assaulted her. J.B. told Brian, and Brian told Jodoin. Jodoin took B.B. to a counselor, and the counselor contacted the Department of Human Services about the abuse. Different would ultimately be found guilty and convicted of one count of gratification of lust and one count of sexual battery. Different was sentenced to fifteen years for Count I, Gratification of Lust, and thirty years for Count II, Sexual Battery, to be served concurrently. He appealed, challenging the evidence presented against him. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed Different's conviction and sentence. View "Different v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with thirteen counts of video voyeurism. At a bench trial, the parties agreed to forego calling witnesses and to have the trial judge decide the case on a submission of stipulated facts. The stipulation omitted any reference to where ten of the thirteen counts took place. So, because the State failed to prove venue as to those ten counts, the Supreme Court reversed them. The Court affirmed defendant's remaining convictions. View "Nuckolls v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

After failing to stop at a checkpoint, John Cole attempted to evade law-enforcement officers before subsequently crashing into a trailer. Cole ran on foot into the nearby woods and shortly was detained. A search of the area produced $6,000 in cash, which the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) claimed was found in close proximity to controlled substances. The MBN sought forfeiture of the property, and Anthony Brown filed a petition to contest. Brown contended that he was an innocent owner of the cash and that forfeiture was therefore improper. After review of Brown's petition, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals as to forfeiture and found that Brown’s claim failed by default for lack of proof of an ownership interest in the property. View "Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000) v. Mississippi Ex Rel. Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics" on Justia Law

On February 25, 2014, James Rowsey was convicted of aggravated assault for throwing scalding water on a fellow inmate at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution. Rowsey was appointed two defense counsel. Rowsey made complaints against both attorneys to the Mississippi Bar; the trial court record indicated that Rowsey was ihighly uncooperative, and that a mental evaluation was ordered to determine his competency to stand trial. After a number of granted continuances, trial commenced on February 24, 2014, forty-nine months after the incident, thirty-six months after indictment and thirty-three months after arraignment. The jury returned its guilty verdict, and Rowsey was sentenced to serve ten years of incarceration to run consecutively to the life sentence he already was serving for murder. Rowsey appealed, arguing he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and that errors at trial deprived him of his constitutional rights to a fair and speedy trial. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed Rowsey's conviction and sentence. View "Rowsey v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Michael Anderson was charged with deliberate-design murder, aggravated assault, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. His defense theory of the case was self-defense. Over Anderson’s objection, the prosecution was granted its requested flight instruction. Anderson was convicted on all three counts and received three consecutive life sentences. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Anderson argued on appeal to the Supreme Court that that the trial court erred by giving the flight instruction. Because no evidence was introduced to support that Anderson’s flight was caused by something other than consciousness of guilt, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court did not err. The judgments of both the Court of Appeals and the trial court were affirmed. View "Anderson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Casey Burgess was convicted by jury on three counts of sexual battery against his wife, for which he was sentenced to thirty years on each count, to run concurrently. Following the denial of his alternative motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, Burgess appealed. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Burgess v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Michael Brown was the attorney for the guardianship of DeMon McClinton, during which time he embezzled and/or mismanaged more than $1.2 million, much of it in Hinds County, where the guardianship and ward were located. He gave $550,000 of that money to Linus Shackelford as “loans” from the guardianship, the transactions for said loans made in Rankin County. Brown was convicted on two counts of embezzlement in Rankin County for making those “loans” with guardianship funds. Brown appealed his conviction and sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, but the Supreme Court affirmed, finding that the trial court did not commit reversible error during the trial in this case. However, the trial court exceeded its statutory authority with its sentence of restitution; therefore, the Supreme Court vacated the restitution portion of Brown’s sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. View "Brown v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

In January 2003, Christopher Lyas died while receiving treatment at Pine Grove Behavioral Health Center, a subsidiary of Forrest General Hospital. Shortly after Christopher’s death, his widow, Madra Lyas was visited by an employee of the Forrest County Coroner’s Office who provided her a provisional Certificate of Death which listed the immediate cause of death as “pending” and a provisional autopsy report which listed the cause and manner of Christopher’s death as “pending toxicology,” but contained pathological diagnoses of “Hypertensive Heart Disease” and “Morbid Obesity.” The employee informed Madra that Christopher probably had died of a heart attack. Seven years later, after meeting in person with the Forrest County Coroner, Madra was given Christopher’s final Certificate of Death, which professed “[c]hanges consistent with meprobamate and carisoprodol overdose” as the immediate cause of Christopher’s death. She then filed suit against Pine Grove and Forrest General Hospital, alleging that Pine Grove had caused Christopher’s death negligently by means of a prescription drug overdose. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Forrest General and Pine Grove, holding that Madra had not filed suit within the one-year statute of limitations pursuant to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. Madra appealed, arguing that the discovery rule tolled the applicable statute of limitations. Because Madra has produced evidence of her reasonable diligence during the statutory period, the Supreme Court found that a genuine issue of material fact existed on the issue of whether the statute of limitations was tolled. The Court therefore reversed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Forrest General and remand this case for a trial on the merits. View "Lyas v. Forrest General Hospital" on Justia Law

Marshall Graves was convicted of fondling (two counts) and sexual battery (one count) and was sentenced to terms of fifteen years for each count of fondling and life as to one count of sexual battery, all to be served concurrently. Graves’s appellate counsel filed a “Lindsey” brief, certifying to the Supreme Court that the record presented no arguable issues for appeal. Graves filed a pro se brief, asserting numerous errors. After a thorough review of Graves’s pro se brief and the record, the Mississippi Supreme Court found that Graves’s appeal indeed presented no arguable issues. View "Graves v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Correy Dartez was found guilty of murder by a Harrison County jury and sentenced to life in prison in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The trial court denied Dartez’s post-trial motion for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Dartez appealed his conviction, arguing to the Supreme Court that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to raise an insanity defense and for not challenging the introduction into evidence of Dartez’s confession to the police that he had killed his wife Victoria. The Court declined to address Dartez’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal. “Whether Dartez’s trial counsel should have raised an insanity defense and whether trial counsel should have challenged Dartez’s confession involves facts not fully apparent from the record before us. Thus, we are unable adequately and properly to address Dartez’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal. Therefore, we affirm Dartez’s conviction.” The Court left it open to Dartez to represent his claim through a petition for post-conviction relief. View "Dartez v. Mississippi" on Justia Law