Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

This was Curtis Flowers's fourth direct appeal stemming from the 1996 murders of four employees of a Winona furniture store. A grand jury indicted Flowers on four separate counts of capital murder, with the underlying felony of armed robbery, for the murders of Bertha Tardy, Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby, and Derrick Stewart. In his sixth and most recent trial, Flowers was convicted on all four counts of capital murder and sentenced to death. Flowers appealed his convictions and death sentence. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence. View "Flowers v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The Jefferson Davis County Youth Court held J.P. (minor) in a juvenile detention facility for 103 days, then in the Jefferson Davis County Jail for thirty days more when J.P. attained age eighteen. J.P. was never adjudicated delinquent. No hearing was held on the question of his delinquency. After more than four months in custody, he was released. The court nevertheless ordered his parents to pay the nearly $10,000 cost of J.P.'s 103-day confinement in juvenile detention. On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the youth court and rendered judgment in favor of the parents: the State cannot charge the parents of a minor for his detention when that detention was never legally justified. View "In the Interest of J.P. a Minor: R.P. and D.O. v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Charles Moore appealed his conviction for felony driving under the influence (DUI), third offense. Moore argued that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. Finding no merit to this contention, the Supreme Court affirmed Moore's conviction. View "Moore v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Rebecca Jones was convicted for the murder of her mother, for which she received a life sentence. On appeal, she argued the trial court erred in admitting evidence of her prior drug use, that the trial court erred in denying her motions for judgment as a matter of law, and that the verdict is against the weight and sufficiency of the evidence. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Jones v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The Circuit Court sentenced Glen Conley to life without parole. Conley sought review of the parole board’s refusal to give him a parole eligibility date. The Supreme Court concluded that the parole board lacked the authority to review his sentence of life without parole. Although under different reasoning, the Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of his claim by the Circuit Court and the Court of Appeals. View "Conley v. Epps" on Justia Law

Donald Smith was indicted for two counts of kidnapping, one count of armed carjacking, and one count of felony evading a police officer. His case was set for trial on November 13, 2008. On that date, Smith orally moved for a continuance and a psychiatric examination. Under Uniform Rule of Circuit and County Court Practice 9.06, a mental evaluation and competency hearing are mandatory if the trial court has a reasonable ground to believe the defendant is incompetent to stand trial. Before Smith entered a guilty plea, the trial court ordered a mental evaluation of Smith that never was performed. The record was silent as to the reason the trial court ordered the mental evaluation. The Supreme Court granted Smith’s petition for certiorari on his postconviction claim that the trial court had erred by accepting his guilty plea without a completed mental evaluation and competency hearing. Because a mental evaluation and hearing were required if the trial court ordered the mental evaluation to assess Smith’s competence to stand trial, the Court reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of why the trial court ordered a mental evaluation. View "Smith v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Jeremy Cage appealed his conviction for statutory rape, arguing that the trial court erred in excluding certain evidence and in denying his motion for a new trial. Cage also claimed that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed Cage’s conviction and sentence. View "Cage v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

On June 24, 2014, Thad Cochran, a Republican nominee for United States Senator, won the Republican primary runoff. His opponent, Chris McDaniel, filed an election contest with the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) on August 4, 2014 – forty-one days after the election. The SREC declined to consider McDaniel’s complaint, and McDaniel appealed. The trial judge found that McDaniel did not meet the twenty-day deadline to file his election contest and dismissed the case. On appeal, McDaniel argued that no deadline existed to contest a primary election. Under the doctrine of stare decisis, the Supreme Court found that there indeed was a deadline, and McDaniel failed to file his election contest within twenty days. The dismissal was affirmed. View "McDaniel v. Cochran" on Justia Law

Carl Cook was convicted of misdemeanor driving under the influence (“DUI”), first offense, in the Rankin County Justice Court. Cook appealed to the County Court of Rankin County. At a trial de novo before the county court, Cook’s counsel moved to dismiss the case, claiming that the investigatory stop which led to Cook’s arrest was an illegal search and seizure because it was based on an anonymous tip that lacked sufficient indicia of reliability. The county court denied the motion and entered a judgment of conviction. Cook then appealed to the Rankin County Circuit Court, and the circuit court affirmed the county court’s conviction. Finding that the investigatory stop was legally justified, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the Circuit Court of Rankin County. The Supreme Court granted Cook's Petition for Writ of Certiorari to consider the issue of whether an investigatory stop, which was based on an anonymous tip and led to Cook’s arrest, violated Cook’s Fourth-Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Court of Appeals erred in finding that reasonable suspicion to stop Cook existed this case. Therefore, the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the Rankin County Circuit Court were reversed. Without the evidence gathered as a result of the stop, the evidence against Cook was insufficient to sustain a DUI conviction. The Court therefore reversed and entered a judgment of acquittal. View "Cook v. Rankin County" on Justia Law

Eric Foster was indicted for “. . . wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously tak[ing] . . . the personal property of the Bank of Franklin, against [the victims’] will by violence to [the victims] or by putting [the victims] in fear of immediate injury . . . by the exhibition of a deadly weapon. . . .” The jury found the defendant guilty of armed robbery and was not instructed to recommend a sentence. Foster was sentenced to forty years after his conviction of armed robbery. Foster appealed his sentence. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Foster v. Mississippi" on Justia Law