Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Shirley Warren (a/k/a Oliver) was convicted for possession of a controlled substance in a correctional facility. The trial court sentenced her to seven years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with four years suspended and five years of supervised probation. The Supreme Court assigned Warren’s appeal to the Court of Appeals, which reversed it, ruling that Warren’s indictment was fatally defective because it failed to identify the controlled substance that Warren allegedly possessed. The Supreme Court granted the State’s petition for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and held that Warren’s indictment sufficiently charged her with possession of a controlled substance in a correctional facility. Furthermore, the Court held that Warren’s other appellate issues lacked merit. The Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals and reinstated and affirmed the judgment of the Circuit Court. View "Warren a/k/a Oliver v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Aundray Isaac filed his complaint against the State in 2012, seeking compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. During the early morning hours of March 11, 1991, a towel draped over the front door of Shannon Jackson’s apartment caught fire. The towel had been placed there purposefully for privacy, as covering the windows at the top of the door prevented bypassers from seeing up the interior stairwell just beyond the door. That night, Jackson was at home and upstairs with her and Isaac’s two young children. Isaac lived at the apartment with Jackson but had spent most of the night at issue away from the apartment. He knocked on the door after midnight, but, though she was home, Jackson refused to let him in. Jackson testified that the two of them had agreed that “If he was going to continue to live there, he was going to be in before 12:00 or no later than 12:00.” Isaac testified at his wrongful conviction trial that he set the towel on fire, but he maintained that it was an accident. Isaac would be charged with arson, and convicted by jury. In 1994, the Supreme Court determined that the State had failed to prove the malice and willfulness elements of first-degree arson beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore had produced insufficient evidence to support Isaac’s conviction. The Court reversed Isaac’s conviction and discharged him from the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He then sued for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. The trial court found in favor of the State and dismissed Isaac’s complaint with prejudice. Aggrieved, Isaac appealed. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Isaac v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Eddie Hall was convicted of murdering Johnny “Tubby” Hubbard in the Black Cat community of Covington County. The jury heard eyewitness testimony that when a fight broke out at the end of a horse show, Hall retrieved a gun from his trailer and shot Tubby twice as Tubby attempted to break up the fight and leave the scene. On appeal, Hall argued that the judge made errors during the jury selection process and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed Hall’s conviction and life sentence. View "Hall v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

A jury found Patrick Giles guilty of statutory rape and sexual battery, for which he was sentenced to ten years for statutory rape and twenty-five years for sexual battery, to run consecutively. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Giles argued that he was entitled to a new trial because he received ineffective assistance of counsel and the prosecutor made improper closing arguments. Finding no merit to Giles' claims of ineffective assistance, nor any other reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Giles v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Jason Hall appealed a circuit court order dismissing his petition for statutory compensation under Mississippi’s Compensation Act for Wrongful Conviction and Imprisonment. After review of the particular facts of this case, the Supreme Court found the circuit court erred in finding Hall had failed to establish his innocence as required by Mississippi Code Section 11-44-7(1)(b) because the Order Passing to Inactive Files was neither a dismissal nor a nolle prosequi pursuant to Section 11-44-3(c). Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s judgment and remanded the matter for further proceedings. View "Hall v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

A grand jury indicted Dewayne Graham on kidnapping, forcible rape, and sexual battery charges. The trial court reset the trial date five times over the next sixteen months. After a two-day trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict and the trial court sentenced him to thirty years' imprisonment as a habitual offender. Graham raised four issues on appeal, but finding no merit to any, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed. View "Graham v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Thomas Tubbs was indicted, tried, and found guilty by jury of molestation and sentenced by the trial judge to fifteen years’ imprisonment. Tubbs argued on appeal of that conviction that the trial court erred in admitting the child-victim’s testimony as well as a hearsay statement made by the victim to her grandmother. Tubbs also argued certain evidence should have been excluded due to a break in the chain of custody. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed Tubbs’s conviction and sentence. View "Tubbs v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

John Hale was convicted on four counts of sale or transfer of a controlled substance and was sentenced as a habitual offender to serve a total of sixteen years’ imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On appeal, Hale argued that the trial court erred in denying his proffered jury instructions on the defenses of involuntary intoxication and entrapment. Hale also filed a pro se supplemental brief, in which he raises various other issues. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed Hale’s convictions and sentences. View "Hale v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

In February 2012, the Adams County Sheriff’s Department recovered three firearms from the trunk of Verenzo Green’s vehicle during an inventory search of the vehicle. A grand jury indicted Green and, following a trial in the Adams County Circuit Court, a jury convicted Green of three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of trafficking a firearm. The Court of Appeals affirmed Green’s convictions and sentences, and Green appealed to the Supreme Court on grounds of an alleged double jeopardy violation first raised sua sponte in a dissent by the Court of Appeals using the plain error doctrine. The Supreme Court found that the principle of law argued by Green, which he adopted from the Court of Appeals dissent, was not appropriate for plain error review. Accordingly, the Court affirmed. View "Green v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Lester Moore was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for felony shoplifting. He appealed, but finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Moore v. Mississippi" on Justia Law