Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

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

A jury convicted Shunbrica Roby of deliberate-design murder, and the trial judge sentenced her to life in prison. Roby appealed, arguing: (1) that the State’s evidence was legally insufficient and that her conviction was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; (2) that her Sixth Amendment right to confrontation was violated; and (3) that the trial court erred in granting and/or refusing several jury instructions. After review, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial based on the jury-instruction issue. View "Roby v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Bobby Batiste was convicted of capital murder with the underlying felony of robbery and was sentenced to death. On appeal of that sentence, Batiste raised sixteen issues. The Supreme Court addressed one: whether certain statements alleged to have been made by bailiffs to jurors, violated Batiste's constitutional right to an impartial jury. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that Batiste made a substantial showing of a denial of a state or federal right sufficient to entitle him to a hearing to enable the circuit court to ascertain what communications were had between bailiffs and/or other persons and the jury and to determine, insofar as was possible, what impact, if any, those communications had on Batiste’s conviction and sentence. The Court granted Batiste’s motion for leave to file his petition for post-conviction relief. View "Batiste v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Defendant Markeith Fleming was convicted of murder and aggravated assault. He claimed he was in another county at his girlfriend's house at the time the shooting occurred. Approximately two weeks before trial, the State disclosed its intent to have an AT&T engineer testify about Fleming’s whereabouts, using Fleming’s cell-phone records. Fleming requested a continuance to obtain his own expert on the subject, but the circuit judge denied that motion, finding that the engineer would testify only about information that was contained in the records and that had been disclosed to defense counsel much earlier. Because the engineer (without being tendered or accepted as an expert) was allowed to provide expert testimony beyond the information contained in the records, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded. View "Fleming v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Graham Warwick appealed his conviction for driving under the influence of marijuana, arguing that his conviction is against the weight and sufficiency of the evidence. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Warwick v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

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