Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

A jury convicted Kendrick Cowart (a/k/a "Rat") of armed robbery and conspiracy, and acquitted him of murder and manslaughter. The trial court sentenced him to fifty-three years: forty-eight years for armed robbery and five years for conspiracy. Terrance London, Cowart’s codefendant who pled guilty to armed robbery, conspiracy, and manslaughter, received a sentence of either forty or forty-five years. Cowart appealed, arguing the Supreme Court should reverse his convictions because his statement to police should have been suppressed, photographs of the victim should have been suppressed, the jury was improperly instructed, and the verdicts are against the weight and sufficiency of the evidence. He also argued his sentence was improper, as he was punished for exercising his right to trial by jury, he was punished for acquitted conduct, the sentence constituted an illegal sentence not reasonably less than his life, the trial court failed to consider all relevant factors, and the sentence was cruel and unusual. The Supreme Court found no merit to Cowart’s arguments and affirmed his convictions. View "Cowart v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Frederick Bell of capital murder and sentenced him to death in 1993. He was later declared mentally retarded and, therefore, his death sentence was unconstitutional under "Atkins v. Virginia," (536 U.S. 304 (2002)). The circuit court resentenced Bell to life without parole pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-19-107. Bell appealed, arguing that Section 99-19-107 did not apply to his case. After review, the Supreme Court agreed, vacated Bell’s sentence and remanded for resentencing. View "Frederick Bell v. State of Mississippi" on Justia Law

Defendant LeeVester Brown was arrested and indicted for the capital murder of his son, Le’Anthony Brown. In 2003, mother Shirley Myles left for work, leaving Le'Anthony and defendant home alone. She had just put the baby down with milk and a little cereal mixed in. Defendant called Myles early in the afternoon, stating that the baby was choking. The child was taken to the hospital, and a determination was made that he needed to be flown to Memphis for emergency care. The child died en route to the hospital. Investigators determined the child died from Shaken Baby Syndrome, and not choking as was originally reported. Defendant was later charged with the death. The jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison without parole. Brown appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing, among other things, that the trial judge improperly denied his request for expert funds. The Supreme Court agreed on this contention, reversed, and remanded for a new trial. View "Leevester Brown v. State of Mississippi" on Justia Law

Anthony Carothers was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and sentenced to consecutive twenty-year terms in the Mississippi Department of Corrections for each count. On direct appeal to the Court of Appeals, Carothers argued that the trial court erred by allowing the State to treat Sheena Carothers (Carothers’s half-sister and victim) as a hostile witness. Finding merit to Carothers’s argument, the Court of Appeals reversed his convictions and remanded for a new trial. The State petitioned for certiorari, arguing the Court of Appeals had misapprehended material facts, including testimony of other witnesses. After review, the Supreme Court found the Court of Appeals erred in reversing Carothers’s convictions and sentences. The judgment of the Court of Appeals was reversed, and the Circuit Court’s judgment of conviction and sentences were reinstated and affirmed. View "Carothers v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Following the Supreme Court’s reversal and remand of Harvey Williams' murder conviction, the Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith sought an order of nolle prosequi, which the circuit court granted. Two days later, and without notice to the accused, the judge sought to vacate his previously entered nolle prosequi order, “recuse” the district attorney, and transfer the case to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. A second circuit court judge found that the order of nolle prosequi was not subject to recision, but appointed the Attorney General’s Office as a special prosecutor in the place of the local district attorney, merely because the duly elected and serving local prosecutor had exercised his discretion not to prosecute Williams. The Supreme Court found that the involuntary disqualification of the local district attorney and the substitution of the Office of the Attorney General, over the objection of the local district attorney, were wholly unsupported by any constitutional, common law, or statutory authority of the State of Mississippi, and as such, reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Williams v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

In 2000, a grand jury indicted Rebecca Hentz for one count of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and two counts of attempt to manufacture methamphetamine. Hentz pleaded guilty to one count of attempt to manufacture methamphetamine. The circuit court sentenced Hentz to thirty years, suspended, unsupervised probation, and a $5,000 fine. In 2012, Governor Haley Barbour granted Hentz a “full, complete, and unconditional pardon” for the attempt-to-manufacture-methamphetamine conviction. Later that year, Hentz filed a Motion to Expunge Record, claiming that the records of her conviction should be expunged because she had received a pardon. In 2013, Hentz filed an Amended Motion to Expunge Record, which included additional support for the contention that the records of her conviction should be expunged. The trial court denied her motion. Hentz then appealed to the Supreme Court, raising one issue on appeal: whether a convicted felon may have her criminal record expunged after receiving an executive pardon. Because there was no statutory authority in Mississippi for the courts to order an expungement under these circumstances, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s order denying the request for expungement. View "Hentz v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

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