Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2011, the New Albany Police Department received a report that shots had been fired in the vicinity of Madison Street, Garfield Street, or Hayes Street. The Union County prosecuting attorney filed a petition alleging that S.S. should be adjudicated a delinquent child for resisting arrest following his detention at the scene of the shooting by the responding police officers. The Court of Appeals affirmed the Union County Youth Court’s adjudication of thirteen-year-old S.S. as a delinquent for resisting arrest, and the Supreme Court granted S.S.’s petition for certiorari. After review, the Court found no error in the Court of Appeals’ conclusion, and affirmed. View "In the Interest of S.M.K.S. v. Youth Court of Union County" on Justia Law

Over thirty years ago, Richard Chunn pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana. That conviction did not prevent him from pursuing his twenty-plus-year career as a licensed bail-bond agent. Then, in 2011, the Legislature amended Section 83-39-3 of the Mississippi Code by adding a provision that prohibits all felons (regardless of the nature and dates of the offenses) from obtaining or renewing a bail-agent license. When the Mississippi Department of Insurance refused to renew his license, Chunn challenged the constitutionality of the statute by appealing to the Circuit Court, which affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded, finding the statute violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. View "Chunn v. Mississippi, Ex Rel. Mississippi Department of Insurance" on Justia Law

The City of Horn Lake contracted with Phillips Construction Company and its owner Michael Phillips to work on a sewer project. Two employees of Phillips, Bertram Hill and David Mooneyhan, were working near the bottom of a trench that was seventeen feet deep when the walls of the trench suddenly collapsed. Mooneyhan was killed, and Hill was injured. Mooneyhan's beneficiaries and Hill (collectively "Plaintiffs") sued the City for Phillips' negligence under respondeat superior and also alleged that the City had negligently hired Phillips. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the City. Plaintiffs appealed. Finding that the City only acted in a supervisory role over the project, the Supreme Court concluded that was not enough to trigger a master-servant relationship for the elements of respondeat superior. The Court found that the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City was proper, and therefore affirmed the judgment. View "Hill v. City of Horn Lake" on Justia Law

Richard Bowlin's daughter Ashley Matthews offered to act as an undercover informant for police to purchase drugs from her father. When Matthews arrived at Bowlin's home, she went into his house, where he sold her four bags of pills for the two hundred dollars she had been provided. Matthews left and returned to the location where she had been fitted with the recording equipment. Bowlin left his house after the transaction was complete, and agents arrested him at a nearby store. The twenty-dollar bills that MBN agents had provided Matthews were found by the arresting officers in Bowlin's billfold. Bowlin was convicted of three counts of sale or transfer of a controlled substance. He was sentenced as an habitual offender to three concurrent thirty-year sentences without the possibility of parole and fined $1 million for each count. Bowlin's appellate counsel filed a brief pursuant to "Lindsey v. Mississippi" certifying that he has reviewed the record and found no arguments to raise on appeal. Bowlin filed his own pro se brief, raising several issues related to the alleged ineffectiveness of his trial and appellate counsel. The Supreme Court, after its review of the record, found no merit to Bowlin's claims of error, and affirmed his convictions and sentences. View "Bowlin v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether The Hotboxxx, LLC, has standing to bring suit challenging the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance passed by the City of Gulfport. Hotboxxx, an adult entertainment retailer, claimed that the chancery court erred by finding it had submitted an invalid privilege license application and that, regardless of the invalid license application, it had standing to sue. The City of Gulfport contended the application was incomplete and invalid; therefore, Hotboxxx did not have standing. Because Hotboxxx did not properly file an application and because Hotboxxx’s commercial property lease was therefore void, the Supreme Court held that Hotboxxx indeed lacked standing. Thus, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the chancery court's judgment. View "The Hotboxxx, LLC v. City of Gulfport" on Justia Law

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

Tallahatchie General Hospital moved to dismiss a medical malpractice claim filed against it because the plaintiffs failed to provide it with proper presuit notice before the expiration of the one-year statute of limitations. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the filing of the complaint tolled the statute of limitations, despite the plaintiffs’ failure to provide proper presuit notice. Finding no reversible error to the trial court's judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Tallahatchie General Hospital v. Howe" 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

Democratic candidate Bobbie Miller successfully challenged independent incumbent Dimp Powell for the office of mayor of Isola. Prior to the election, the Municipal Election Commission of Isola approved the placement of Miller’s name on the ballot despite the fact that a Democratic Municipal Executive Committee was not in existence by the time of the qualifying deadline for candidates. Powell challenged the Election Commission’s decision in circuit court via a writ of mandamus, requesting the court to order the Commission not to place Miller’s name on the ballot or, in the alternative, to order that any votes cast for Miller not be counted. After an emergency evidentiary hearing, held the week prior to the election, the court denied relief. Powell appealed. The Mississippi Supreme Court held that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction to hear Powell’s challenge via a writ of mandamus. The appropriate procedural mechanism for challenging the decision of a municipal authority was through a bill of exceptions under Mississippi Code Section 11-51-75. The Court affirmed the outcome of the circuit court’s holding. Because the Court affirmed on jurisdictional grounds, it did not reach the merits of whether Miller’s name should not have been permitted on the ballot when there was no Democratic Municipal Executive Committee in existence at the time of the qualifying deadline. View "Powell v. Municipal Election Comm'n Town of Isola" on Justia Law