Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Brandon Spiers was arrested on charges of burglary of a dwelling and attempted sexual battery. He was convicted on both charges. Spiers was sentenced to serve twenty-five years under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) for the burglary-of-a-dwelling conviction, and he was sentenced to thirty years under the supervision of MDOC for the attempted sexual battery conviction. The sentence for attempted sexual battery was ordered to run consecutively with the burglary-of-a-dwelling sentence. Spiers appealed arguing: (1) the trial court erred by granting a jury instruction requiring Spiers to prove the affirmative defense of consent by clear and convincing evidence; and (2) the State engaged in prosecutorial misconduct during its closing argument. Upon review of the record, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Spiers’s convictions. View "Spiers v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Amanda Bryant filed suit against State Farm Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) and its attorneys, Henley, Lotterhos & Henley, PLLC (HLH), claiming negligence, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress based on HLH’s actions in a prior subrogation claim. HLH argued in a Motion to Dismiss or, In the Alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment that it was not a proper party to this lawsuit because it was the legal representative of the adverse party in the prior subrogation matter. For this reason, HLH argued it did not owe a duty to Bryant that could give rise to tort liability. The trial court disagreed with HLH and denied its motion. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted HLH’s petition for interlocutory appeal. Based on caselaw, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s order and rendered judgment in favor of HLH. Because State Farm was still party to the action, the case was remanded to the trial court for continuation of the proceedings. View "Henley, Lotterhos & Henley, PLLC v. Bryant" on Justia Law

Jerry Beale was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to serve thirty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The Court of Appeals found no reversible error. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted certiorari because one of the issues raised by Beale had never been addressed by the Court: that his indictment was defective because it lacked the essential element of an overt act. Beale further argued that the jury instructions constructively amended the indictment. The Supreme Court found that Beale’s indictment correctly stated the necessary elements of attempted murder. Furthermore, the Court found that jury instructions 8 and 9 did not constructively amend the indictment. View "Beale v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Justin Anderson was convicted by jury of first degree murder for the killing of Michael McLendon. He was sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, Anderson challenged his conviction and sentence, arguing: (1) the trial court erred by denying his heat of passion jury instruction; (2) the trial court plainly erred by allowing his confession to be presented to the jury; and (3) that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Anderson’s conviction and sentence. View "Anderson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Kia Jones filed a letter of intent with the Mississippi Democratic Party to seek that party’s nomination for a seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives for District 64 on February 1, 2023. Shanda Yates filed a residency challenge to determine whether Jones qualified to seek office. Because Jones did not reside in the district for two years, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s decision disqualifying her. View "Jones v. Yates" on Justia Law

Amanda Gunasekara sought to run in the Republican primary election for Public Service Commissioner, District 3 (Northern District). Matthew Barton, a candidate for district attorney in Desoto County, challenged her qualifications to run for commissioner and, specifically, whether she had been a citizen of Mississippi for five years prior to the election date. The trial court found that Gunasekara had not met the citizenship requirement and disqualified her as a candidate. The Mississippi Supreme Court found that the trial court did not manifestly err by holding that Gunasekara failed to meet the residency requirements for the office of Public Service Commission. Therefore, it affirmed the circuit court's decision. View "Gunasekara v. Barton, et al." on Justia Law

Elmer Norwood appealed his conviction for aggravated domestic violence, claiming that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to introduce evidence that would have impacted his accuser’s credibility. Finding no merit to Norwood’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Norwood’s conviction. View "Norwood v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Todd and Rae Andreacchio sued Joel Wagner for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, invasion of privacy, and civil conspiracy. Wagner published portions of the investigative file of their son’s death on the internet. The Mississippi Supreme Court found the investigative file was clearly was a public record that was furnished to Wagner by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, making Wagner’s publication of portions of the file constitutionally protected. Because the Andreacchios based all their claims on Wagner’s publication of legally obtained public information, their complaint against him failed as a matter of law. The Supreme Court therefore reversed the trial court’s ruling denying Wagner’s motion to dismiss and rendered judgment in Wagner’s favor, dismissing all claims against him. View "Wagner v. Andreacchio" on Justia Law

James Hal Ross created a series of trusts prior to his death to benefit his wife, Suzanne Dickson Ross, and sons from a previous marriage. He left some personal effects to Suzanne in his will but bequeathed the remainder of his estate to the James Hal Ross Revocable Trust, created on November 28, 2000. The revocable trust specified that Ross and Suzanne were the beneficiaries during Ross’s lifetime but that, upon his death, its assets would be transferred to two different trusts. The will of Ross was probated, and the estate was closed on July 29, 2005. Eight years later in 2013, the Ross sons petitioned to reopen the estate due to “maladministration” by Suzanne, individually and as executrix, and to require an inventory and accounting of all Suzanne’s activities as executrix of the estate. The action was dismissed in 2014. In 2016, Matthew Ross, through his conservator, Roy Hal Parker Jr., filed a complaint alleging mismanagement of the trusts and the improper selling of trust property by Suzanne. The complaint later was amended to include as Plaintiffs Matthew’s other brothers. Defendants responded by filing or joining another Defendant’s motion to dismiss; alternatively, Defendants sought to transfer the case to the Rankin County Chancery Court. Venue was ultimately transferred and defendants' motion to dismiss was granted based on a general three year statute of limitations. The Court of Appeals agreed with the Ross sons that a ten year statute of limitations applied to some of their claims and ultimately reversed and remanded the case for the chancellor to determine which of the Ross sons’ causes of action dealt with mismanagement of the trusts and with the recovery of land. The Mississippi Supreme Court determined the Court of Appeals erred by ruling on issues not properly pled before the chancery court, so the chancellor's judgment as to the ten year statute of limitations was reinstated. However, the Supreme Court found the Ross sons did sufficiently raise genuine issues of material fact as to Matthew’s soundness of mind, so it affirmed the Court of Appeals in this respect, and remanded the case to the chancery court for further proceedings. View "Parker, et al. v. Ross, et al." on Justia Law

On April 7, 2020, Matthew Wallace was hired by the Centreville Police Department, located in the Town of Centreville, Mississippi. In 2021, Wallace was dispatched with a Town of Centreville certified police officer, to a scene involving multiple juveniles riding all-terrain vehicles in the town limits. An altercation occurred; at some point during the altercation, Wallace went to the patrol unit to retrieve the police-issued pepper spray. Upon returning to the scene, Wallace released the pepper spray. Sometime following the incident, one of the juveniles and his mother filed charges against Wallace for simple assault on a minor. The issue presented for the Mississippi Supreme Court's review centered around a probable cause hearing pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-3-28. Before the hearing, the State petitioned the circuit court to determine whether Wallace was entitled to a probable cause hearing, alleging Wallace was not a sworn law enforcement officer. At the hearing, the circuit determined that Wallace was not a sworn law enforcement officer and, therefore, was not entitled to a probable cause hearing. Wallace moved the circuit court for a probable cause hearing for the same underlying incident. The circuit court denied the motion, finding, again, that Wallace was not a sworn law enforcement officer and, therefore, was not entitled to a probable cause hearing under Section 99-3-28. Wallace appealed. The Supreme Court held that a law enforcement officer who is not certified pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 45-6-11(3)(a) is not entitled to a probable cause hearing under Mississippi Code Section 99-3-28(1)(a)(i). Further, the Court held Wallace was not entitled to a probable cause hearing under Section 99-3-28(1)(a)(i) because he was not a law enforcement officer as defined by Mississippi Code Section 45-6-3(c). View "Wallace v. Mississippi" on Justia Law