Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

James Brent was tried by jury and convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping, and he was sentenced to serve two concurrent life sentences as a violent habitual offender under Mississippi Code Section 99- 19-83 (Rev. 2015). Brent appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Brent’s appellate counsel filed a "Lindsey" brief, certifying no arguable issues existed in the record. Brent himself filed a supplemental pro se brief, arguing: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support each of his convictions; (2) his retrial subjected him to double jeopardy; (3) a jury instruction effectively modified an essential element of armed robbery; and (4) the State’s evidence was insufficient to prove his status as a violent habitual offender under Section 99-19-83. Finding no arguable issues from the record, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed conviction and sentence. View "Brent v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The issue presented for the Mississippi Supreme Court’s review involved the first-to-file rule. Most of the claims were properly transferred, but all parties to this appeal agreed it was error to transfer the claims against two of the defendants, Michele Biegel and Bettie Johnson. The underlying controversy was a fee dispute between attorneys Seth Little, Barry Wade Gilmer, and Chuck McRae. McRae sued Gilmer in the Hinds County Chancery Court, claiming unjust enrichment and seeking an accounting. Gilmer later filed this suit in the Madison County Circuit Court against McRae’s attorneys in the fee dispute, Michele Biegel and Bettie Ruth Johnson. Biegel and Johnson filed a special entry of appearance and a motion to dismiss the complaint against them. McRae requested that the claims against him be transferred to Hinds Chancery Court, in which McRae previously filed suit against Gilmer. The Madison County Circuit Court ordered the entire suit, including claims against Biegel and Johnson, transferred, and denied Biegel and Johnson’s motion to reconsider. The Supreme Court concurred the transfer of the entire case was made in error, and therefore reversed transfer of claims from the Madison County Circuit Court to the Hinds County court. View "Biegel v. Gilmer" on Justia Law

In March 2015, James White was shot and killed in Brad Reed’s house in Clay County, Mississippi. A jury ultimately found Johnson guilty of first-degree murder, and the trial court sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment. At the close of the State’s case-in-chief, Johnson unsuccessfully moved for a directed verdict challenging the sufficiency of the State’s evidence. Johnson filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, a new trial. The trial court denied that motion too. On appeal, Johnson argued: (1) the trial court erred by denying his motion challenging the sufficiency of the evidence; (2) the trial court erroneously instructed the jury; (3) his grand jury indictment was improper; and (4) his jury verdict form was erroneous. After review, the Mississippi Supreme Court found sufficient evidence was presented to support Johnson’s murder conviction; the indictment sufficiently notified Johnson of the charged crime, and the jury was properly instructed. Accordingly, Johnson’s conviction and sentence were affirmed. View "Johnson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Poplarville School District and Pearl River County sought to undo the July 1, 2018 consolidation of the Lumberton Public School District and the Lamar County School District. In 2016, the Mississippi Legislature adopted Senate Bill 2500, which, after being signed into law, was codified as Mississippi Code Section 37-7-104.5, the purpose of which was to administratively dissolve, consolidate, and split the Lumberton Public School District at the Lamar and Pearl River County line. The statute created the Commission on the Administrative Consolidation of the Lumberton Public Schools to work in conjunction with the Mississippi State Board of Education to accomplish the consolidation goal. However, Poplarville School District contended that instead of following the directive of Section 37-7-104.5, the Commission dissolved the Lumberton School District and consolidated all of it, to include the students who reside in Pearl River County, into the Lamar County School District. The Mississippi Supreme Court determined the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors was a “person aggrieved” for purposes of Section 37-7-115, publication was not necessary pursuant to Section 37-7-115, and Section 37-7-115 was an exclusive remedy. Furthermore, the Court held the chancery court did not err by finding that the appeal was untimely filed pursuant to Section 37-7-115, and affirmed the chancery court's decision. View "Pearl River County Board of Supervisors v. Mississippi State Board of Education" on Justia Law

An investigation into the Hattiesburg municipal court system led to several local news stories. One online story posted a copy of the police department’s internal-affairs investigative report of the court system, which the media outlet obtained from a city councilman. Attached to this report was a copy of municipal court clerk Sharon Mark’s medical-leave form. The form indicated Mark had asked for leave to undergo breast-cancer surgery. Aggrieved by public disclosure of her medical condition, Mark sued the mayor and five city council members for invasion of privacy. To get around the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, Mark asserted that the mayor and city council members were individually liable because they had acted with malice. But at trial, the evidence showed the disclosure of her medical- leave form was at most negligence. Because Mark failed to support her claim that the mayor and council members maliciously invaded her privacy, the Mississippi Supreme Court held the trial court did not err by granting these individual defendants a directed verdict. View "Mark v. City of Hattiesburg" on Justia Law

G4, LLC, entered into a lease in 2009 with the City of Picayune, Mississippi, for land on the grounds of the Picayune Municipal Airport. After the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors assessed ad valorem taxes on the leased land, G4 paid the taxes under protest and petitioned the Board for a refund and for a refund of taxes it had paid on lots in the Tin Hill subdivision. The Board denied G4’s petition, and G4 appealed to the Circuit Court of Pearl River County, which affirmed. G4 appealed, asserting that, according to the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision in Rankin County Board of Supervisors v. Lakeland Income Properties, LLC, 241 So. 3d 1279 (Miss. 2018), it was automatically exempt from paying ad valorem taxes on the airport property. The Supreme Court agreed, reversed and remanded the circuit court’s decision that affirmed the Board’s refusal to refund the airport property taxes. The Court affirmed the circuit court’s decision that G4 was not entitled to a refund of taxes paid on the Tin Hill subdivision lots. View "G4, LLC v. Pearl River County Board of Supervisors" on Justia Law

Carolyn Bowen Young had medical problems affecting her ability to make financial decisions, so a chancery court appointed a conservator over her estate. When Carolyn’s conservatorship no longer was necessary, the chancery court terminated the conservatorship by agreement of Carolyn’s husband, her sons, her conservator, and the guardian ad litem. But the judgment also made provisions for Carolyn’s funds to be retained in the registry of the court, an agreement to which Carolyn was not privy. Carolyn later requested release of the entirety of her funds, which the chancery court denied. Carolyn appealed, but died shortly after filing the appeal. Jim Young, Carolyn’s husband, filed, substituted himself as a party. The Mississippi Supreme Court found the chancery court erred by continuing to hold Carolyn’s funds in the registry of the court after the conservatorship was terminated. Furthermore, the Court found the chancery court abused its discretion by sua sponte ordering that the sons’ attorneys’ fees be paid out of Carolyn’s funds held in the registry of the court. Because Carolyn was deceased, issues on cross-appeal were moot. View "In the Matter of the Conservatorship of Carolyn Bowen Young" on Justia Law

Mark and Sylvia Barber divorced in 2008. The court awarded Mark Barber custody of the parties’ minor children. The trial court had appointed a guardian ad litem during the divorce proceedings to investigate allegations raised by Sylvia that Mark had abused their children. The chancellor, however, granted Mark’s motion to limit testimony of the guardian ad litem and to exclude a guardian ad litem report from evidence after finding Sylvia’s allegations of child abuse to be unsubstantiated. On appeal, Sylvia argued the trial court abused its discretion by not allowing the guardian ad litem to testify, or by not admitting into evidence a guardian ad litem report. She contended the exclusion impermissibly prevented the guardian ad litem from completing its court-appointed role and precluded admission of relevant and required findings regarding the alleged abuse and the best interest of the children. Mark contended the trial court did not err because a chancellor had the authority and the discretion to expand or limit the guardian ad litem’s role, and he argued the guardian ad litem’s findings contained inadmissible hearsay. The Mississippi Supreme Court determined the trial court did not abuse its discretion by limiting the guardian ad litem’s participation. But because the appointment was mandatory, the chancellor was required at least to consider the guardian ad litem’s report and recommendations, but declined to do so. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the chancery court’s judgment, and remanded for the chancellor to make findings of fact and conclusions of law that take into consideration the guardian ad litem’s report and recommendations. View "Barber v. Barber" on Justia Law

Stephen Redmond appealed after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He argued he should have been granted a new trial because the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. After review, the Mississippi Supreme Court found the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying his motion, and affirmed. View "Redmond v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

James Ross was convicted by jury of three counts of sexual battery against two victims under the age of fourteen, and one count of statutory rape. After the verdict, Ross was sentenced to serve three concurrent thirty-year terms in prison for the sexual-battery convictions, and a consecutive terms of thirty years for the statutory-rape conviction, with five years suspended. Ross appealed, arguing: (1) the State failed to prove that the crimes occurred within a reasonable time frame of the dates alleged in the indictment; and (2) his trial was rendered unfair because the jury was informed that his codefendant, Canary Johnson, pled guilty to child neglect mid-trial. Ross alternatively argued his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for requesting that the jury be informed of Johnson’s guilty plea. Finding no reversible error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed convictions and sentences. View "Ross v. Mississippi" on Justia Law