Albright v. State

832 So. 2d 1272, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 844, 2002 WL 31829722
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 17, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-KA-00837-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 832 So. 2d 1272 (Albright v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Albright v. State, 832 So. 2d 1272, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 844, 2002 WL 31829722 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

CHANDLER, J.,

for the court.

¶ 1. On March 28, 2001, Robert C. Al-bright, Jr. was found guilty of murder of his mother, ‘Tina Albright, and aggravated assault of his sister, Karen Albright. He was sentenced to serve life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corree-[1274]*1274tions for the murder, and ten years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for the aggravated assault, to run consecutively with the life sentence. Albright has appealed, and raises three assignments of error. Firstly, Albright argues that the trial court erred by admitting gruesome photographs because the photographs were more prejudicial than probative and inflamed the jury. Next, he argues the trial court should have granted his motion for a new trial because the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finally, he argues that the trial court should have granted his post trial motion requesting testing of Karen Albright’s clothes for traces of her mother’s blood.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Following are the facts consistent with the verdict. About 3:20 p.m. on the afternoon of April 13, 2000, Tina Albright picked up her children, Robert C. Albright, Jr. (Albright), fifteen, and Karen Albright, twelve, from school. Tina was driving her gold Ford Explorer. After running errands, they arrived home in Braxton around 4:00 p.m.

¶ 4. Inside, Tina told Albright to clean up his room and sent Karen to clean up the kitchen. When Karen finished in the kitchen, she went to the living room and started doing her homework at the coffee table. Tina was in the living room. Then Tina arose and went to a door leading into the garage, where she stood playing with the family dog.

¶ 5. At this point, Albright emerged from his room with a .22 caliber handgun in his left hand and began firing into the living room. He fired several shots in the direction of his mother. Karen looked up at Albright and he pointed the gun at her and fired once. She threw up her left hand and her class ring deflected the bullet, leaving her with a minor wound to the hand. Tina ran through the door, through the garage and into the driveway area. Karen crawled around the couch and saw Albright going through the garage door. Then, Karen ran out of the house through a back door.

¶ 6. Karen ran around the house to the front and saw Albright standing in the driveway in front of Tina. Albright was holding the handgun. Karen ran across the yard and into woods at the rear of the property. She stopped running, looked back and saw Albright in front of her mother with his arm raised. Karen turned away, and heard another shot that was louder than the others.

¶ 7. Karen ran through the woods and to a neighbor’s house. Karen told the neighbor that her brother had shot her and her mother, and the neighbor called 911. The police discovered the body of Tina Albright lying in a pool of blood near the driveway. The autopsy later revealed that she received a shot to the chest from a .22 caliber gun, and shots from a .410 gauge shotgun to the side of the left hip, and, fatally, to the hand and head.

¶ 8. Meanwhile, around 6:30 p.m., Al-bright entered Buddy’s convenience store in D’Lo and bought a drink. The store clerk noticed that he was driving a gold Explorer. Around 6:35 p.m., Wesley Red-mund noticed a gold Explorer with its flashers on parked on the north side of the Dabbs Creek bridge. Then, about 6:45 p.m., a neighbor saw Albright arrive at his house driving the gold Explorer.

¶ 9. The police found one intact and two expended shotgun shells outside the Al-[1275]*1275bright house. On 'April 19, the police searched Dabbs Creek. They discovered a .22 caliber handgun with expended shells inside, a .410 gauge shotgun, and intact .410 gauge shotgun shells in the water under the north side of the bridge. Al-bright’s father identified the guns as those that were kept in his son’s room before the murder. Ballistics testing disclosed that the weapons and casings were those used in the shooting of Tina Albright. After three or four days of investigation, the police viewed Albright as the sole suspect. They theorized that Albright followed his mother outside, discovered that the .22 was out of bullets, got the .410 from his room, and then went back outside and killed Tina Albright.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR BY ADMITTING PHOTOGRAPHS QF THE VICTIM THAT WERE MORE PREJUDICIAL THAN PROBATIVE AND INADMISSIBLE UNDER MISSISSIPPI RULE OF EVIDENCE 403?

¶ 10. Albright contends that the trial court improperly admitted nine Polaroid photographs of Tina Albright’s body. The photographs were taken by the pathologist, Dr. Steven Hayne, after the body had been cleaned. The photographs were close-ups of body parts that had received entry or exit wounds. At trial, Albright objected to admission of the photographs as more prejudicial than probative because they would inflame the jury. In an in camera hearing, Dr. Hayne testified that each photograph would be useful in providing a thorough explanation of the autopsy report during his testimony before the jury. Dr. Hayne testified that, while the pictures might provoke an uncomfortable reaction in a viewer, they would not be expected to provoke a severe visceral reaction. Based on this testimony, the court found that the photographs were not more prejudicial than probative and admissible under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 403.

¶ 11. This Court will reverse the trial court’s evidentiary ruling for abuse of discretion. Alexander v. State, 610 So.2d 320, 338 (Miss.1992). Regarding photographs, “the discretion of the trial judge runs -.toward almost unlimited admissibility regardless of the gruesomeness, repetitiveness, and the extenuation of probative value.” Brown v. State, 682 So.2d 340, 353 (Miss.1996) (quoting Hart v. State, 637 So.2d 1329, 1335 (Miss.1994)). However, gruesome photographs with no evidentiary value that only arouse the emotions of the jury are inadmissible. Sharp v. State, 446 So.2d 1008, 1009 (Miss.1984). “[photographs have evidentiary value when they: ‘(1) aid in describing- the circumstances of the killing and the corpus delicti; (2) where they describe the location of the body and cause of death; (3) where they supplement or clarify witness testimony.’ ” McGilberry v. State, 741 So.2d 894, 906 (Miss.1999) (quoting Westbrook v. State, 658 So.2d 847, 849 (Miss.1995)).

¶ 12. Applying these standards, we find the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the photographs of Tina Al-bright’s body. ■ The photographs were not particularly gruesome. The body had been cleaned and dried and there was very little blood. The photographs described the cause of death and supplemented and clarified Dr. Hayne’s testimony; therefore, they had evidentiary value. Tina Albright suffered multiple wounds, and the photographic depiction of the size, nature and location of the wounds was helpful to understanding how she was killed. The trial [1276]*1276court properly admitted the photographs. See Holly v. State, 671 So.2d 32, 41 (Miss.1996); Hart v. State, 637 So.2d 1329, 1334-36 (Miss.1994); Turner v. State, 573 So.2d 657, 667 (Miss.1990).

II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR BY DENYING ALBRIGHT’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL?

¶ 13.

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Related

Williams v. State
512 So. 2d 666 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1987)
McClain v. State
625 So. 2d 774 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1993)
Turner v. State
573 So. 2d 657 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1990)
Hart v. State
637 So. 2d 1329 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1994)
Westbrook v. State
658 So. 2d 847 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1995)
Robinson v. State
566 So. 2d 1240 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1990)
Holly v. State
671 So. 2d 32 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996)
Brown v. State
682 So. 2d 340 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996)
McLelland v. State
204 So. 2d 158 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1967)
Wetz v. State
503 So. 2d 803 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1987)
Alexander v. State
610 So. 2d 320 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1992)
Brewer v. State
819 So. 2d 1165 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)
Sharp v. State
446 So. 2d 1008 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
McGilberry v. State
741 So. 2d 894 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
832 So. 2d 1272, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 844, 2002 WL 31829722, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/albright-v-state-missctapp-2002.