Beasley v. State

803 So. 2d 1204, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 213, 2001 WL 570001
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 29, 2001
DocketNo. 1999-KA-00865-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 803 So. 2d 1204 (Beasley 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
Beasley v. State, 803 So. 2d 1204, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 213, 2001 WL 570001 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

CHANDLER, J.,

For the Court:

¶ 1. Terry Beasley was convicted by a jury of murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The Washington County Circuit Court imposed a life sentence on the murder charge and a three-year prison sentence on the firearm charge, with the sentences to run consecutively. Beasley appeals, citing the following grounds:

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING EITHER TO DECLARE A MISTRIAL OR TO TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION AFTER THE STATE ELICITED TESTIMONY FROM CAPTAIN DOYLE BARRETT IN VIOLATION OF THE RULES OF DISCOVERY;
II. WHETHER DEFENDANT WAS DENIED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL DUE TO COUNSEL’S FAILURE TO PROPERLY RESPOND WHEN PRESENTED WITH EVIDENCE INTRODUCED IN VIOLATION OF THE RULES OF DISCOVERY;
III. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN SUSTAINING THE STATE’S OBJECTION TO DEFENSE COUNSEL’S ATTEMPTED IMPEACHMENT OF STATE WITNESS FREDDIE ROBINSON;
IV. WHETHER THE VERDICT WAS SUFFICIENTLY SUPPORTED BY THE EVIDENCE.

Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶2. Mary Suddeth was shot and killed with a large caliber gun in her home at Hollandale Trailer Park, located on Old Highway 61 in Hollandale, Mississippi. Suddeth collected rent from the trailer park tenants for the landlord and owner, Larry Kaplan. Defendant Terry Beasley lived in Hollandale Trailer Park with his girlfriend Marie Pam.

¶ 3. There were no witnesses to the actual murder and no physical evidence connected Beasley to the crime. However, circumstantial evidence placed Beasley inside or near Suddeth’s trailer at the time of her death. Freddie Robinson testified that Beasley had asked him to drive him to Suddeth’s trailer so he could pay his rent. Robinson, who was initially arrested for the murder, testified that he drove Beasley to Suddeth’s trailer and that he waited in the car while Beasley went inside to pay his rent. Robinson testified that he heard a loud noise that he initially thought was lightening. When he heard another loud noise which he identified as a gunshot, he panicked and drove away, leaving Beasley inside the trailer. On his way out, Robinson almost crashed into an automobile driven by Ethel Stamps. Robinson did not report the gunshot to the authorities because he did not want to get involved. When Robinson was arrested for the crime, he told the police what he knew. The police dropped the charges against Robinson and arrested Beasley for the crime. Robinson was never indicted for Suddeth’s murder. Beasley was indicted for capital murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

¶ 4. Leon Vallery was traveling south on Old Highway 61 at about 3:15 to 3:30 p.m. on the day of the murder. He saw a dark colored car parked in Suddeth’s driveway. Vallery identified Robinson’s car, which the police had impounded, as the car he saw in the driveway. Vallery testified that he saw a large black man seated in the driver’s seat of the car. He reported seeing the car after he heard that Suddeth had been murdered. At trial, it was established that Freddie Robinson, who weighed about 300 pounds, is a large, black man. Beasley is not a large man.

[1207]*1207¶ 5. Willie Bethley testified that at about 3:00 p.m. on the day of the murder, he and his brother were traveling down Old Highway 61 when they saw Beasley briskly walking toward town. Bethley commented to his brother that he wondered why Beasley was in this part of town, walking down the road on a rainy and cloudy day. Later that day, Bethley drove by Suddeth’s trailer and saw police cars at the trailer. He told Hollandale Chief of Police, Green Townsend, about seeing Beasley in the vicinity that day at about 3:00 p.m.

¶ 6. Larry Kaplan, the trailer park owner, testified to Suddeth’s practice in collecting the rent from the tenants. Every month, Suddeth would write each tenant’s name in a receipt book along with a notation of how much rent was owed for that month. When the tenant paid the rent, Suddeth would then write down the amount paid and give a copy of the receipt to the tenant. Kaplan testified that Marie Pam had called the day of the murder and asked if she could begin paying rent on the tenth day of the month rather than the first day of the month. Kaplan consented as long as Pam agreed to pay a prorated amount of $80, and then pay the balance of that month’s rent on the tenth. Thereafter, Pam could pay the rent on the tenth day of every month. Kaplan called Sud-deth at about 2:30 p.m. on the day of the murder to inform her about this arrangement.

¶ 7. The police found the receipt book in Suddeth’s trailer during their investigation. They discovered a receipt, made out to Beasley, indicating that $80 had been paid. The “$80 paid” portion of the receipt had been written in black ink. The remainder of the receipt had been written in blue ink. Suddeth had written “5th month, 10th day to 6th month to 10th day” indicating that the rent was to cover the period from May 10 to June 10. The “Is” were written in blue ink and the “0s” were written in black ink. This indicated that Suddeth, whose practice was to write out the amount owed at the beginning of each month, added zeros to reflect that Pam’s rent would now be due on the tenth of each month rather than the first. Kaplan testified that Suddeth never marked an amount paid until the tenant was actually standing in her presence with the rent in hand. However, Kaplan admitted that since he did not actually see Suddeth write in the $80 amount paid, he could not be absolutely sure that she did not write in this amount when she conversed with him at 2:30 that day. Of course, the implication was that Beasley had obtained entry to Suddeth’s home on the day of the murder to pay the $80.

¶ 8. Kaplan testified to Suddeth’s practice when admitting people to her home. He stated that Suddeth would look out of her door to determine who was knocking. If she was acquainted with the person, she would open her door and admit the person into her home. She did not admit people she did not know into her home. Since Suddeth was acquainted with Beasley, Kaplan surmised that she would have allowed him into her home.

¶ 9. Kaplan testified that Marie Pam was his tenant and that Beasley, Pam’s boyfriend, lived with her. At about 5:00 p.m. on the day of the murder, Beasley called Kaplan and told him that Suddeth had been killed. Kaplan thought it was unusual that Beasley called because he barely knew Beasley and had only conversed with Beasley approximately two times before Beasley called about Suddeth’s demise.

¶ 10. Marie Pam found Suddeth’s body when she went to Suddeth’s home to pay the rent. Pam testified that when she told Beasley about finding Suddeth, Beasley acted nervous, “like he knew what she was talking about.” Pam testified at first that she saw Beasley at her mother’s house at [1208]*1208about 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. on the day of the murder and then did not see him again until about 6:00 p.m. that day. Then she testified that she saw him from the time she got to her mom’s house at about 12:30 to 1:00 until she left at 3:00 p.m. Pam saw Beasley for the last time on the day of the murder. They were no longer romantically involved at the time of trial.

¶ 11. Suddeth’s husband testified that on the night before his wife’s death, he had given Suddeth two $20 bills to hold until the weekend and that she had placed them in her billfold. The money was not in her billfold when her body was discovered.

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Related

Robinson v. State
858 So. 2d 887 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
803 So. 2d 1204, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 213, 2001 WL 570001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beasley-v-state-missctapp-2001.