Brown v. State

796 So. 2d 223, 2001 WL 812645
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 19, 2001
Docket2000-KA-00875-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 796 So. 2d 223 (Brown v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. State, 796 So. 2d 223, 2001 WL 812645 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

796 So.2d 223 (2001)

Kenny Markcol BROWN
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2000-KA-00875-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 19, 2001.
Rehearing Denied October 4, 2001.

*224 Ross R. Barnett, Jr., Jackson, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Dewitt T. Allred, III, Jackson, Attorney for Appellee.

Before McRAE, P.J., SMITH and MILLS, JJ.

SMITH, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Kenny Markcol Brown was convicted of both conspiracy to commit murder and murder and sentenced to serve concurrent sentences of twenty years' imprisonment and life imprisonment. Following the denial of his Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict or, in the alternative, Motion for New Trial, Brown appeals alleging that the evidence in the circuit court was insufficient to convict him. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS AND DISPOSITION BELOW

¶ 2. On August 21, 1996, Larry Donnell Simmons ("Simmons" a/k/a "Bam") was shot and killed on Ridgway Street in Jackson, Mississippi. Kenny Markcol Brown ("Brown" a/k/a "Little Kenny") was indicted, along with Willie James Holmes ("Holmes" a/k/a "Shorty") and Patrick O'Neal Gowdy ("Gowdy"), under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-1 (2000) for conspiracy to commit murder and under Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-19(1) for the murder of Simmons. Brown and Holmes were tried together in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County on February 8-10, 2000.

¶ 3. Testimony revealed that Simmons was seen walking down an alley behind a house on Ridgway Street. Two sisters, who were sitting on the porch of their aunt's house, testified that they heard shooting. When the shooting stopped, they saw Holmes and Brown come to the front of the house. They were both holding pistols in their hands and asking each *225 other "did you get him?" These sisters positively identified Brown in court.

¶ 4. Brown was convicted of both crimes and sentenced by the court to twenty years on the conspiracy charge and life on the murder charge, the sentences to run concurrently. Brown filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial. The motion was denied by the circuit court. Aggrieved by the judgment of the circuit court, Brown raises the following issue on appeal:

I. WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN DENYING APPELLANT'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL?
A. Whether the evidence provided by co-defendant, Willie Holmes, can support a conviction of murder or of conspiracy to commit murder.
B. Whether Kenny Brown knowingly entered into a common plan to kill Larry Simmons.

DISCUSSION

¶ 5. The denial of a motion for new trial implicates the weight of the evidence, while the denial of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict implicates the legal sufficiency of the evidence. May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984).

¶ 6. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, the standard of review is quite limited. Clayton v. State, 652 So.2d 720, 724 (Miss.1995). All of the evidence is to be considered in the light most consistent with the verdict. Id. The prosecution is given the benefit of "all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence." Id. This Court will not reverse unless the evidence with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged is such that reasonable and fairminded jurors could only find the accused not guilty. McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993).

¶ 7. A motion for a new trial asks us to vacate the jury's guilty verdict on grounds related to the weight, not the sufficiency, of the evidence presented at trial. May, 460 So.2d at 781. "We will not order a new trial unless convinced that the verdict is so contrary to the weight of the evidence that, to allow it to stand, would be to sanction an unconscionable injustice." Groseclose v. State, 440 So.2d 297, 300 (Miss.1983) (citing Pearson v. State, 428 So.2d 1361, 1364 (Miss.1983)).

I.

¶ 8. The only issue raised by Brown is whether the circuit court erred in denying his Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict or, in the alternative, a Motion for New Trial. In support of his contention that the circuit court was in error, Brown alleges that: (a) the evidence provided by co-defendant, Willie Holmes, was insufficient to support a conviction of murder or of conspiracy to commit murder, and (b) he did not knowingly enter into a common plan to kill Larry Simmons.

A. Whether the evidence provided by Willie Holmes supported a conviction of conspiracy to commit murder and murder?

¶ 9. Brown was convicted under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-1 for conspiracy to commit murder. This Court has defined conspiracy to be "a combination of two or more persons to accomplish an unlawful purpose or to accomplish a lawful purpose unlawfully, the persons agreeing in order to form the conspiracy. The offense is complete without showing an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy." Peoples v. *226 State, 501 So.2d 424, 428 (Miss.1987) (citing Norman v. State, 381 So.2d 1024 (Miss. 1980); Moore v. State, 290 So.2d 603 (Miss. 1974); Pickett v. State, 139 Miss. 529, 104 So. 358 (1925)).

¶ 10. Under § 97-1-1, two or more persons must agree to commit a crime in order for a conspiracy to exist. "The agreement need not be formal or express, but may be inferred from the circumstances, particularly by declarations, acts and conduct of the alleged conspirators." Barnes v. State, 493 So.2d 313, 315 (Miss. 1986) (citing Norman v. State, 381 So.2d 1024 (Miss.1980); Griffin v. State, 480 So.2d 1124 (Miss.1985)). In Davis v. State, 485 So.2d 1055, 1058 (Miss.1986), this Court also held that the existence of a conspiracy, and a defendant's membership in it, may be proven entirely by circumstantial evidence. Similarly, "there must be some evidence that a defendant has associated himself with the venture in some fashion, participated in it as something that he wished to bring about, or sought by his action to make it succeed." Id.

¶ 11. Based on the record before this Court, there was enough evidence before the jury to find Brown guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Brown argues that there was not enough evidence to convict him based on the testimony of Willie Holmes alone. Whether that be true or not, the jury considers all of the evidence and not just the testimony of one witness. The jury was presented with the following evidence for consideration:

(1) Delesia and Felicia Gordon, sisters, were sitting on the front porch of their cousin's house. Simmons walked up and spoke with the girls briefly. The girls then saw Simmons walk down the alley beside the house. They testified that they heard shooting coming from the alley. When the shooting stopped, the girls testified that Brown and Holmes came running to the front of the house. The sisters testified that both men had guns and were asking each other "did you get him?"

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Rex Distributing Company, Inc. v. Anheuser-Busch, LLC
271 So. 3d 445 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2019)
Dennis Thompson v. State of Mississippi
269 So. 3d 301 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2018)
Charlie Ricardo Grant v. State of Mississippi
198 So. 3d 400 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Natyyo Gray v. State of Mississippi
202 So. 3d 243 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2015)
Thomas Glynn Flynt v. State of Mississippi
183 So. 3d 1 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2015)
Joseph Ronald Hartfield v. State of Mississippi
161 So. 3d 125 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2015)
Beasley v. State
136 So. 3d 393 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2014)
Stokes v. State
141 So. 3d 421 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Graham v. State
120 So. 3d 382 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2013)
Cook v. Wallot
172 So. 3d 788 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Daniel Luther Beasley v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2012
Natasha Graham v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2012
Humphrey v. State
74 So. 3d 923 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
Anderson v. State
23 So. 3d 1087 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
McCallum v. State
996 So. 2d 189 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Vickers v. State
994 So. 2d 200 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Gallagher Bassett Services v. Jeffcoat
887 So. 2d 777 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2004)
Jones v. State
877 So. 2d 562 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
796 So. 2d 223, 2001 WL 812645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-state-miss-2001.