Burney v. State

515 So. 2d 1154, 1987 WL 3599
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1987
Docket57078
StatusPublished
Cited by72 cases

This text of 515 So. 2d 1154 (Burney 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
Burney v. State, 515 So. 2d 1154, 1987 WL 3599 (Mich. 1987).

Opinion

515 So.2d 1154 (1987)

William E. BURNEY
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 57078.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 18, 1987.
Rehearing Denied December 9, 1987.

*1155 Cleve McDowell, Drew, for appellant.

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Deirdre D. McCrory, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

En Banc.

DAN M. LEE, Presiding Justice, for the Court.

William E. Burney was indicted on January 24, 1983, by a Yalobusha County grand jury for attempted armed robbery and for burglary of an inhabited dwelling with a deadly weapon. Mr. Burney was tried and convicted on those charges in August 1983. These convictions were later vacated.

On August 2, 1984, Mr. Burney was retried for the offense of attempted armed robbery and burglary of an inhabited dwelling with a deadly weapon. Those cases were consolidated for trial. The jury found Mr. Burney guilty of both charges and fixed his punishment at life imprisonment for the attempted armed robbery. After conducting a bifurcated sentencing hearing on the burglary charge, the court sentenced Mr. Burney for a term of 20 years in prison, such sentence to run consecutively to the life term imposed by the jury on the armed robbery conviction. Mr. Burney appeals from that lower court judgment and assigns ten errors.

We affirm.

FACTS

On October 11, 1982, Herman White and his wife, Lillian, were at their home at 216 South Main Street, Water Valley. About 7:00 o'clock that evening Mr. White went to the front door in response to the bell. Mr. White turned on the porch light, opened the curtain, and observed "a large young man" dressed in a suit. At that time the door was chained. Mr. White "opened the door the length of the chain" and asked the man, "What do you want?"

Mr. Burney asked Mr. White whether he knew Harvey Harris; Mr. White replied that he had known Mr. Harris all his life. At that point Mr. Burney asked Mr. White if he would like to buy some insurance. Mr. White responded that his age and his *1156 health precluded his obtaining insurance but Mr. Burney persisted. After several exchanges Mr. White started to push the door shut, but Mr. Burney pulled a gun and knocked the chain loose.

Mrs. White had come to the door during the earlier dialogue, and when Mr. Burney started pushing against the door both of the Whites fell against it. However, Mr. Burney entered the house, pushed the gun into Mr. White's chest and demanded $3,000. At that point Mrs. White tried to grab Mr. Burney by the throat. She then ran from the house, screaming for help.

Mr. Burney continued to thrust the gun at Mr. White and demand $3,000 until Mr. White observed through the curtained window that people were beginning to gather at the front door. At that point Mr. Burney wanted Mr. White to take him to where they could get $3,000, turned around and he, too, saw these people gathering at the front door. Mr. Burney handed Mr. White his gun, saying "Take the gun." "It's the police," and that from there on the police took over.

Mr. Burney's explanation of these events is that he had gone to Mr. White on advice of a friend to ask for a second job (Mr. Burney was employed at the time) to help clear away some of his debts. He offered to sell Mr. White insurance as a way to open the conversation. When Mrs. White entered the room, she misunderstood the situation, became frightened and, according to Mr. Burney, grabbed him by the throat. Mr. Burney became frightened and pulled his gun, a gun he claims to always carry. After Mrs. White ran from the house, Mr. Burney handed the gun to Mr. White, apologized for the misunderstanding, and waited on the porch for the police to arrive.

I.

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE IMPROPER CONSOLIDATION OF THE SEPARATE INDICTMENTS FOR TRIAL.

Mr. Burney was charged with two separate offenses, each carrying different penalties and each consisting of different elements. Mr. Burney contends that under Stinson v. State, 443 So.2d 869 (Miss. 1983) and its progeny, the trial court erred in allowing consolidation of these two offenses at trial. Stinson, however, deals with the problem of multi-count indictments, which this Court has repeatedly prohibited. See also Brock v. State, 483 So.2d 358 (Miss. 1986); Thomas v. State, 474 So.2d 604 (Miss. 1985); Johnson v. State, 452 So.2d 850 (Miss. 1984); Bennett v. State, 451 So.2d 727 (Miss. 1984); Friday v. State, 462 So.2d 336 (Miss. 1985). Mr. Burney was not indicted by multi-count indictment, but, rather, with two separate indictments. The Stinson line of cases is inapplicable here.

Furthermore, Mr. Burney requested that these two offenses be consolidated for trial. The state correctly argues that Ward v. State, 461 So.2d 724 (Miss. 1984) controls this situation:

We recognize that there is no error in consolidating for trial separate and distinct indictable offenses where the defendant has so requested.

Ward at 726. This Court finds that this assignment of error without merit.

II.

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING IMPROPER AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL CLOSING ARGUMENTS AND REMARKS BY THE PROSECUTOR.

Mr. Burney contends that the prosecuting attorney made many improper remarks in closing argument. He cites 12 specific remarks as being particularly prejudicial. Most of these remarks refer to either a personal friendship between the prosecutor and the victim, a personal attack on defense counsel, a personal belief in defendant's guilt, or a statement that defendant lied to keep from going to the penitentiary. Defense counsel made no objection throughout the closing argument, but did object in his motion for a new trial. In Johnson v. State, 477 So.2d 196, 208-209 (Miss. 1985), this Court addressed similar remarks made by the prosecutor in closing argument. In Johnson, defense *1157 counsel did not make contemporaneous objection to the remarks, but waited until the close of the argument to make objections for the record. Id. at 207, 210. This Court observed:

[T]he state and defense counsel should be given wide latitude in their argument to the jury... . Courts should be very careful in limiting the free play of ideas, imagery and personalities of counsel in their argument to a jury.

Id. at 209. The Court further stated:

We next observe it is the duty of a trial counsel, if he deems opposing counsel overstepping the wide range of authorized argument, to promptly make objection and insist upon a ruling by the trial court... . If the argument is improper and the objection is sustained, it is the further duty of trial counsel to move for a mistrial.

Id. at 210. Clearly, these observations by the Court apply equally as well to Mr. Burney's case.

Therefore, the Court finds that this assignment of error is without merit.

III.

THE TRIAL COUNSEL OF RECORD RENDERED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE IN THE TRIAL.

Mr. Burney alleges that because the lower court failed to grant his ore tenus motion for appointment of substitute counsel on the grounds that counsel was inadequately prepared for trial, the defendant became uncooperative and did not effectively assist counsel in the preparation and presentation of his defense. It seems an untenable proposition to this Court to base a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel upon the defendant's uncooperativeness. Mr.

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

Related

Hataway v. Dabney
69 So. 3d 71 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
BLUEWATER LOGISTICS, LLC v. Williford
55 So. 3d 177 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Hill v. State
4 So. 3d 1063 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Mississippi Dept. of Mental Health v. Hall
936 So. 2d 917 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2006)
Jones v. State
962 So. 2d 571 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
In the Interest of A.J.M.
911 So. 2d 576 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Dillard's, Inc. v. Scott
908 So. 2d 93 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Minor v. City of Indianola
909 So. 2d 146 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Baldwin v. State
923 So. 2d 218 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
J.N.W.E. v. W.D.W.
922 So. 2d 12 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Holbrook v. State
877 So. 2d 525 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)
Powers v. State
883 So. 2d 20 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Brown v. State
875 So. 2d 214 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2003)
Schuck v. State
865 So. 2d 1111 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Stephanie K. Stephens v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003
SUTHERLANDS LUMBER & HOME v. Whittington
878 So. 2d 80 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2003)
McGleachie v. State
840 So. 2d 108 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
The Interest of S.A.M.
826 So. 2d 1266 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Oakwood Homes Corp. v. Randall
824 So. 2d 1292 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Baron L. Easter v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
515 So. 2d 1154, 1987 WL 3599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burney-v-state-miss-1987.