Clayton v. State

759 So. 2d 1169, 1999 WL 1126585
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1999
Docket97-CT-00773-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 759 So. 2d 1169 (Clayton 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
Clayton v. State, 759 So. 2d 1169, 1999 WL 1126585 (Mich. 1999).

Opinion

759 So.2d 1169 (1999)

Thomas Alexander CLAYTON
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 97-CT-00773-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 9, 1999.

*1170 Thomas Clayton, Appellant, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, Attorney for Appellee.

EN BANC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

MILLS, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Thomas Clayton was convicted of robbery and sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections with seven years suspended. On direct appeal he argued several issues relating to the weight and sufficiency of the evidence, jury instructions, and suppression of identification testimony. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and Clayton's petition for writ of certiorari was granted. Because the State failed to prove the indictment as laid, we reverse and remand for sentencing on the lesser-included offense of grand larceny.

FACTS

¶ 2. On January 10, 1997, Geneelan Lott drove eighty-four year old Lauree Lott Gray to the Piggly-Wiggly Grocery Store in Winona, Mississippi. As Gray was walking to the store, Clayton allegedly grabbed her purse. Ms. Lott ran over to keep Gray from falling, and as she looked around, she saw someone who she later identified as Clayton jump into the passenger seat of a car. The ladies called the police from the Piggly Wiggly and subsequently went to the police station.

¶ 3. A few minutes later, Johnny Hargrove, the Chief of Police for the City of Winona, observed a vehicle run a traffic signal near the Piggly Wiggly. Chief Hargrove pulled the car over and searched the car. Gray's purse was found behind the driver's seat of the vehicle, while the contents of the purse were found on the floorboard of the passenger's seat where Clayton was riding.

¶ 4. Clayton was subsequently charged with and convicted of robbery. He appealed, and his case was assigned to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, and subsequently denied his motion for rehearing. He then filed a petition for writ of certiorari which we granted.

ANALYSIS

¶ 5. Clayton first argues that there was no evidence that the robbery was effectuated through fear of immediate injury to the victim. A review of the record shows that Clayton is correct. At trial the victim, Gray, testified on direct examination as follows:

Q. As you began to walk to the store, did anything unusual happen to you?
A. Yeah. I had my back turned, and all of a sudden something grabbed my arm and almost pulled it off.
Q. What did it feel like?
A. Well, of course, I have never been struck by lightning, but I imagine that's what it felt like.
Q. Okay, was it—
A. I had my handbag on this arm, so he grabbed my handbag, and I felt *1171 like it almost pulled my shoulder out. It bruised my arm. It broke the handle on my handbag. There was a metal ring that the handle was in. It straightened that metal handle.
Q. Ms. Gray, when you felt what you have described as being struck by lightning, when you felt that, how did you feel?
A. I couldn't believe it. I had to live a long time for something like that to happen.
Q. And what was your emotion? How did you feel?
A. Well, by that time I was struggling to stand up. I was about to fall. My sister-in-law had got to me because she thought I was falling. And I said to her, I said, "He got my handbag. Get his license number." Well, of course, I was headed this way, and he was going that way to get into his car.
Q. And I want—I know this happened quickly, but I would like to go back to the point when you felt the tug or the pain in your arm. Describe how that felt.
A. Well, it was, it was real painful, and I still have trouble with my shoulder because it was almost dislocated.
Q. How, did you feel besides the pain? What was your emotion at the time? What were your concerns?
A. I was scared to death.
Q. And why were you scared, Ms. Gray?
A. Well, he had got my bag and was leaving, and I was afraid I was going to fall, and my doctor has told me that I have osteoporosis and for me not to fall. I will be sure and break a bone, so that is the reason I was fighting so much to stand up. And if it hadn't been for my sister-in-law, I would have hit the concrete.

¶ 6. On cross examination, Gray testified as follows:

Q. Now up until the point that the purse was taken, did you experience any anxiety or shock or anything like that?
A. Up until the point the purse was taken?
Q. Yes, ma'am.
A. I don't understand what you mean by that.
Q. Well, everything was going along okay until the purse was taken, is that correct?
A. Yeah, as far as I know.
Q. And then after the purse was taken is when you experienced these emotions that you spoke of earlier.
A. Yeah.
Q. Is that correct?
A. I broke out into a tremble and had to hold my hands to keep me from shaking.
Q. Yes, ma'am. The person who took your purse, did that person say anything?
A. No. I didn't hear it.

¶ 7. The elements of the crime of robbery are found in Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-73 (1994) which provides:

Every person who shall feloniously take the personal property of another, in his presence or from his person and against his will, by violence to his person or by putting such person in fear of some immediate injury to his person, shall be guilty of robbery.

(emphasis added). There is no doubt that the State proved Gray's purse was taken from her by violence; however the indictment only alleged the taking occurred by placing her in fear of immediate injury to her person, not by violence. The indictment in this case in pertinent part reads as follows:

Thomas Alexander Clayton late of Montgomery County, Mississippi, on or about the 10th day of January, 1997, in the *1172 county and state aforesaid and within the jurisdiction of the Court, did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take a black purse and its contents, the personal property of Lauree Lott Gray, against the will of and from the presence of the said Lauree Lott Gray, by putting the said Lauree Lott Gray in fear of immediate injury to her person, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi.

¶ 8. Therefore in order to prove robbery, the State must have shown that Clayton took some action which was intended by him to intimidate or cause fear in the victim, Gray. Register v. State, 232 Miss. 128, 132-33, 97 So.2d 919, 921-22 (1957). In Register we held:

If force is relied on in proof of the charge, it must be the force by which another is deprived of, and the offender gains, the possession. If putting in fear is relied on, it must be the fear under duress of which the possession is parted with.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
759 So. 2d 1169, 1999 WL 1126585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clayton-v-state-miss-1999.