Connell v. State ex rel. Mississippi Department of Corrections

841 So. 2d 1127, 2003 Miss. LEXIS 147, 2003 WL 1747595
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 2003
DocketNo. 2002-CA-00135-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 841 So. 2d 1127 (Connell v. State ex rel. Mississippi Department of Corrections) 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
Connell v. State ex rel. Mississippi Department of Corrections, 841 So. 2d 1127, 2003 Miss. LEXIS 147, 2003 WL 1747595 (Mich. 2003).

Opinion

WALLER, JUSTICE,

FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. Stella G. Connell sued the State of Mississippi, acting through the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the State Parole Board, under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA), Miss.Code Ann. §§ 11-46-1 to -23 (Rev.2002), for damages sustained when she was raped by Michael M. Adams, a parolee accepted into Mississippi for supervision from the Illinois Department of Corrections. The Lafayette County Circuit Court entered summary judgment in favor of the State. Connell appeals, arguing that her notice of claim was filed prior to the expiration of the MTCA’s one-year statute of limitations and that there can be no discretionary immunity under Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-9(l)(d) for the State where it improperly accepted Adams for parole and its parole officers failed to properly supervise Adams.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Michael M. Adams’s sordid criminal past makes his release by Illinois perplexing and something with which Connell takes great issue. Adams was first accused on September 13, 1990, of stalking a University of Mississippi student for about one year from September of 1989. On August 21, 1990, Adams allegedly raped another University of Mississippi student. The Lafayette County Circuit Court docket indicated that Adams had been bound over to the grand jury; however, he fled Mississippi and was never tried. The case was subsequently retired to the files on May 13,1996.

¶ 3. Adams had fled to Illinois where he was arrested for theft on June 15, 1991, and aggravated assault on June 25, 1991. On October 26, 1992, he was subsequently sentenced to six years for attempted robbery and burglary. Also, on October 29, 1992, he was sentenced to fourteen years per count to run concurrently for one count of home invasion and two counts of attempted aggravated sexual assault.

¶ 4. The incident leading to the conviction for home invasion and attempted aggravated sexual assault occurred on October 21, 1991, when Adams forced his way into a woman’s apartment and attempted to sexually assault her. The woman struck Adams in the head with an ashtray causing him to bleed and thereafter flee the scene. Fingerprint evidence obtained from the scene linked Adams to the incident.

¶ 5. In reports submitted after each of Adams’s two convictions, two assistant state’s attorneys from Cook County, Illinois, recommended that Adams should be incarcerated as long as possible given his propensity for preying on young women. They also recommended that “[a]ny early release would be highly objectionable.”

¶ 6. Adams was, however, considered for parole in July of 1998. He indicated that he would reside with his grandmother in Maple Park, Illinois, but she refused to take him into her home because there were minor girls living with her.

¶ 7. On July 14, 1998, Adams filed for release to reside with his parents in Etta, Mississippi, and had secured a job waiting for him upon his return to Mississippi. Initially, the Mississippi Department of Corrections refused to accept Adams because his transfer request had been sent to the wrong county. Adams’s request was thereafter sent to the correct field office and was accepted by Field Officer Stephen Smith via a Reply to Compact Investigation Request on September 16,1998.

¶ 8. Both Mississippi and Illinois are signatories to the Uniform Act for Oul^of-State Parolee Supervision. See Miss.Code Ann. § 47-7-71 (Rev.2000). Known as the [1130]*1130“Compact,” signatories thereto basically agree that the “receiving state” will assume supervisory responsibilities over parolees and probationers released from the “sending state.” It provides in pertinent part:

The contracting states solemnly agree:
(1) That it shall be competent for the duly constituted judicial and administrative authorities of a state party to this compact (herein called “sending state”), to permit any person convicted of an offense within such state and placed on probation or released on parole to reside in any other state party to this compact (herein called “receiving state”), while on probation or parole, if
(a) Such person is in fact a resident of or has family residing within the receiving state and can obtain employment there;
(b) Though not a resident of the receiving state and not having his family residing there, the receiving state consents to such person being sent there.
Before granting such permission, opportunity shall be granted to the receiving state to investigate the home and prospective employment of such person.
A resident of the receiving state, within the meaning of this section, is one who has been an actual inhabitant of such state continuously for more than one (1) year prior to his coming to the sending state and has not resided within the sending state more than six (6) continuous months immediately preceding the commission of the offense for which he has been convicted.
(2) That each receiving state will assume the duties of visitation of and supervision over probationers or parolees of any sending state and in the exercise of those duties will be governed by the same standards that prevail for its own probationers and parolees.

Miss.Code Ann. § 47-7-71 (Rev.2000).

¶ 9. Adams was released from the Illinois prison system on October 11, 1998, with instructions to report to MDOC within 72 hours. The reporting instructions specifically stated that any failure to comply would be considered a violation of his release agreement and a warrant could be issued for Adams’s arrest.

¶ 10. It was not until December 16, 1998, nearly two months after Adams had been released from Illinois custody that he reported to Field Officer Smith in Mississippi. Smith never attempted to revoke Adams’s parole or seek to have a warrant issued for his arrest. Instead, in reviewing Adams’s paperwork, Smith classed Adams as needing “intensive supervision” which consisted of at least one home visit, one office visit, and two “collateral” visits1 per month. Adams reported for his first office visit on January 20, 1999. Six days later on January 26, 1999, he raped Stella Connell at her Oxford home and was subsequently indicted, tried, and convicted of rape.

¶ 11. Connell filed a notice of claim with the Attorney General of Mississippi pursuant to the MTCA on January 25, 2000, one day shy of the one-year statute of limitations. She subsequently filed suit against [1131]*1131the State of Mississippi, acting through the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the State Parole Board on May 1, 2000, within 95 days of her filing of her notice of claim. See Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-11.

¶ 12.

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

Related

Gray Ex Rel. Rudd v. Beverly Enterprises-Mississippi, Inc.
261 F. Supp. 2d 652 (S.D. Mississippi, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
841 So. 2d 1127, 2003 Miss. LEXIS 147, 2003 WL 1747595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connell-v-state-ex-rel-mississippi-department-of-corrections-miss-2003.