Cox v. State

813 So. 2d 742, 2001 WL 1155683
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 2, 2001
Docket2000-KA-00640-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 813 So. 2d 742 (Cox 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
Cox v. State, 813 So. 2d 742, 2001 WL 1155683 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

813 So.2d 742 (2001)

Willie Walter COX a/k/a Black, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2000-KA-00640-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 2, 2001.
Rehearing Denied March 26, 2002.

*744 Wesley Thomas Evans, Ridgeland, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, Attorney for Appellee.

Before KING, P.J., BRIDGES, and IRVING, JJ.

BRIDGES, J., for the court:

¶ 1. This case comes from the Circuit Court of Yazoo County, Honorable Jannie M. Lewis presiding. Willie Walter Cox was found guilty of the crimes of kidnapping and robbery by a jury of his peers. Cox now appeals to this Court bringing four issues:

1. WHETHER ADMISSION OF TAPE STATEMENTS CONSTITUTES REVERSIBLE ERROR BY THE LOWER COURT?
2. WHETHER THE COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT REFUSED TO GRANT A DIRECTED VERDICT?
*745 3. WHETHER INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL WAS RENDERED WHEN ATTORNEY FAILED TO FILE MOTION FOR DISCOVERY?
4. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT SHOULD HAVE GRANTED A MISTRIAL WHEN THE STATE REPEATEDLY MADE REFERENCES TO A RAPE AND MENTIONED AN ALLEGED RAPE DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS?

Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 2. On November 2, 1996, Elizabeth Branch, a resident of Columbus was visiting her father, Lawrence Branch, in Lexington, Mississippi. Elizabeth was eighteen years old, and had not seen Lawrence in several years, but the two of them had lately reconciled. Elizabeth was visiting so she could spend time with Lawrence, her little brother, and some other relatives she had not seen in some time. While there, she and Lawrence left his home to go and pick up her little brother from a friend's house. On the way to the friend's house, Lawrence stopped at a house. Lawrence told Elizabeth he had to pay the maid, but in actuality he was there to buy drugs. Lawrence told Elizabeth not to get out of the car and to wait for him there. During the trial, Lawrence testified Elizabeth knew nothing of the drugs.

¶ 3. While waiting in the passenger seat of the car, Elizabeth noticed two black males wearing ski masks. Elizabeth testified the two men approached the car, and one entered the driver's side of the car and the other entered the passenger side of the car, pushing Elizabeth between them. Elizabeth testified Terrance Stewart was the man who drove the car and William Cox was the man who got in the passenger seat. Stewart testified he got into the back seat, and that it was Cox who got in on the driver's side of the car. They told Elizabeth her father wanted her to take them to the store. Lawrence Branch testified he had said no such thing, and that he did not know Cox or Stewart. They then drove the car away from the house.

¶ 4. Elizabeth testified Stewart began driving the car very fast, and Cox took Elizabeth's shirt off. Elizabeth tried to jump into the back seat, but Cox grabbed her and made her sit back down between the two of them. Cox told her Stewart had a gun. They then pulled off onto a gravel road. Stewart got out of the car, and Cox then raped Elizabeth. After the rape was over, Stewart got back in the car and drove the three of them to Yazoo City.

¶ 5. Once they arrived in Yazoo City, the two men asked Elizabeth if she had any money, credit cards, or jewelry. Elizabeth told them no, but they searched her purse and found her check book and ATM card. Stewart drove the car over to the Deposit Guaranty Bank, and Cox went with Elizabeth to the ATM machine, all the while holding a gun to her back. Elizabeth withdrew three hundred dollars and gave it to Cox.

¶ 6. Upon getting back in the car, Cox told Elizabeth they were going to take her to Chicago and she would have to marry one of them. They then drove to a club in Tchula, where the two men made Elizabeth go in with them while they bought marijuana. After the purchase, Stewart and Cox took Elizabeth to a pay phone and Cox made her call home to tell her stepmother she was on her way home. During the phone call, Cox grabbed the phone from Elizabeth and hung it up.

¶ 7. Cox and Stewart then took Elizabeth to Melvin's one stop in Sidon, Mississippi, so they could buy smoking paraphernalia with which to smoke the marijuana. Elizabeth tried to mouth the word "help" *746 to the store owner, and she tried to go to the bathroom to get away from them. Cox accompanied her into the bathroom. They then bought some beer and left the store.

¶ 8. After getting back in the car, they headed towards Greenwood. During the drive, Cox forced Elizabeth to smoke some crack he had brought along. Cox threatened to kill her if she refused. Elizabeth took a puff, but did not inhale. The two men also forced her to take a drag off of a marijuana cigarette.

¶ 9. Upon arriving in Greenwood, the two men considered stealing a Cadillac, but thought better of it and went to get some chicken at Church's Chicken. After eating, the two men took Elizabeth and drove around some more, going as far north as a club near Grenada. They told her if she would give them six hundred dollars they would let her go. Elizabeth responded she did not have that much money, but she would give them the rest of the money in her bank account and her car if they would let her go. The two men then returned to Greenwood, took Elizabeth to the Valley Bank, and Cox forced her to get two hundred dollars out of the ATM machine. This was again done at gunpoint.

¶ 10. Stewart and Cox then headed back towards Lexington. At this point, Cox told Elizabeth he had a tape recorder and he told her she had better agree with everything he said. He then told her she had consented to having sex with him, and she had given him the money as a gift. They drove down several gravel roads, eventually ending up at a club. At the club, the two men wiped the car down, and told Elizabeth she was not to tell anyone what happened to her or they would hurt her family. They told Elizabeth they knew where she lived and would kill her and her father if she told. The two men then left Elizabeth, and she called the police.

¶ 11. During the trial, Stewart testified against Cox and corroborated Elizabeth's testimony. Cox testified in a pretrial statement he did not remember doing any of these things to Elizabeth because he had been too high. This statement was tape recorded and later transcribed. During trial, Cox testified Elizabeth had consented to both the sex and the drug use. The earlier transcribed statement was offered against Cox as well as the tape recording. The jury found Cox guilty of both robbery and kidnaping.

STATEMENT OF THE LAW

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 12. "Evidentiary rulings are within the broad discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." Dobbs v. State, 726 So.2d 1267(¶ 25) (Miss.Ct.App.1998).

¶ 13. A motion for a directed verdict and a motion for JNOV challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. The standard of review for a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is stated in McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993):

In appeals from an overruled motion for JNOV, the sufficiency of the evidence as a matter of law is viewed and tested in a light most favorable to the State. The credible evidence ... consistent with guilt must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury.

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Related

Moore v. State
932 So. 2d 833 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
813 So. 2d 742, 2001 WL 1155683, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-state-missctapp-2001.