Craft v. State

970 So. 2d 178, 2007 WL 2107269
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJuly 24, 2007
Docket2005-KA-02187-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 970 So. 2d 178 (Craft 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
Craft v. State, 970 So. 2d 178, 2007 WL 2107269 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

970 So.2d 178 (2007)

Chico CRAFT, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-KA-02187-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

July 24, 2007.
Rehearing Denied November 20, 2007.

*180 William R. Labarre, Virginia Lynn Watkins, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Daniel Hinchcliff, attorney for appellee.

Before MYERS, P.J., CHANDLER and GRIFFIS, JJ.

GRIFFIS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Chico Craft was convicted of murder and was sentenced to serve a term of life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Craft argues that: (1) the jury was improperly instructed on the element of deliberate design, (2) there was insufficient evidence of deliberate design, and (3) a spectator's emotional outburst warranted a mistrial. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Taiwaneshia McElroy and Craft were romantically involved and had been living together for two years. They had plans to marry and raise a family. On the night of July 10, 2004, they entertained another couple with dinner and cards. After the couple left, McElroy and Craft argued over the card game. The argument ended without incident, and they both went to sleep.

¶ 3. The next morning, July 11, 2004, McElroy went to work. She returned at about 11:00 a.m., woke up Craft, and went into the dining room. Craft followed McElroy and tried to talk to her, but she was silent. She walked toward the couch in the living room and Craft followed. Another argument ensued. McElroy told Craft she did not love him anymore. She demanded that Craft return the key he had to her apartment. McElroy told Craft that she wanted him to move out of the apartment by the time she returned. Craft told her that he loved her and wanted to be with her. He refused to give her the key. Finally, Craft told McElroy that he would need time to get his stuff out.

¶ 4. During this argument, a physical altercation occurred. McElroy began hitting and pushing Craft in an effort to get the key. He held her and tried to calm her down. The two wrestled. She pushed him against the dining room window, and it broke. He pushed her down on the couch and began hitting her. He grabbed a kitchen knife, left over from dinner the previous night, from the nearby table. Craft began stabbing McElroy. She made her way to the sliding glass window, where Craft slit her throat. He tried to help her back on the couch but left her lying next to it. The fight occurred in several rooms, ranging from the kitchen, dining room, to the living room.

¶ 5. Craft put his shoes on and left for his sister's home. He threw the knife out of the car on State Street, but it was never recovered. He picked up his niece and nephew and took them to his mother's house. He returned to his sister's home and went to sleep. At 3:30 a.m., Craft returned to McElroy's apartment to check on her. He then went back to his sister's *181 house. At about 6:00 a.m., he told his sister what happened and called the police.

¶ 6. Craft cooperated with the police and exhibited a sense of shock and remorse for the killing. He consistently maintained that his actions were a result of his rage at the time. At trial, the only issue in dispute was Craft's state of mind prior to the killing. Forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen Hayne testified that McElroy's injuries were:

scrapes and scratches of the skin at multiple sites of the body, including the forehead, the left cheek, the left chin, also the upper chest, the left inguinal area and the groin area on the left side of the body and also extensively over the right and left upper extremities, including the right forearm as well as the back of the right arm and forearm, also over the left elbow and also over the front of the left arm and forearm. In addition to that, there was a cut located over the forehead that measured approximately one-and-a-half inches. There was a small cut located over the left chin, a smaller size. In addition to those, there were a total of six stab wounds: [o]ne stab wound located over the left cheek that measured approximately seven-eighths of an inch on the skin surface. It was nonlethal. It went into a depth of approximately one inch. . . .
There were also two stab wounds located to the front surface of the right . . . arm [and] right forearm. Again, they were superficial extending to a depth of approximately an inch and were nonlethal.
There were three stab wounds located on the back of the right arm. . . . parallel to each other. They measured up to approximately an inch-and-a-half on the skin surface, went to a depth of approximately one inch into the arm, and those, again, were nonlethal.
There was one lethal injury . . . and that was a slash wound . . . located going across the neck for a distance of seven-and-one-half inches. It went to a depth of approximately three inches. [This severed her] right common carotid artery . . . right jugular vein. . . . [and] trachea. . . . Those were the lethal injuries. . . .

¶ 7. The jury convicted Craft of murder.

ANALYSIS

I. Was the jury properly instructed on the element of deliberate design?

¶ 8. Craft argues that two jury instructions on deliberate design were in hopeless conflict. Craft claims that the instructions allowed the jury to find murder without intent. The State responds that Craft waived the issue. In the alternative, the State asserts the two instructions are in agreement.

¶ 9. Instruction 7 (also identified as D-6A) read:

The Court instructs the Jury that the term "deliberate design," as used in these instructions, means intent to kill, formed before the moment of the act of killing took place, without authority of law and not legally justifiable, excusable, or under any circumstances that would reduce the act to a lesser crime. Deliberate design under this definition cannot be formed at the time of the act that produces the death of another.
The word "deliberate" always indicates a full awareness of what one is doing, and generally implies careful and unhurried consideration of the consequences. "Design" means to calculate, plan, contemplate.
Therefore, if you find from the evidence and testimony presented that Chico Craft did not have a deliberate design or intent to kill Taiwaneshia McElroy at *182 some time before the act of killing took place, then it is your sworn duty to find Chico Craft "Not Guilty" of murder.

(emphasis added). Instruction 8 (also identified as S-3) read:

The Court instructs the jury that the "deliberate design to effect death" referenced elsewhere in these instructions does not have to exist in the mind of the slayer for any given length of time; and that such element of the crime of murder is satisfied if you find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant formed such design at any time before the commission of the act which caused the death of the decedent and continued to have such design at the time of the commission of such act, if any.

(emphasis added).

¶ 10. We begin our review by noting that Craft did not object to Instructions 7 or 8 at trial. In fact, Craft submitted Instruction 7 to the trial court. "Appellant has no standing to seek redress from an alleged error of his own creation." Evans v. State, 547 So.2d 38, 40 (Miss. 1989).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
970 So. 2d 178, 2007 WL 2107269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craft-v-state-missctapp-2007.