Davis v. State

914 So. 2d 200, 2005 WL 895200
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 19, 2005
Docket2003-KA-00988-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 914 So. 2d 200 (Davis 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
Davis v. State, 914 So. 2d 200, 2005 WL 895200 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

914 So.2d 200 (2005)

Christopher Jerome DAVIS, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2003-KA-00988-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 19, 2005.
Rehearing Denied August 2, 2005.
Certiorari Denied November 10, 2005.

*201 Joe Carl Jordan, Tristan Russell Armer, for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., IRVING and BARNES, JJ.

KING, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Christopher Jerome Davis was convicted in the Circuit Court of Jackson County of capital murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved by his conviction and sentence, Davis has appealed and raised the following issues which we quote verbatim:

I. The trial court erred by constructively amending the indictment in an improper and substantive manner in violation of appellant's Fifth Amendment rights by instructing the jury that it must convict the appellant of capital murder if it found that he acted without any premeditated design.

II. In the alternative, the indictment failed to adequately inform the appellant of the nature of the charges against him in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights.

III. The trial court erred in failing to conduct a sentencing hearing to determine whether the defendant would be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole or life without the possibility of parole, in violation of Mississippi Code § 97-3-21.

IV. The court erred in failing to limit its instructions to the jury to require a finding of deliberate design, malice aforethought or premeditation in violation of appellant's Fifth Amendment right by instructing the jury that it must convict the appellant of capital murder if it found that he acted without any premeditated design.

*202 V. The Mississippi capital murder statute is unconstitutional as written or as applied for allowing a conviction based upon depraved heart rather than a specific intent to kill.

VI. The evidence was insufficient to support the defendant's conviction for capital murder because there was no evidence of deliberate design, i.e., specific intent, to kill Officer Bruce Evans.

VII. The evidence was insufficient to support the defendant's conviction for capital murder because there was no evidence that (1) the defendant saw Officer Evans at the scene or (2) that the defendant could identify Officer Evans as a police officer in the seconds before the collision.

VIII. The defendant's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and to trial by impartial jury were violated by the prosecutor's improper comments during closing arguments.

IX. The prosecutor's closing was a comment on Davis' failure to testify and violated the defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege.

X. The trial court erred in refusing the defendant's jury charge on circumstantial evidence as there was no direct evidence of intent to kill or knowledge that the defendant knew that the victim was a police officer.

XI. The court erred in failing to sequester the jury during the appellant's trial for capital murder in contravention of appellant's Sixth Amendment rights and state law.

FACTS

¶ 2. On July 18, 2000, George County Officers Richard Solomon and Casey Mitchell were traveling north in a forty-five mile per hour zone on Evanston Road in their marked patrol car. A blue Ford truck, driven by an individual later identified as Davis, passed the officers going in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. Officer Mitchell advised Officer Solomon to follow the vehicle.

¶ 3. The vehicle turned onto a dirt road and into a private driveway. The officers passed the driveway where Davis was located, then discovered the vehicle, so they turned around, turned on the "blue lights," and came back to the driveway.

¶ 4. When the officers pulled into the driveway, Davis, who had backed into the driveway, passed the officer's vehicle and continued on.

¶ 5. Officer Solomon testified that Davis was "constantly driving his truck into the on-coming traffic." The Jackson County Sheriff's Office was advised that the pursuit was approaching their jurisdiction.

¶ 6. Davis crossed the county line where he saw the Jackson County officers, and he pulled over to the side of the road. The George County officers then pulled over. Investigator J.D. Mitchell, who had joined the pursuit, placed his vehicle face to face with Davis' vehicle. As Investigator Mitchell exited the vehicle, Davis "spun his truck around" and "went towards Jackson County and that's when" Officer Solomon "started firing at the vehicle." At that time, Investigator Mitchell and the other officers continued to follow Davis.

¶ 7. Solomon stated that Davis appeared to be in control of the vehicle. The pursuit continued near Highway 613 South towards Robert's Grocery in Jackson County. As Davis approached the area, he pulled over to the side of the road a third time and spun the vehicle around to go back towards George County. Jackson County Officers Charles Braden and Bruce Evans were parked just north of Robert's Grocery. Jackson County Officer Robert Blocker testified that:

*203 I was 75 to 100 feet behind the blue Ford pickup truck. As we approached Robert's Grocery, just coming in the light of the backdrop of the store, I saw the muzzle flash of a shotgun. I saw Officer Evans standing at the passenger side, front tire of his car. There's a muzzle flash. At that point, I saw the truck make an immediate left turn towards Officer Evans. I saw him lower his shotgun and turn to run and the truck impacted the front of his patrol car. And when the truck hit the front of his car, when it left the highway, it kind of — the rear end kind of hydroplaned around, hit the front of his patrol car, and spun back around, and the truck ended up pointing kind of north, northeast, and Officer Evans' car was pointing east. I pulled up to the truck, exited my patrol car, drew my duty weapon, approached the vehicle, ordered the driver out onto the ground.

¶ 8. The pursuit lasted for approximately twenty-eight miles. Officer Braden testified that he fired a shot at the "front driver's tire" of the vehicle, but later realized that he had missed.

¶ 9. The front driver's side tire of Davis' vehicle was examined. The tire was deflated, but still intact. Davis' vehicle struck Officer Evans' vehicle and killed him.

¶ 10. David Kenny, an accident reconstructionist, testified that "[t]here was nothing that, that would make the F-150 [Davis' vehicle] swerve to the left toward the actual parked vehicle in the parking lot." Kenny indicated that Davis' vehicle was traveling approximately fifty to sixty miles per hour when he hit Evans' vehicle at Robert's Grocery.

¶ 11. Steve Byrd, an expert firearms examiner, stated that the bullet holes in one tire were consistent with holes which would have been made by a .45 caliber gun.

¶ 12. On August 14, 2002, Davis was indicted for capital murder pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-19(2)(a) (Rev.2000). Davis' trial was held from January 13-16, 2003. Davis was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

¶ 13. On January 27, 2003, Davis filed a motion for a new trial, which was subsequently denied.

ISSUES AND ANALYSIS

I.

Whether the trial court erred by constructively amending the indictment.

¶ 14.

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

Related

Franklin Fitzpatrick v. State of Mississippi
175 So. 3d 515 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2015)
White v. State
113 So. 3d 635 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Lewis v. State
155 So. 3d 772 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)
Maye v. State
49 So. 3d 1140 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Teston v. State
44 So. 3d 977 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Anderson v. State
5 So. 3d 1088 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2007)
Whitlock v. State
941 So. 2d 843 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
914 So. 2d 200, 2005 WL 895200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-state-missctapp-2005.