Dixon v. State

17 So. 3d 1099, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2009 WL 368565
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 17, 2009
Docket2007-KA-00770-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 17 So. 3d 1099 (Dixon 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
Dixon v. State, 17 So. 3d 1099, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2009 WL 368565 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

KING, C.J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. On August 19, 2004, Melcenia Bell was robbed and assaulted. Nearly four months later, on December 12, 2004, Bell died as a result of the complications from the injuries she sustained in the assault. On October 5, 2006, a Hinds County jury convicted Mary Dixon of the robbery and murder of Bell. Thereafter, Dixon filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, in the alternative, for a new trial. Dixon’s motion was denied on January 8, 2007. Aggrieved, Dixon now appeals arguing the following assignments of error: (1) the trial court erred in refusing to suppress Dixon’s statements; (2) the trial court erred in denying Dixon’s motion for a directed verdict, rejecting Dixon’s motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), and refusing to grant Dixon’s request for a peremptory jury instruction; and (3) the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of Dr. Stephen Hayne and photographs from the autopsy of Bell.

FACTS

¶ 2. On the morning of August 19, 2004, shortly after 7:30 a.m., Elizabeth Eubanks arrived at 827 Dreyfus Street, Jackson, Mississippi, the home of Bell, to assist Bell with her personal needs and carry out some household chores as Eubanks had done every Thursday over the past three years. Shortly after Eubanks arrived, Daryl Bell, the decedent’s son, left home to haul some scrap metal to a recycling center in Flowood, Mississippi. He had plans to return home soon to take his mother to the hairdresser in preparation for a trip to Cleveland, Ohio that Sunday to visit her daughter and grandson. As her usual practice, Eubanks helped Bell pin her wallet in her housecoat after Bell took her bath. Bell, who owned rental property directly behind her home, was known to keep the weekly rental payments in her wallet pinned to her housecoat. On this day Bell had $300 in rental payments as well as $475 from her son to pay for her son’s ticket to Ohio.

¶ 3. Eubanks testified that she left Bell’s house between 8:45 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. after having placed a Coke on the stand near Bell’s daybed, which was located in the front room of Bell’s home. Eubanks also testified that she (Eubanks) left the front door unlocked so that the Meals on Wheels driver would be able to gain entrance into the house without Bell having to get up. At approximately 9:45 a.m., Jack Turner, the Meals on Wheels driver, arrived at Bell’s home and found her lying naked on the floor in a pool of blood with a screwdriver sticking out of her neck and a bloody axe lying on the daybed. Turner retreated to his vehicle and requested that his dispatcher notify the authorities.

¶ 4. Approximately, three hours after the assault, Jacqueline Wallace, Tony Edwards, and Dixon, who were all persons of interest in the robbery and assault, were transported to the police department for questioning. Officer Charmaine Valentine testified that while transporting Dixon to the police department, Dixon stated that Edwards killed that old lady. Officer Valentine subsequently relayed this information to the detectives. Detective James Roberts testified that when Dixon arrived at the police department she was Miran-dized and then questioned regarding the crime against Bell. Although Dixon did not *1102 sign a written waiver of rights, she spoke with Detective Roberts. Detective Roberts reduced Dixon’s responses to writing. Thereafter, Dixon initialed each answer and signed the statement. After interviewing Dixon, Detective Roberts testified that he continued his investigation and talked with several other individuals. Detective Roberts stated that during the investigation of this offense, he found no physical evidence to link Dixon to the assault and robbery. Investigator Andrew McGahey testified that latent prints were found on the Coke can, but none of the evidence collected and analyzed linked Dixon to the crime.

¶ 5. On December 12, 2004, Bell died as a result of complications from her injuries. Approximately five months later, on May 18, 2005, Detective Roberts received a call from Deputy Pamela Turner of the Hinds County Sheriffs Department, who informed him that she had information regarding the robbery and murder of Bell. Deputy Turner testified that she had spoken with Dixon at least four times prior to contacting Detective Roberts and at least two times thereafter. Deputy Turner recalled that on three occasions in which she spoke with Dixon, Dixon confessed to being present and witnessing the robbery and assault of Bell.

¶ 6. In May 2005, a Hinds County grand jury indicted Dixon for the murder and armed robbery of Bell. During trial, a suppression hearing was held to determine the voluntariness of the statements made by Dixon to Deputy Turner. The trial court ruled that Dixon’s statements that linked her to the scene of the crime were given freely and voluntarily. On October 5, 2006, a jury found Dixon guilty of capital murder. Dixon was sentenced to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved, Dixon appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. MOTION TO SUPPRESS

¶ 7. This Court reviews a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence under an abuse of discretion standard. Graves v. State, 492 So.2d 562, 565 (Miss.1986).

¶ 8. Dixon argues that the trial court erred in failing to suppress statements which she made to Deputy Turner on May 4, 9, 11, 16, 20, and 25, 2005. Dixon contends that the statements were involuntary and were given without adequate warning or waiver of her fundamental rights under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article 3, Sections 14 and 26 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890. Dixon gave six separate statements to Deputy Turner. All the statements were given while in custody. Deputy Turner testified that Dixon was actually given her Miranda warning prior to making the May 9th statement, reminded of her rights pri- or to making the May 11th statement, and in the subsequent statements on May 16th, May 20th, and May 25th, Dixon was either reminded or stated that she understood her rights. In her brief, Dixon contends that according to the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer’s Handbook, section B.2.a. (2006-2007), as a trained law enforcement officer, Deputy Turner should have been aware that “Miranda warnings should have been given prior to any subsequent interrogation session with the person in custody even though the warnings were given in a prior interrogation.”

¶ 9. On May 4, 2005, Deputy Turner was ordered by her supervisor to speak with a female housed at the Raymond Detention Center, who had pertinent information about drug activity in the Jackson area. The female, who was later identified as *1103 Mary Dixon, was checked out of the detention center to aid in a drug buy. Deputy Turner testified that while en route to conduct a drug buy, Dixon identified herself as the female that the Jackson Police Department had in custody for hurting Melcenia Bell. After Dixon stated that she witnessed the crime while at the abandoned building next door to Bell’s home, Deputy Turner asked Dixon if they could talk later. Dixon agreed.

¶ 10. Deputy Turner testified that on May 9, 2005, after receiving permission from Dixon’s attorney, Tom Fortner, to speak with Dixon, Dixon was properly

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Bluebook (online)
17 So. 3d 1099, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2009 WL 368565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dixon-v-state-missctapp-2009.