Dubose v. State

919 So. 2d 5, 2005 WL 1384852
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 2, 2005
Docket2003-KA-02720-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 919 So. 2d 5 (Dubose v. State) 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
Dubose v. State, 919 So. 2d 5, 2005 WL 1384852 (Mich. 2005).

Opinion

919 So.2d 5 (2005)

Latanya Leshawn DUBOSE
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2003-KA-02720-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 2, 2005.

*6 Ross Parker Simons, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, Jackson, attorney for appellee.

Before SMITH, C.J., EASLEY and GRAVES, JJ.

EASLEY, Justice, for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Latanya Leshawn Dubose was indicted for the murder of her former boyfriend Leonard Ray Harris pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-19(1)(a). On August 6-8, 2003, Dubose was tried by a jury in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, the Honorable Robert P. Krebs, presiding, for the crime of murder. Dubose was convicted of manslaughter by the jury and sentenced to serve a term of 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with 13 years to serve, 7 years suspended, and 5 years on post-release supervision. The trial court also ordered Dubose to send a letter to the children of Harris apologizing for her actions. The trial court denied all of Dubose's post-trial motions. Dubose appealed to this Court.

FACTS

¶ 2. Dubose met Harris about six months prior to his death. Dubose had been dating Harris since January 2002. On July 21, 2002, Dubose told Harris that she no longer wanted to see him. Harris did not want to end the relationship. He arrived at Dubose's home in the morning and wanted to talk about the situation. Dubose told Harris that she did not want to work things out. Harris then grabbed Dubose by the head and dragged her to the floor. He got on top of her, put his hand around her neck and repeatedly told her that he would kill her.

¶ 3. Then, Harris pulled off her underwear, touched her inappropriately and stated that her private body parts belonged to him. She stated that his actions made her feel very bad and degraded. Dubose pushed Harris off her and went into the living room. Harris pleaded that they stay together, but Dubose refused again. Harris then slapped Dubose, got on top of her, began choking her and told her a second time that he would kill her. As Dubose was wrestling with Harris the telephone fell to the ground. A few of the telephone buttons made a noise and Dubose told Harris "they're coming, they're coming." Harris left the house shortly thereafter.

¶ 4. Dubose left her house to go to the police station. However, she stopped by Doug Cherry's house. Cherry was Harris's roommate and lived only two houses from Dubose's house. Dubose went to the house to tell Doug what had occurred and not to see Harris. At the time she went to Doug's house, Dubose was carrying a gun so that Harris could not hurt her. She told Cherry to tell Harris that if he ever hurt her again then she was going to kill Harris. Dubose then left to go to the police station to press charges against Harris.

¶ 5. Dubose testified to numerous incidents in which Harris beat her and threatened her life. She had never called the police prior to this incident because she was afraid that Harris would beat her.

¶ 6. On her way to the police station, Dubose was wearing only a t-shirt and a robe. She stated that she was hysterical. *7 However, as she drove to the station, she saw Harris's car at a Chevron station. Dubose parked her car behind Harris's car. At this point, Harris walked out of the store. Dubose yelled at Harris to look at what he had done to her face. After a few exchanges, in which Dubose exited her vehicle holding a gun, she told Harris that she was on her way to the police station to press charges against him. Dubose stated "I seen the look in his eyes, and I saw his face clinch, like he was going to come at me and hit me, and I just closed my eyes and I just shot." She stated that something had come over her, and she was scared.

¶ 7. Dubose left the scene to return home. On her way home, Cherry called her on a cell phone, and she told him that she had shot Harris. Dubose went to a neighbor's house, Doris Rich, and told her what had happened. She went back to her house, and Lacricia Gardner, Dubose's cousin, called the police in her presence. Two police cars later arrived at the home. The police arrested Dubose and took her to the station.

¶ 8. At trial Dr. Paul McGarry, a forensic pathologist, testified that he found that Harris received a gunshot wound that went in the back of the head, about three quarters of an inch to the right of the midline of the back of the head. The bullet angled upward, hit the inside of his skull and ricocheted into the front of the head. The bullet then came to a rest at the front of the brain causing massive damage to the brain and death.

¶ 9. On appeal, Dubose raises the following issues:

I. Whether the verdict was against the weight and credibility of the evidence.
II. Whether Dubose's jury was properly sworn as required for capital petit jury.
III. Whether the trial court's written order in response to the Mississippi Supreme Court's inquiry concerning whether the jury was properly sworn is sufficient to show that the jurors properly swore an oath for the case.
IV. Whether the trial court erred by admitting State's Exhibit 3, a photograph of the deceased.

DISCUSSION

I. Weight of the evidence.

¶ 10. Dubose claims that she was convicted despite the State's inability to overcome her theory of self-defense. Even though the jury was properly instructed, Dubose claims that the trial court should not have submitted the issue to the jury and, in the alternative, the trial court abused its discretion by denying her motion for a directed verdict, peremptory instruction and her motion for acquittal notwithstanding the verdict. She requests that the Court reverse and render her conviction or grant her a new trial.

¶ 11. In Wade v. State, 748 So.2d 771, 774 (Miss.2000), this Court held:

The issue of justifiable self-defense presents a question of the weight and credibility of the evidence rather than sufficiency and is to be decided by the jury. Meshell v. State, 506 So.2d 989, 991-92 (Miss.1987). The jury verdict in this case should not be overturned unless this Court is "convinced that the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it to stand would sanction an unconscionable injustice." Gossett [v. State], 660 So.2d [1285, 1294 (Miss.1995).].

The Court in Wade further held "[t]he apprehension or fear that will justify killing another in self-defense must appear *8 objectively real to a reasonable person of average prudence." 748 So.2d. at 775 (citing Hart v. State, 637 So.2d 1329, 1339 (Miss.1994)).

¶ 12. This Court set out the standard for overwhelming weight of the evidence in Dunn v. State, 891 So.2d 822, 826 (Miss. 2005). This Court held:

A motion for new trial challenges the weight of the evidence. Sheffield v. State, 749 So.2d 123, 127 (Miss.1999). A reversal is warranted only if the trial court abused its discretion in denying a motion for new trial. Id.
This Court held in McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 133 (Miss.1987), that it has limited authority to interfere with a jury verdict. The Court looks at all the evidence in the light that is most consistent to the jury verdict. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
919 So. 2d 5, 2005 WL 1384852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dubose-v-state-miss-2005.