Edwards v. State

856 So. 2d 587, 2003 WL 21385373
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided December 4, 2003·No. 2002-KA-00151-COA·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

856 So.2d 587 (2003)

Nathaniel L. EDWARDS, Jr., Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KA-00151-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 17, 2003.
Rehearing Denied September 2, 2003.
Certiorari Dismissed October 3, 2003.
Certiorari Granted December 4, 2003.

*590 Tommy Wayne Defer and David L. Walker, Batesville, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by John R. Henry, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, P.J., THOMAS, IRVING and CHANDLER, JJ.

*591 IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. A Tallahatchie County Circuit Court jury convicted Nathaniel Edwards of depraved heart murder. Edwards has appealed and presents several issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion in limine to prevent the assistant district attorney from admitting or eliciting hearsay statements, (2) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial after the assistant district attorney elicited testimony concerning drugs during the testimony of a witness, (3) whether the trial court erred in failing to sustain his motion for a mistrial after a juror stated in open court that Edwards was housed in a correctional facility at which she was employed, (4) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress a certain statement and clothing seized by the police, (5) whether the trial court erred in overruling his objection to a witness' testimony about statistical data concerning the DNA evidence, and (6) whether the trial court erred in refusing two of his instructions.

¶ 2. Finding error but no reversible error on the first issue and no error on any subsequent issues, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Nathaniel Edwards, Sr. (the victim) was the eighty-nine-year-old father of Nathaniel Edwards, Jr. (Edwards). Since 1998, Edwards had resided with the victim.

¶ 4. On January 5, 2001, the victim went to visit Carey Hayes to request his assistance in evicting Edwards from the victim's house. Hayes was the victim's neighbor and a deputy police officer for Tallahatchie County. Agitated at the time, the victim told Hayes that Edwards intended to hit the victim in the head and take the victim's money. When the two men arrived at the victim's house, they found Edwards lying on the sofa inebriated. Hayes told Edwards to leave the victim's house. Edwards retorted that he had no money, no place to go, and no one with whom to stay. The victim soon changed his mind and agreed that Edwards could stay in a back room of his house. Hayes escorted Edwards to bed, reassured the victim that the situation was under control, and went back to his house.

¶ 5. On the next morning, a concerned neighbor called the Tutwiler Police Department to investigate the victim's whereabouts. Officer Gregory Buchanan responded by going to the victim's home; there, he found the victim's lacerated dead body on a bed. Buchanan then called the Mississippi Criminal Investigative Bureau for assistance. Investigator Chuck Poe responded and joined Officer Buchanan at the victim's home to assist in the investigation. After the officers had spent several hours of investigation at the victim's home, Edwards was escorted to the Tutwiler Police Department for questioning.

¶ 6. Upon Edward's arrival at the police station, he was read his rights, and Officer Poe asked him if he would relinquish his clothes to the police department for analysis. Edwards complied. After the officers questioned Edwards thoroughly, he was allowed to leave the police station. However, approximately an hour later, Edwards returned and told Officer Doyle Moore, who was on patrol a short distance from the police station, that he wanted to confess to the killing of the victim. Officer Moore instructed Edwards not to say anything further and took Edwards to the Tutwiler Police Station.

¶ 7. After Doyle and Edwards arrived at the station, Doyle called Officer Buchanan and informed him of the situation. Officer Buchanan, who had left the station, returned to the station. When Officer Buchanan arrived back at the station, Edwards *592 told him that Edwards wanted to confess to the killing of Edwards's father. Officer Buchanan read Edwards's Miranda rights to him, and Edwards signed a waiver of rights form. Edwards then gave a statement concerning the killing of his father. In his statement, Edwards wrote, "I want to admit to killing my father in his home yesterday. Exactly how I did it is not very clear in my mind, but it is the truth." Edwards was then handcuffed and transported to jail. Upon his arrival at the jail, Edwards, before several officers and a jailer, again admitted to killing his father.

¶ 8. Edwards was subsequently indicted by a grand jury for depraved heart murder. After the conclusion of a three-day trial, Edwards was convicted of the charge and sentenced, as a habitual offender, to a term of life in prison in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

1. Denial of Motion in Limine

¶ 9. Edwards first complains that the trial court erred when it denied his motion in limine which sought to prevent the State from admitting or eliciting certain hearsay testimony during Edwards's trial. According to Edwards, admission of the hearsay testimony abridged his constitutional right to confront and cross-examine witnesses.

¶ 10. The hearsay of which Edwards complains concerns a statement allegedly made by the victim to Tallahatchie County Deputy Sheriff Carey Hayes. During his testimony, Hayes explained that when the victim asked for his assistance in removing Edwards from his home, the victim stated, "I want you to come get my son out of the house because he is going to hit me in the head and take my money."

¶ 11. The trial court held a pretrial hearing and ruled that the statement would be admissible under Rule 803(3) of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence. Consequently, the court permitted Hayes to testify during the trial about the victim's statement.

¶ 12. "Under this Court's standard of review, the admissibility of evidence rests within the trial court's discretion. Unless [its] judicial discretion is abused, this Court will not reverse [its] ruling." Crawford v. State, 754 So.2d 1211, 1215 (¶ 7) (Miss.2000).

¶ 13. Hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. M.R.E. 801(c). Hearsay is not admissible except as provided by law. M.R.E. 802.

¶ 14. A hearsay statement may be admitted to prove a declarant's existing mental, emotional or physical condition. M.R.E. 803(3). However, a declarant's statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed is not admissible unless it relates to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of the declarant's will. Id.

¶ 15. We find that the lower court erred in admitting the hearsay statement under subsection three of Rule 803. The statement did not pertain to the declarant's then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition, and even if it did, the victim's then existing state of mind, emotion, etc. was irrelevant. To the contrary, the statement is a statement of belief to prove a fact believed by the vi

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Edwards v. State, 856 So. 2d 587, 2003 WL 21385373 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

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