Franklin v. State

23 So. 3d 507, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 220, 2009 WL 1058159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 21, 2009
DocketNo. 2007-KA-01436-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 23 So. 3d 507 (Franklin 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
Franklin v. State, 23 So. 3d 507, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 220, 2009 WL 1058159 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

IRVING, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. Senica Matthew Franklin was convicted by the Harrison County Circuit Court of two counts of murder and one count of arson. He was sentenced to serve a life sentence for each of the murder convictions and twenty years for the arson conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently. Aggrieved, Franklin appeals and asserts: (1) that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for a new trial, (2) that his trial attorney was ineffective, (3) that the trial court erred in refusing to grant his proposed circumstantial evidence jury instruction, and (4) that he was denied the right to confront a witness against him.

¶ 2. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. On the night of October 31, 2001, police discovered the charred bodies of Brenda Mason and Ronald Brock in Mason’s home located on Texas Avenue in North Gulfport, Mississippi. Mason and Brock had been shot, and Mason’s home had been set on fire. Almost three years later, Franklin was formally charged with two counts of murder and one count of arson. Franklin was tried three times before he finally was convicted on March 8, 2007.

¶ 4. Tosha Johnson testified that on October 31, 2001, she was walking north on Texas Avenue when Franklin came running toward her. According to Johnson, Franklin was running from the direction of Mason’s house. Johnson testified that she asked Franklin why was he running and that he responded, “because I’m running.” Johnson also testified that Franklin told her that she had “better go” and that she did just that. Johnson later testified that Franklin was walking fast, rather than running, when she encountered him. Initially, Johnson stated that she did not remember having any further conversation with Franklin. However, after being presented with a statement that she had previously provided to police, she remembered that Franklin had told her that there were two people in the burning [510]*510house.1 Johnson remembered that Franklin was wearing black clothing.

¶ 5. Michael McCoy, a firefighter with the Gulfport Fire Department, recalled that when he arrived at the scene, the house was almost “fully involved” and that fire and heavy smoke were coming from most of the windows and eaves of the house. McCoy testified that he discovered two bodies that were so severely burned that he was unable to determine whether the victims were male or female.

¶ 6. David Dry, a deputy state fire marshal, also arrived at the scene while the fire was still in progress. He testified that while reconstructing the crime scene, he determined that the fire began in a “room inside the front porch.” Dry determined that the fire was “incendiary in nature, which is a fire set by human hands under circumstances which the person knows it should not be set.” Dry testified that he, along with other firefighters, collected seven samples and that they all came back negative for accelerants. Dry quickly pointed out that simply because acceler-ants were not found does not mean that accelerants were not in fact used. According to Dry, there are two equally plausible explanations as to why an accelerant was not found: the lab equipment may simply have been unable to detect one, or the accelerant may have been washed away by the water that was used to extinguish the fire.

¶ 7. Next, the State called Grady Sum-rail who testified that he, a female named Dusty, and Franklin were riding around on the day of the murders. Sumrall stated that early that day, they saw Mason at a local store. According to Sumrall, he witnessed Franklin and Mason engage in a discussion, but Sumrall claimed that he did not know what the discussion was about. Sumrall testified that Franklin mentioned that Mason owed him money but that Franklin did not mention anything about collecting the money from Mason. After being shown a statement that he had previously made, Sumrall remembered that Franklin had said, “I got to do Brenda [sic] something about my money.” However, Sumrall explained that this was merely a figure of speech. Sumrall also stated that, at some point throughout the course of the day, he observed that Franklin had a .380 caliber handgun in his waistband.

¶ 8. The State then called Billy Patton and Christopher Thompson. Both men grew up with Franklin and were incarcerated at the federal penitentiary in Oakdale, Louisiana at the time of Franklin’s trial.2 Prior to going to the federal penitentiary, Patton and Thompson served time in the Harrison County Jail at different intervals, and during each of the intervals, Franklin was also incarcerated.

¶ 9. Patton testified that while they were incarcerated at the Harrison County Jail, he and Franklin were roommates in the same cellblock. Patton further testified that during this incarceration, he and Franklin talked from time to time over the course of about six months and that Franklin told him what had happened on the day of the murders. Patton recalled that Franklin told him about a heated conversation that Franklin had had with Mason on the day of the murders at a house located across the street from Mason’s house. Patton testified that Franklin told him that he went home after the [511]*511conversation. However, according to Patton, later that day, Franklin went to Mason’s house, shot Mason and Brock with a .380 caliber handgun, and set the house on fire. Patton stated that Franklin then went to Franklin’s apartment in the Ash-ton Park Apartment complex, which is located approximately five minutes from Mason’s house. Patton recalled that Franklin told him that he had thrown the gun in a septic tank that was located on the side of Mason’s house. The prosecutor asked Patton if he, prior to trial, had informed anyone in an “official capacity” of what Franklin had told him. Patton responded that he had told Terry Davis, a federal agent, after Davis approached him and asked him whether he knew anything about the murders.

¶ 10. Thompson testified that he was headed home at either a quarter to six or a quarter to seven on October 31, 2001, when he saw Franklin, who, he recalled, was wearing a black hooded jacket and jeans. According to Thompson, Franklin was looking at smoke that had formed in the sky.3 Thompson stated that Franklin flagged him down and told him that he wanted to pay him what he owed. In order to facilitate the payment, Thompson stated that Franklin got into his vehicle. Thompson testified that it was at that point that he noticed a chrome .380 caliber handgun on Franklin’s side. Thompson stated that Franklin exited Franklin’s vehicle a short while later and that he did not see Franklin again that night.

¶ 11. At some point later, however, Thompson and Franklin served time together at the Harrison County Jail and were incarcerated in the same cellblock. Thompson testified that Patton was not at the jail during the period of time that he and Franklin shared the cellblock together and denied speaking with Patton before Thompson entered the jail. Thompson also testified that Franklin did not discuss anything that had happened on the night of the murders but that Franklin did mention to him that Mason owed him money and that, as a result, he and Mason got into a “heated conversation.”

¶ 12. At some point thereafter, Thompson was transferred to the federal penitentiary in Oakdale, Louisiana. It was at this point that Thompson came into contact with Patton.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 So. 3d 507, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 220, 2009 WL 1058159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franklin-v-state-missctapp-2009.