Fryou v. State

987 So. 2d 461, 2008 WL 941799
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 8, 2008
Docket2007-KA-00635-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 987 So. 2d 461 (Fryou 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
Fryou v. State, 987 So. 2d 461, 2008 WL 941799 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

987 So.2d 461 (2008)

Victor Lowell FRYOU, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2007-KA-00635-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 8, 2008.
Rehearing Denied July 22, 2008.

*463 Glenn S. Swartzfager, Brenda Jackson Patterson, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Stephanie Breland Wood, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, P.J., CHANDLER and BARNES, JJ.

CHANDLER, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. After a three-day trial in the Circuit Court of Harrison County, Victor Lowell Fryou was convicted of capital murder for the killing of Patrick Devriendt while in the commission of a robbery. The circuit court sentenced him to life in prison. Aggrieved by his conviction, Fryou appeals. He asserts that the circuit court committed the following errors that require reversal of his conviction:

I. It was error to deny a lesser-included offense jury instruction on simple murder.
II. It was error to deny a lesser-included offense jury instruction on manslaughter.
III. It was error to deny a jury instruction on Weathersby.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. On the morning of August 20, 2005, Fryou went to the residence of the victim, Devriendt. While there he proceeded to stab and cut the victim fifty-seven times before driving off in the victim's truck and allegedly taking his wallet and $1,000 cash.

¶ 4. Fryou admitted to killing Devriendt, but he claimed it was in self-defense or that he was provoked by comments Devriendt made about Fryou's girlfriend, Aubrey Newsome. He testified at trial that on the day he killed Devriendt, he went to Devriendt's home looking for work. Fryou said nothing happened at first, and they just sat around the trailer for a while.

¶ 5. Fryou said that at some point Devriendt asked him about Newsome, and Fryou responded that he left her. Devriendt then allegedly made a derogatory comment about Newsome. At that point, Fryou became upset and tried to hit Devriendt. Devriendt dodged his punch, and Fryou fell to the floor. Devriendt then jumped on Fryou's back and repeatedly slammed Fryou's head into the kitchen floor. Fryou claimed that he found a knife on the floor. He said he picked up the knife and began stabbing Devriendt in self-defense. Fryou claimed he blacked out and did not remember any of the fight. He said the next thing he remembered was standing over Devriendt's dead body.

¶ 6. Fryou's statements that he made to police after his arrest, however, were contrary to his trial testimony. Previously, he told Captain Ron Pullen, with the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, that he swung at Devriendt twice. After that, he told Captain Pullen that Devriendt tried to hold him down on the floor. Fryou testified at trial that he did not remember the fight; however, he initially recounted his version of the fight to the officers. Fryou *464 said he stabbed Devriendt, and he kept stabbing him. He said the fight began in the kitchen, but it carried over into the living room. Throughout the fight, Devriendt tried to get the knife from Fryou. He told Captain Pullen that when Devriendt finally fell down by the wall, he stabbed him in the back a couple more times to make sure he did not get up.

¶ 7. Newsome testified that, on the day of the killing, Fryou left at 3:35 a.m. to go look for work at the docks. She said he took a large knife with him. According to Newsome, Fryou returned three hours later, and he told her that he had killed Devriendt. She believed Fryou killed Devriendt because she had sex with Devriendt while Fryou was in jail. Newsome said that a few weeks earlier she had approached Devriendt to borrow money to pay Fryou's bond. Devriendt allegedly agreed to give her some money, but only if Newsome had sex with him. Her testimony was that she had sex with him, and he gave her forty or forty-five dollars, which was not enough to get Fryou out of jail.

¶ 8. Fryou later found out about Newsome's encounter with Devriendt. Fryou confronted him about it shortly after getting out of jail, but there was no altercation between the two men at the time. Afterwards, Fryou and Devriendt did not have any further contact until the morning of the homicide.

¶ 9. On the night of August 21, 2005, Officer Michael Kamien, with the Gulfport Police Department, responded to a call from Newsome to come to the Oasis Resort at the Grand Casino. Upon arrival, Officer Kamien found a hysterical Newsome, who told him that her boyfriend had killed someone. He took Newsome to her room where she received a call from Fryou. Officer Kamien managed to briefly talk to Fryou, who told him that he killed someone for having sex with Newsome.

¶ 10. Deputy Coley Judy also responded to Newsome's call. Afterwards, she brought Newsome to the suspected crime scene, but she discovered nothing outside the trailer. She then took Newsome to the residence where Newsome and Fryou had been staying. They had been living with Fryou's sister, Valerie. Valerie gave Deputy Judy permission to search the premises. In a trash can outside, Deputy Judy found a pair of bloody shorts. Thereafter, she returned to the suspected crime scene. Upon entering the trailer, she discovered Devriendt's dead body.

¶ 11. Officer Kevin Jackson, who was with the Harrison County Sheriff's Department at the time of the incident, recovered a pair of bloody shoes on the side of the road. He later recovered a plaid shirt and Devriendt's wallet buried in Valerie's yard. He said he was unable to locate the items until Fryou showed him where he threw the shoes and where he buried the shirt and the wallet. Officers also found Devriendt's stolen truck abandoned behind a laundromat.

¶ 12. Nancy Kurowski, evidence technician for the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, investigated the crime scene. She documented the blood found throughout the residence, and she noted that the mini blinds over the windows had been covered with sheets to obstruct vision into the trailer. In the bedroom, Kurowski found an attache case with a damaged lock and a cigar box that appeared to have been dropped or tossed on the ground. She said there were coins scattered around the room, and she thought they might have come from the box.

¶ 13. The police were unable to immediately apprehend Fryou. He had left town when he noticed the police at the hotel with Newsome. However, he returned to *465 his sister's home the next day, and he offered to turn himself in to the police. Captain Pullen went to Fryou's sister's trailer and arrested Fryou. Captain Pullen advised Fryou of his Miranda rights and transported him to the sheriff's department. Once at the sheriff's department, Captain Pullen again advised Fryou of his rights and then questioned him about the death of Devriendt. Fryou then confessed to killing Devriendt and stealing his wallet and truck.

¶ 14. Fryou later denied that he stole Devriendt's wallet or any money. He testified that Newsome stole the wallet when she went to see Devriendt. Fryou said that he went to Devriendt's trailer to return the wallet, which Newsome had stolen.

¶ 15. A Harrison County grand jury indicted Fryou for capital murder. At trial, the jury refused to find that Fryou acted in self-defense and convicted him of capital murder. The circuit court sentenced Fryou to life in prison without parole or probation.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 16. Our standard of review regarding the grant or denial of jury instructions is as follows:

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Related

Travon Brown v. State of Mississippi
194 So. 3d 139 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2015)
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Bluebook (online)
987 So. 2d 461, 2008 WL 941799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fryou-v-state-missctapp-2008.