Grant v. State

762 So. 2d 800, 2000 WL 823425
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 27, 2000
Docket1998-KA-01506-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 762 So. 2d 800 (Grant 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
Grant v. State, 762 So. 2d 800, 2000 WL 823425 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

762 So.2d 800 (2000)

Jason Anthony GRANT, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1998-KA-01506-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 27, 2000.

*802 Marcie Tanner Southerland, Vicksburg, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, Attorneys for Appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., LEE, and MOORE, JJ.

MOORE, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Appellant Jason Anthony Grant was indicted on one count of armed robbery and one count of possession of a concealed weapon by a convicted felon. After a trial in the Warren County Circuit Court, the *803 jury found Grant guilty on both counts. Grant was sentenced to thirty years on the armed robbery in the custody and control of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and five years on the possession of a concealed weapon with the sentences to run concurrently. Aggrieved, Grant cites the following issues on appeal

I. THE EVIDENCE WAS NOT LEGALLY SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE CONVICTIONS;
II. THE CONVICTIONS WERE AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE AND INSTEAD WERE BASED ON BIAS AND PREJUDICE BY THE JURY DUE TO THE IMPROPER ADMISSION OF [THE FOLLOWING] EVIDENCE AT TRIAL:
A. THE COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE APPELLANT HOLDING A WEAPON SIMILAR TO THE ONE USED IN THE ROBBERY;
B. THE COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF A REVOLVER FOUND BY POLICE AT A LOCATION IN THE AREA OF APPELLANT'S ARREST;
C. THE COURT ERRED IN NOT SUSTAINING THE DEFENSE'S OBJECTION TO IMPROPER COMMENTS BY THE PROSECUTOR DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS; AND
D. THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE ABOVE ERRORS DENIED THE APPELLANT A FUNDAMENTALLY FAIR TRIAL.

Finding no error, we affirm.

I. FACTS

¶ 2. May 16, 1998, Joshua Curry and his uncle Ralph Curry were robbed at gunpoint at Shipley's Donuts ("Shipley's") in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Ralph, Shipley's proprietor, had arrived early to prepare for the day's business. Joshua, a part-time employee of Shipley's, arrived at 5:25 a.m. to set up his fryer unit. His uncle had left the door unlocked, anticipating his employees' arrival. At about 5:31 a.m. that morning, Christine Early saw Appellant Jason Grant walking down 2nd North Street toward Shipley's. Early, who lived about one block from Shipley's, was standing on her front porch when she observed Grant walking toward Shipley's. Early testified that Grant was wearing dark jeans, a light yellow-looking shirt, and a scarf on his head. Early had known Grant for approximately two years.

¶ 3. Early left her house at about 5:54 to use Shipley's pay telephone to call a taxi to take her to work. As she passed by Shipley's windows, she saw Grant pointing a gun at the Currys. Grant had a scarf tied around his face. Early knew Grant was the gunman because she had just seen him walking by dressed in the same clothes, and she saw his hair bushing out around the scarf. Early rushed to the County Market grocery store and called the police. She told them that Jason Grant was robbing Shipley's. She later returned to the scene and identified Grant, whom the police had taken into custody, as the robber. Grant called Early a derogatory name when she identified him as the robber. When asked if the person she saw walking down the street that morning was the same person she saw robbing Shipley's Early responded: "No doubt about it."

¶ 4. Joshua Curry was sixteen-years-old at the time of the robbery. He testified that the robber instructed his uncle and him to hand over the bag with the money in it. After the robber took the money bag, he ordered Joshua and Ralph to get on the floor. Joshua testified that the robber was wearing a "white thing" over his face with a hole cut out for his eyes. The robber was also wearing dark jeans and a shirt, and had a "black thing" on his head with his "afro-like" hair sticking out. Joshua described the gun as a .357 that had a black handle with molded hand grips and an emblem imprinted on the side of the handle. The gun also had a short, chrome barrel. Joshua identified the gun that was admitted into evidence as the same gun wielded by the robber.

*804 ¶ 5. The police caught Grant near the vicinity of Shipley's. He had been running and had jumped at least two fences. Police investigator Charlie Hill saw Grant toss a white object over a fence before he, Grant, jumped over the fence. At this point, Grant was wearing only jeans and tennis shoes. The police found a gun similar to the one described by Joshua under the corner of an abandoned house, approximately one hundred to two hundred feet from where they apprehended Grant. The gun was clean and shiny, indicating that it had not been under the house for a long period of time. The police never recovered the money bag or the white object that Hill saw. Photos taken of Grant when he was apprehended showed that he was wearing dark green jeans and he was sweating. He also had long, bushy hair.

¶ 6. Warren County Circuit Clerk Larry Ashley testified that Grant was a convicted felon. Specifically, Grant had been convicted of simple assault on a police officer. After the State rested its case, Grant also rested without presenting any evidence in his defense.

I. WAS THE EVIDENCE LEGALLY SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE CONVICTIONS?

¶ 7. Grant argues that the evidence did not show that he was the perpetrator of the robbery. He complains that the only witness who identified him as the robber was Christine Early, and that Early's identification was based on conjecture and assumption based upon the clothes he was allegedly wearing. Grant argues Early's identification of him was not sufficient, credible, or substantial.

¶ 8. Whether the evidence is legally sufficient is an argument appropriately raised in a directed verdict motion or a JNOV. McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 781 (Miss.1993). In determining whether the trial court erred in failing to grant a directed verdict or JNOV, all credible evidence consistent with Grant's guilt must be accepted as true, and the State must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Id. "We may reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty." Wetz v. State, 503 So.2d 803, 808 (Miss.1987). We note that Grant presented no evidence which leaves the jury free to give full effect to the testimony of the State's witnesses. Benson v. State, 551 So.2d 188, 193 (Miss. 1989).

¶ 9. Under the above standard of review, we find that there was sufficient evidence to create a jury issue on both counts. Early gave eyewitness testimony that she saw Grant rob Shipley's. Her testimony was highly credible being based on knowing Grant for two years, having seen him walk toward Shipley's in the early morning hours right before the robbery, and based upon his wearing the same clothes as the robber and having the same hair style. Early's testimony alone is sufficient to create a jury issue. Further, giving the State the reasonable inferences that might be drawn from the photograph of Grant wielding the same type gun, and evidence that the gun used in the robbery was found within one hundred to two hundred feet from where the police apprehended Grant, it is clear that the evidence was sufficient to withstand directed verdict and JNOV motions. Finally, the State proved that Grant was a convicted felon.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
762 So. 2d 800, 2000 WL 823425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-v-state-missctapp-2000.