Grant v. State

913 So. 2d 316, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 253, 2005 WL 832380
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 12, 2005
DocketNo. 2003-KA-01451-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 913 So. 2d 316 (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, 913 So. 2d 316, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 253, 2005 WL 832380 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

KING, C.J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. Wayne Grant was convicted of sexual battery by the Circuit Court of Perry County, Mississippi. He was sentenced as an habitual offender to a term of thirty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved by his conviction and sentence, Grant has appealed and raises the following issues which we quote verbatim:

I. Whether the trial court committed reversible error in not granting the [defendant's [mjotion to [dismiss for [l]ack of [s]peedy [t]rial.
II. Whether the trial court committed reversible error by not granting the defendant’s motion to suppress certain crime lab evidence and allowing said objected evidence into the trial.
III.Whether or not the verdict rendered by the jury is against the weight of the evidence and contrary to the principles of justice.

FACTS

¶ 2. Ms. Davis1 testified that on April 14, 2001, she heard someone knock on a window of her home in Beaumont, Mississippi. The individual was one of her nephews, Wayne Grant, whom Ms. Davis allowed to enter her home. According to Ms. Davis, Grant began rubbing on her and stated that his wife used to “take care of him.” Ms. Davis stated that Grant then raped her in the middle bedroom of her home.

¶ 3. The next day, one of Ms. Davis’ daughters, visited her mother and noticed that her mother seemed “down.” Upon inquiry, Ms. Davis told her daughters that Grant had raped her. One of her daughters reported this to the Beaumont Police Department.

¶4. Wayne Penton, Police Chief of the Beaumont Police Department, came to Ms. Davis’ home where he spoke with her daughters about the incident. Because Chief Penton’s department did not investigate felonies, he contacted the Perry County Sheriffs Department. Officer Jody Lott of the Perry County Sheriffs Department was sent to the scene.

¶ 5. Upon arrival, Officer Lott talked with Chief Penton and family members. As a part of his investigation, Officer Lott took the sheets from the bed (where the incident transpired) and certain items of clothing which he placed into plastic bags and placed them into his patrol car.

¶ 6. Ms. Davis had been transported to the Perry County Hospital by family members. Officer Lott went to the hospital to [319]*319speak with Ms. Davis, leaving the bags of evidence locked in his patrol car. Ms. Davis told Officer Lott that Grant was her attacker. Officer Lott’s shift , ended while he was at the hospital with Ms: Davis. Officer Mitch Nobles came to the hospital and relieved Officer Lott. Lott informed Officer Nobles about what had transpired, and gave him the bags of evidence.

¶ 7. Officer Nobles locked the bags in his patrol car and went back into the hospital to obtain a statement from Ms. Davis. The bags of evidence remained with Nobles in his patrol car until the next morning. With the end of his shift, Nobles took the bags of evidence to the sheriffs department, where they were given to Officer Jimmy Smith. Smith removed the evidence from the plastic bags, and sealed it in paper bags. Smith then placed the bags of evidence in the evidence safe, which was located in his office. Later, these items were moved to a locked room in the courthouse, to which only the sheriff had a key. On February 19, 2002, Smith transported the evidence to the Mississippi Crime Lab in Jackson.

¶8. On April 15, 2001, Officer Nobles took a rape kit to the hospital to be administered to Ms. Davis. The kit was administered by Dr. Derrick Duffield, an emergency room physician at Perry County Hospital. After the kit’s administration, Officer Nobles carried it back to the sheriffs department and placed it in the refrigerator. The rape kit was sent to the crime lab. According, to Smith, the kit came back negative.

¶ 9. In August 2002, the sheriffs department was authorized to obtain a-blood sample from Grant. Smith and a health department representative took a blood sample from Grant after he was taken into custody. Smith placed the sample in an evidence bag in a refrigerator until it could be transported to the crime lab. Smith asked Officer Benjamin Strahan of the Forrest/Perry Metro Narcotic’s Task Force to take the sample to the crime lab. Officer Strahan took the sample to the Forrest County Sheriffs Office and placed it in their refrigerator'. Because Officer Strahan was unable to go to the crime lab, he asked Officer Glenn Moore of the Forrest/Perry Metro Narcotic’s Task Force to take the sample to the crime lab in Jackson.

¶ 10. Grant was arrested in April 2001 and charged with sexual battery. He was indicted on June 6, 2002. After trial on February 26-28, 2003, Grant was found guilty of the charge.

ISSUES AND ANALYSIS

I.

Whether the trial court erred in denying Grant’s motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial.

¶ 11. Grant argues that his motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial should have been granted because he “did not receive a preliminary hearing until February 2002, 305 days .after his arrest on April 16, 2001.” He maintains that his right to due process began on the day he was incarcerated.

¶ 12. “A criminal defendant has a constitutional right to a speedy trial. This right is guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The right is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The right to a speedy trial is also guaranteed under Article 3, Section 26 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890.” Felder v. State, 831 So.2d 562(¶ 8) (Miss.Ct.App.2002). The supreme court has held that the defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial attaches at the time of formal indictment or when he [320]*320is arrested, whichever occurs first. Handley v. State, 574 So.2d 671, 674 (Miss.1990); Perry v. State, 419 So.2d 194, 198 (Miss.1982).

¶ 13. To determine whether the right to a speedy trial has been violated, this Court applies the balancing test of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), Spencer v. State, 592 So.2d 1382, 1387 (Miss.1991). The Barker factors include: (1) length of the delay, (2) reason for the delay, (3) the defendant’s assertion of his rights, and (4) the prejudice to the defendant. Id. Because no single factor is dispositive, this Court examines these factors within the context of each case. Skaggs v. State, 676 So.2d 897, 900 (Miss.1996).

Length of Delay

¶ 14. The first factor is the length of delay. The supreme court has held that a delay of eight months or longer is presumptively prejudicial. Sharp v. State, 786 So.2d 372 (¶ 16) (Miss.2001). The chronology of events in this case is as follows:

April 16, 2001 Arrested for burglary of a dwelling and sexual battery
September 24, 2001 Motion for a preliminary hearing
November 14, 2001 Motion for speedy trial
December 19, 2001 Motion for dismissal
January 2002 Preliminary Hearing
June 6, 2002 Indictment filed
June 12, 2002 Arraignment order filed

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Related

Barker v. Wingo
407 U.S. 514 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Billiot v. State
454 So. 2d 445 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
Doby v. State
532 So. 2d 584 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1988)
Rhyne v. State
741 So. 2d 1049 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 1999)
Turner v. State
383 So. 2d 489 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1980)
Hemphill v. State
566 So. 2d 207 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1990)
Jefferson v. State
818 So. 2d 1099 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Isaac v. State
645 So. 2d 903 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1994)
Sharp v. State
786 So. 2d 372 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001)
Adams v. State
583 So. 2d 165 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1991)
Skaggs v. State
676 So. 2d 897 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996)
Craft v. State
832 So. 2d 467 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Spann v. State
771 So. 2d 883 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Magnusen
646 So. 2d 1275 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1994)
Wiley v. State
582 So. 2d 1008 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1991)
Felder v. State
831 So. 2d 562 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
Spencer v. State
592 So. 2d 1382 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1991)
Handley v. State
574 So. 2d 671 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1990)
Christian v. State
456 So. 2d 729 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Woodall
801 So. 2d 678 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
913 So. 2d 316, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 253, 2005 WL 832380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-v-state-missctapp-2005.