Graves v. State

492 So. 2d 562
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1986
Docket56354
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 492 So. 2d 562 (Graves v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graves v. State, 492 So. 2d 562 (Mich. 1986).

Opinion

492 So.2d 562 (1986)

Jerry Donnell GRAVES
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 56354.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 9, 1986.

M. Charles May, Jackson, for appellant.

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Harold H. Brittain, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.

SULLIVAN, Justice, for the Court:

From a conviction of murder and a sentence of life imprisonment as an habitual offender under Mississippi Code Annotated § 99-19-83 (Supp. 1985), on November 29, 1984, JERRY DONNELL GRAVES (Graves) appeals, assigning as error:

I. The trial court erred in overruling the defendant's motion for mistrial on the grounds that the State unnecessarily introduced evidence of an unconnected crime;
II. The trial court committed reversible error in admitting a green knife as evidence of the murder weapon; and
III. The re-indictment of the appellant was a result of prosecutorial vindictiveness.

*563 I.

SHOULD THE TRIAL COURT HAVE DECLARED A MISTRIAL DUE TO EVIDENCE BEING INTRODUCED OF ANOTHER CRIME COMMITTED BY GRAVES?

Veronica Moore was babysitting for Dorothy Jean Ransburgh, the sister of Jerry Donnell Graves, on the night of December 21, 1979, and during the early morning hours of December 22, 1979. On direct examination she testified for the state that Jerry Graves came to the Ransburgh house around 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. on December 22, 1979, and was wearing at that time a pair of beige pants and a soft beige cap. She testified that Graves was wearing a dark shirt, but she could not remember what color it was. On cross-examination, Moore admitted that she had told the attorney for Graves that she thought Graves was wearing something beige, and that he did not have on anything maroon. The following exchange then took place:

BY MR. MAY:
Q All right. Now who have you talked to since that time concerning what he wore?
A Chief Gusack.
Q You talked to Mr. Gusack?
A Yes.
Q Now what did Mr. Gusack tell you that Jerry Graves was supposed to have been wearing?
A A beige pair of pants, a soft cap and a maroon shirt.
Q Mr. Gusack told you that's what he was wearing, didn't he?
A Yes.
Q O.k., but you told me that it was a jump suit, didn't you?
A Yes.
Q All right.

On redirect examination, Ms. Moore said that in 1979 she talked to the police about what Graves was doing at the Ransburgh home between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. She further testified that she talked to the police about what Graves was wearing on that night. She made a police report about what happened that night and about what Graves was wearing, and she further testified that Dorothy Jean Ransburgh and her Uncle Lewis Ransburgh were also present. At this point, Graves objected on the grounds that the district attorney was attempting to establish that Jerry Graves allegedly did another crime on the night in question, for which he has never been convicted. That objection was overruled. There was then an objection as to Moore testifying about what Ransburgh said Graves was wearing, on the grounds that it was hearsay. The jury was then instructed by the court to disregard any portion of the answer by Moore that referred to the police report.

Dorothy Ransburgh then testified for the state that when she and her husband returned to their home in the early morning of December 22, 1979, she had an occasion to call the police and the police came to her house. She admitted that she gave to the police a description of her brother and the clothing that he had on, but she testified that she could not now remember what that clothing was.

The district attorney then called Officer Steven Roebuck, who testified that he was on duty on the morning of December 22, 1979, and responded to the call at the Ransburgh home. In response to questioning, Officer Roebuck testified that he took down a description of the clothing that Mrs. Ransburgh told him was being worn on that occasion by Graves. After refreshing his memory from the police report that he took down simultaneously with the description given by Mrs. Ransburgh, he testified that Mrs. Ransburgh said Graves was wearing a maroon shirt or a maroon tee-shirt, some tan or khaki pants, and a tan or khaki flop hat. When asked was there anything else unusual in the report about Graves' appearance, the following answer was given:

A Ms. Ransburgh told me she observed what appeared to be blood —
BY MR. MAY:
(Interposing) Your Honor, we are gonna object to hearsay.
*564 BY THE COURT:
Sustained.

The thrust of this assignment of error is that: (1) The prosecution may not show that a defendant committed crimes other than the one for which he is on trial, except in certain situations, and (2) Roebuck's testimony from the police report as to what Ransburgh told him about what Graves was wearing was hearsay.

The evidence on this record does not show that Graves had committed a separate and independent crime from the one charged in the indictment, nor is there any indication that the jury had any knowledge that Graves was arrested, taken into custody, or even charged with any crime except the one for which he was indicted.

What the record does indicate is that Ransburgh called the police in the early morning hours of December 22, 1979, and gave a description of Graves and what he was wearing to Officer Roebuck.

Graves relies on our decision in Johnson v. State, 416 So.2d 383 (Miss. 1982), in support of his argument that proof of a crime distinct from the crime charged in the indictment is generally inadmissible. Reliance on Johnson is misplaced.

In Johnson, quoting from Woods v. State, 393 So.2d 1319 (Miss. 1981), we stated:

In Gray v. State, 351 So.2d 1342 (Miss. 1977), the Court said:
"... It is well settled in this state that proof of a crime distinct from that alleged in an indictment is not admissible against an accused. There are certain recognized exceptions to the rule. Proof of another crime is admissible where the offense charged and that offered to be proved are so connected as to constitute one transaction, where it is necessary to identify the defendant, where it is material to prove motive and there is an apparent relation or connection between the act proposed to be proved and that charged, where the accusation involves a series of criminal acts which must be proved to make out the offense, or where it is necessary to prove scienter or guilty knowledge. See Smith v. State, 223 So.2d 657 (Miss. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1030, 90 S.Ct. 1274, 25 L.Ed.2d 542 (1970); Cummings v. State, 219 So.2d 673 (Miss. 1969); cert. den. 397 U.S. 942, 90 S.Ct. 954, 25 L.Ed.2d 122 (1970). 393 So.2d at 1325 (emphasis added.)

416 So.2d at 386.

In Johnson, we found no error under this particular assignment on grounds that the evidence was admissible to show the identity of the accused, motive for the shooting, and was admissible as part of the res gestae.

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Bluebook (online)
492 So. 2d 562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graves-v-state-miss-1986.