Hudson v. State

977 So. 2d 344, 2007 WL 1053932
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 10, 2007
Docket2005-KA-01298-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 977 So. 2d 344 (Hudson 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
Hudson v. State, 977 So. 2d 344, 2007 WL 1053932 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

977 So.2d 344 (2007)

Devail HUDSON, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-KA-01298-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 10, 2007.
Rehearing Denied November 20, 2007.

Pearson Liddell, Mississippi State, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jacob Ray, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

CARLTON, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Devail Hudson was convicted by an Oktibbeha County Circuit Court jury for the crime of capital murder. On appeal, he challenges the admissibility of certain evidence. Finding no error, we affirm his conviction and sentence.

FACTS

¶ 2. On the morning of August 20, 2001, Dalton Lee Miller and Juanita Miller, who had been married approximately fifty years, shared breakfast in their home at 226 Reed Road, Starkville, Mississippi. Mr. Miller left his house around 7:40 a.m. to attend to business matters. When he returned home several hours later, his yard was filled with police officers and firefighters as smoke poured from his house. Mr. Miller's son, Andy, directed him to the area of his front yard where paramedics were working on Mrs. Miller, *345 who had been severely beaten. Mrs. Miller, who was seventy-seven years old, died that afternoon at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus.

¶ 3. On January 25, 2002, Hudson was indicted by an Oktibbeha County grand jury for capital murder. Specifically, the indictment alleged that Hudson murdered Juanita Miller while engaged in the commission of the crime of robbery, pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19. A jury trial was held on September 13-18, 2004.

¶ 4. Dr. Stephen Hayne, the pathologist who performed a forensic postmortem examination of Mrs. Miller, testified as an expert in the field of forensic pathology. Dr. Hayne testified that Mrs. Miller suffered blunt force trauma to her head, shoulder, back, and left leg. He further testified that Mrs. Miller had been struck twelve to fifteen times with moderate to severe force. According to Dr. Hayne, Mrs. Miller's injuries were consistent with being struck with a clothing iron that was recovered at the Millers' home. The external examination also revealed bruises and scratches on the palm, fingers, and back of Mrs. Miller's right hand and left arm. Dr. Hayne explained that such injuries are known as defensive posturing injuries, and that they are caused by the attempt of a conscious individual to ward off blows to the face, neck, and chest. Dr. Hayne concluded that lethal brain swelling was the ultimate cause of Mrs. Miller's death.

¶ 5. Roger Mann, the fire marshal who investigated the Millers' home, also testified. According to Mann, there were at least five separate locations where fires began inside the Millers' home. Mann testified that, given the multiple origins of the fires, one fire could not have induced another. He further testified that there was no apparent electrical or mechanical failure which could have caused the fires. Consequently, Mann concluded that the fires were caused by arson.

¶ 6. Jamie Bush, a forensic scientist with the Mississippi Crime Lab, testified as to the scene of Mrs. Miller's brutal attack-the sewing room inside the Millers' home. Considerable amounts of blood were discovered in the room, including on a chair covered with blood splatter, on a pair of eyeglasses on the floor next to a clump of hair, and on a clothing iron smeared with blood. No fingerprints were salvageable from the clothing iron.

¶ 7. Bush also testified that the master bedroom of the house had suffered intensive fire and smoke damage. Filing cabinets in the master bedroom had been rummaged through and most of the drawers in the room had been pulled out and dumped on the floor. Bush testified that they found money on the floor, including a $100 bill lying out in the open, and an envelope containing a $100 bill and four $50 bills. No fingerprints were recovered from the money or from the envelopes.

¶ 8. The jury also heard testimony regarding the work of two tracking dogs that were used in the investigation. On August 20, 2001, the first tracking dog, a Labrador retriever, conducted a free-scent search, as no particular suspect's sample scent was available. The retriever picked up a scent from the back door of the Millers' home and followed it to the home of Hudson's mother. The second tracking dog, a bloodhound, conducted two searches on August 23, 2001. The first search began at Lander's Trailer Park, where Hudson's girlfriend, Juanita Quinn, lived. The bloodhound was given Hudson's scent and released on a long lead. The dog followed the scent to the back door of the Millers' home. The second search began in another part of the trailer park, but ended in *346 the same location, the back door of the Millers' home.

¶ 9. Investigator Bill Lott of the Starkville Police Department testified that he made a list of suspects which consisted of people living in the vicinity of the Millers' home who had committed serious crimes. All of the suspects on the list were promptly accounted for, with the exception of Hudson, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Consequently, on the afternoon of August 20, 2001, Hudson was arrested for unrelated charges. Inspector Lott testified that the case came to a standstill after an unfruitful search of the home of Juanita Quinn, Hudson's girlfriend. According to Inspector Lott, the break in the case came when someone called the police station to speak with detectives about the Miller case. Bentore Riley voluntarily came forward and gave a statement to the police.

¶ 10. Riley testified that on August 20, 2001, at about 9:00 a.m., he saw Hudson standing on the corner of Northside and West Drive with a group of men, including Willie Prater, Derrick Turner, Lemarc Evans, James Pastor, and Destiny Moore. Riley approached the men because one of them, Destiny Moore, was wearing Riley's tennis shoes. Riley testified that he confronted Moore about the shoes, and that Moore gave back his shoes and retrieved another pair from a nearby house. After Moore returned, Hudson said to the group, "come on, let's go." According to Riley, Hudson told the group that they were "fixing to go to that old woman's house" and to "see what she had inside it." Riley testified that when Prater asked what would happen if the woman found them in her house, Hudson said, "we are going to kill her."

¶ 11. Regarding his involvement, Riley testified that he agreed to be the look-out because he was afraid because the men were in a gang. He further testified that he thought that they would kill him or his family. Even though Riley had earlier testified that Moore returned his shoes before they went to the Millers' house, Riley also testified that he felt compelled to go with the group and to be the watch-out "since one of them had [his] shoes." According to Riley, when the men entered the Millers' house through the back door, he attempted to call the police. The next thing Riley saw was Turner running from the house. Riley testified that Hudson and Prater were the last two men to come out of the house, and that Hudson went to the trailer park directly after leaving the Millers' house.

¶ 12. On September 18, 2004, the jury convicted Hudson of capital murder. Hudson was sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment without parole in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. His appeal has been assigned to this Court.

DISCUSSION

1. Prejudicial Evidence

¶ 13. Hudson relies on case law in arguing that the trial court erroneously admitted evidence that indicated Hudson was in a gang. Brooks v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
977 So. 2d 344, 2007 WL 1053932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-state-missctapp-2007.