Hughes v. State

807 So. 2d 426, 2001 WL 1429270
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 2001
Docket2000-KA-01366-SCT, 95-KA-00152-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 807 So. 2d 426 (Hughes 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
Hughes v. State, 807 So. 2d 426, 2001 WL 1429270 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

807 So.2d 426 (2001)

Simeon HUGHES
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

Nos. 2000-KA-01366-SCT, 95-KA-00152-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 15, 2001.
Rehearing Denied February 21, 2002.

*428 James A. Williams, Meridian, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jean Smith Vaughan, Jackson, Attorneys for Appellee.

Before McRAE, P.J., COBB and DIAZ, JJ.

DIAZ, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. This is a criminal appeal from the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, where Simeon Hughes was indicted, tried by a jury, and convicted of armed robbery. Hughes, a habitual offender, was sentenced to 34 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole. This case comes before this Court consolidated from a previous appeal of the same parties and crime. In Hughes's previous appeal, his attorney believed there was no reversible error. The Court of Appeals affirmed Hughes's conviction in his first appeal. Based upon a review and decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, this Court now reviews Hughes's out-of-time direct appeal, his second appeal. Hughes v. Booker, 220 F.3d 346, 353 (5th Cir.2000). With new counsel to assist him in his appeal, Hughes is seeking a reversal and remand for a new trial or in the alternative a remand for resentencing.

FACTS

¶ 2. On April 14, 1994, Hughes threatened Henry Earl Brown with a gun and took $20 from him. Brown was the only witness to testify at the trial of Hughes. Brown testified that he stopped at the Amoco Station in Meridian to get some coffee and bait his coon traps. He said that Hughes and a woman approached him at the Amoco. The woman introduced herself as Hughes's sister and asked him for a ride home and some money. Brown gave the woman two dollars, took her home, and accompanied her inside the home. The woman asked Brown to spend a little time with her before he went out to set his coon traps. Brown told the woman that "sex-wise," he had nothing to offer because cancer had destroyed his virility.

¶ 3. Brown testified that about 5 minutes later, Hughes entered the home. Hughes asked Brown if he wanted to buy a nine millimeter handgun. Hughes pulled the gun out from behind his back to show Brown. Hughes's sister then asked Brown to give them $20 so that they could buy some crack cocaine. Brown testified that he told them he did not throw his money away on drugs. He said Hughes moved in closer to him, and Brown said, "I think I know what y'all up to. It's time for me to go, and I made a break for it." Brown testified that the woman then "snatched" Hughes down on the couch. When he got up, she grabbed him, and Brown shoved her back. He then testified that Hughes said that if he hit his sister *429 again he would kill him. Hughes then hit Brown on the head with the pistol, causing him to bleed. The woman took the money from Brown's front pocket, tearing the pocket, and dropped it on the floor. Brown picked his roll of money back up. Hughes told Brown to give his sister the $20.00. Brown submitted to Hughes because Hughes had a gun drawn on him. Brown actually had over $300 dollars, but testified that he told Hughes that he would have to kill him to get all his money. So, Hughes allowed Brown to count out exactly $21 to give to Hughes's sister.

¶ 4. Hughes now argues that several errors occurred at trial including: (1) improper jury instructions, (2) failure to instruct the jury on lesser-included offenses, (3) error in excluding Hughes from chambers during the striking of the jury, (4) error in denying Hughes his Fifth Amendment right to silence, (5) ineffective assistance of counsel, and (6) error in sentencing Hughes as a habitual offender. Most of these errors, as the State points out, are procedurally barred because proper objections were not raised at trial to preserve the issues. Nevertheless, this Court will address the merits of each of Hughes's assertions.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

I. Did the trial judge err in instructing the jury on elements of the crime that did not conform to the indictment?

¶ 5. Hughes argues that parts two and three of Instruction S 1 impermissibly vary from the indictment and that the facts do not support the instruction given to the jury. Parts two and three of Instruction S-1 state:

2. The Defendant, Simeon Hughes, did, either alone or with others, wilfully unlawfully and knowingly take or attempt to take the personal property of Henry Earl Brown from the person of Henry Earl Brown by force or by putting him in fear of immediate injury to his person;
3. By the exhibition of a deadly weapon.

The indictment charges the following:

Simeon Hughes .... did wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously take or attempt to take the personal property of Henry Earl Brown, consisting of Twenty Dollars ($20.00) ... from the person or presence of Henry Earl Brown against his will by violence to his person by the use of a deadly weapon, a handgun, putting the said Henry Earl Brown, in fear of immediate injury to his person ...

Hughes complains that the instruction should have included the amount of the personal property taken from Brown. He also argues that the instruction should not have included the "either alone or with others" language because this implies that other people may have participated in the crime. These arguments are without merit. The differences between Instruction S-1 and the indictment are minute. Furthermore, the jury was fully aware of the amount of personal property taken from Brown; therefore, it makes no difference whether the instruction included the exact amount.

¶ 6. Hughes believes that the "exhibition of a deadly weapon" should not have been an element of the instruction. Hughes somehow contends that one of Brown's responses to the prosecutor's questions did not warrant the inclusion of this third part of the instruction. At some point during his cross-examination, Brown stated that Hughes did not have to point the gun at him after Hughes had knocked him in the head with it. Putting this statement into context, the jury could have reasonably interpreted this to mean merely *430 that regardless of whether Hughes was pointing the gun at Brown, Brown was put in enough fear to feel threatened with deadly force by the exhibition of the handgun. From a factual standpoint, Hughes's proposition is without merit. Furthermore, this was a factual issue that was left to the interpretation of the jury.

II. Did the trial court err in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser offenses of aggravated assault and simple assault?

¶ 7. Hughes gives several arguments for his assertion that he should have been charged with lesser crimes. First, he argues that since his sister was the one who took the money, he did not actually rob Brown. Secondly, he states that he was only defending his sister from Brown and he believed that Brown owed his sister the $20.00. Third, he argues that since Brown did not receive medical treatment, there is no proof that his injuries were serious enough to support the crime of armed robbery. There is no support in the record for Hughes's assertion that the trial court erred by failing to give him an instruction on simple assault. Hughes hit Brown on the head with a gun and threatened Brown with the specific intent to put Brown in fear and take his money. However, there is evidence in the record that would support an instruction on aggravated assault.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
807 So. 2d 426, 2001 WL 1429270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-state-miss-2001.