Jackson v. State

90 So. 3d 597, 2012 WL 2345355, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 306
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-KA-00169-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 90 So. 3d 597 (Jackson 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
Jackson v. State, 90 So. 3d 597, 2012 WL 2345355, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 306 (Mich. 2012).

Opinions

CARLSON, Presiding Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. David Anthony Jackson appeals his house-burglary conviction and twenty-five-year penitentiary sentence. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of conviction and sentence entered in the Circuit Court for the First Judicial District of Hinds County.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. The Jackson home of former United States Senator and Mrs. Trent Lott was burglarized on April 27, 2009. Jackson was indicted on October 2, 2009, by the Grand Jury for the First Judicial District of Hinds County for the felonious breaking and entering of a dwelling house with the intent to take, steal, or carry away the property of the homeowner in violation of Mississippi Code Section 97-17-23 (1972, as amended). On October 18, 2010, Jackson was brought to trial in the Circuit Court for the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Judge W. Swan Yerger presiding. The State called ten witnesses and offered thirty exhibits into evidence. When the State rested, Jackson moved for a directed verdict, which was denied. The defense rested without offering any evidence. The trial court refused one of Jackson’s proposed jury instructions, D-3, which provided for the lesser-included offense of trespass. On October 21, 2010, the jury found Jackson guilty of house burglary. He was sentenced by the trial judge as a habitual offender to twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

¶ 3. On October 29, 2010, Jackson filed a Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, Or In The Alternative, For A New Trial. The circuit court denied this motion. Aggrieved, Jackson filed this appeal, raising three assignments of error: (1) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction, specifically that the State failed to establish Jackson’s intent to commit the crime of larceny once inside the house; (2) that the trial court erred in refusing to give Jackson’s proffered jury instruction (D-3) for the lesser-included offense of trespass; and (3) that the trial court erred in denying Jackson’s Motion for a Directed Verdict and his Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, or in the Alternative, for a New Trial.

FACTS

¶ 4. Since two of the three errors assigned by Jackson in today’s case pertain to the legal sufficiency of the evidence and the weight of the evidence, it is necessary that we set out the facts of this case in detail. Extensive trial testimony was delivered by a number of witnesses. Our presentation of the facts comes via the witnesses who testified for the State of Mississippi during the trial. The defendant, David Anthony Jackson, offered no evidence in his case-in-chief. Whenever we are confronted with an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence, we are required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Taylor v. State, 62 So.3d 962, 965 (Miss.2011). Thus, we present the testimony of the witnesses in this light.

[600]*600Deputy Charles Hamil

¶ 5. On April 27, 2009, Deputy Charles Hamil of the Hinds County Sheriffs Department was dispatched to investigate a house alarm that had gone off at the Lotts’ home in Jackson. The Lotts’ house was located approximately a mile and a half from any other dwelling and was in a wooded area. Deputy Hamil noted a blue SUV parked at the side of the road, which struck him as unusual, since the Lotts own both sides of the road. When Deputy Hamil got to the main entrance of the property, two men in a white truck came down the driveway and explained to Hamil that they had been cutting trees on the property and had noted that the house’s back door had been kicked in. Hamil did not remember the names of the two men, but from the record, it is clear that these men were Dwight McCrory and Morris Gray. Hamil asked McCrory to stay with the vehicle, and then he and Gray approached the house.

¶ 6. Hamil noted that the door had been kicked in and announced himself loudly. He checked the house thoroughly, but did not find anyone in the house. The door had been forced open, and a footprint was visible on the door. Drawers lay open, and personal property was strewn about the house, which Hamil noted was indicative of a house burglary. In particular, Hamil recalled that the gun cabinet and a study desk appeared disturbed; in the latter case, paper had been strewn everywhere.

¶ 7. McCrory, who had been standing by the SUV, called Gray, who was still with Hamil, and reported seeing a man running across the road and into the woods. Ham-il began a foot pursuit of the man through the woods. While still in the woods, Hamil was informed via radio by Deputy Kenneth Ledford, who recently had arrived at the scene, that the suspect was fleeing down the road. By the time Hamil got back to the road, other deputies had taken the suspect, later identified as Jackson, into custody.

Deputy Kenneth Ledford

¶ 8. Deputy Ledford arrived on the scene in response to a dispatch concerning Hamil’s investigation, and Hamil requested that he (Ledford) station himself next to the SUV, a Chevrolet Blazer. Ledford learned that the tag on the SUV had been issued to Carolyn Jackson, who later was discovered to be Jackson’s wife, and Led-ford found Jackson’s driver’s license in the car. Ledford stated that Captain Nathaniel Ross arrived on the scene and asked Ledford what the suspect was wearing. When Ledford relayed that he had on dark shorts, a gray shirt, and tennis shoes, Ross told Ledford that he had just seen an individual possibly fitting that description exit the woods.

¶ 9. Thereafter, the suspect crossed the road, and Ledford and another deputy, Jack Lilley, detained him. When apprehended, the suspect, Jackson, was sweaty, had leaves from the woods on his person, and had several scratches on his skin. Ledford was able to ascertain Jackson’s address, and characterized it as “nowhere near” the Lott home. When apprehended, Jackson was not carrying any stolen items.

Morris Gray

¶ 10. Morris Gray, a groundskeeper, was on the Lott property on April 27, 2009, assisting logger Dwight McCrory, who was cutting timber on the property. As the two men passed the house, they heard the burglar alarm going off. Gray also noted that a side door had been “busted open.” Gray entered the house and discovered that someone had been going through the checkbook in the bedroom, as well as the gun cabinet. Gray called Senator Lott, who informed him that the alarm [601]*601automatically would shut off after fifteen minutes. With this information, after the alarm shut off, Gray was able to estimate when the break-in had occurred. Gray did not see anyone in the house, but did notice that the bathroom door was closed.

¶ 11. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Hamil arrived and asked McCrory to stay by the car and watch for the suspect, while Hamil and Gray returned to the house. Upon reentering the house with Hamil, Gray found the bathroom door open. At this point, only five or six minutes had passed since Gray had left the house after noticing that the bathroom door was closed. While searching the house, Gray got a call from McCrory indicating that someone had just crossed the road and entered the woods. Gray believed the house door had been beaten open with a stick of firewood.

Dwight McCrory

¶ 12. Dwight McCrory had entered the house with Gray before Hamil arrived. The door appeared to have been forced open, and items had been pulled out from under the gun cabinet. McCrory observed the SUV parked about 100 yards from the property.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 So. 3d 597, 2012 WL 2345355, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-state-miss-2012.