James v. State

912 So. 2d 982, 2004 WL 1965662
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 7, 2004
Docket96-KA-01058-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 912 So. 2d 982 (James 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
James v. State, 912 So. 2d 982, 2004 WL 1965662 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

912 So.2d 982 (2004)

Dayon JAMES a/k/a Dayon Hasan James, Sr. a/k/a Dayon Hasan-Nevada James, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 96-KA-01058-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

September 7, 2004.
Rehearing Denied November 23, 2004.

*984 Joseph P. Hudson and James Donald Evans, Gulfport, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Billy L. Gore, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., LEE, P.J., and IRVING, J.

IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Dayon James a/k/a Dayon Hasan James, Sr. was indicted by the grand jury of the First Judicial District of Harrison County for two counts of capital murder while in the commission of felonious child abuse. He was tried and convicted of count one by a jury and sentenced to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Following the verdict, James moved for a new trial on the basis of jury impropriety in the consideration of extraneous information and for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The motions were denied, and James appealed his conviction.

¶ 2. This Court, in a modified opinion on motion for rehearing, James v. State, 777 So.2d 682 (Miss.Ct.App.2000), found that there was no reversible error in the conduct of the trial but held that the trial court should have conducted a hearing to determine whether the jury was exposed to extraneous information regarding the second count of the indictment. The case was remanded to the trial court for the purpose of holding such a hearing. The trial court was directed to hold an on-the-record polling hearing within ninety days or as soon thereafter as feasible to determine if extraneous matter was discussed during jury deliberations. Id. at (¶ 71). The trial court was not authorized nor directed to question jurors about their deliberations beyond that permitted by the Mississippi Rules of Evidence Rule 606(b); the poll was simply for the purpose of determining whether extraneous matter was discussed or mentioned. Id. If the court concluded from the poll that the jury did in fact discuss the extraneous matter of the death of the second child during the jury's deliberations, the court was instructed to, on its own and without further interrogation of the jury, determine the extent of the discussion and evaluate the impact, if any, that the discussion had on the jury's verdict, being guided by the teachings of Gladney v. Clarksdale Beverage Co., 625 So.2d 407 (Miss.1993). Id.

¶ 3. If the court determined that the jury's verdict was influenced by this information, notwithstanding the other evidence which the jury may have concluded pointed to James's guilt, it was instructed to grant James a new trial. Id. On the other hand, if the court determined that no extraneous matter was discussed or that the discussion of such matter did not influence the jury's verdict, it was instructed to certify its findings in this regard, along with a copy of the transcript of the hearing to this Court. Id.

*985 ¶ 4. In keeping with the order of this Court, a hearing was conducted. Of the twelve jurors and two alternates who sat on the jury, eleven jurors and one alternate appeared in response to the trial court's summons. One juror could not be located and one alternate failed to appear after being served with process. All of the jurors were questioned individually, outside the presence of the other jurors and all were asked the same basic questions by the trial court. Of the twelve jurors who appeared, six recalled receiving no information at any time about James other than the evidence produced in court. One juror testified that several weeks after she served on the jury, she heard something about another child being involved and went to the library where she attempted, without success, to find out if that was the case.

¶ 5. Another juror testified that she heard something about another child after the verdicts had been rendered on both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. A third juror testified as follows: "Someone in the jury room did mention something; I don't recall what. But it was an incidental comment. It was as if they had noticed something on a bulletin board here in the courthouse or something, but I don't really recall." This juror could provide no other details about the comment.

¶ 6. The court posed the following question to each of the jurors at the hearing: "At any time before you returned your verdict finding Dayon James guilty, were you informed or made aware from any source that Dayon James had been accused of killing another child other than the victim Shanekqua Keyes?" Juror Daniel Fazzio's response and a series of follow-up questions and answers were as follows:

A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right, sir. What information did you receive?
A. Just what was said in court.
Q. What was said in court?
A. Yes, sir, that they mentioned it.
Q. All right, sir. Now, do you remember whether that was mentioned by — in open court during the Court proceedings?
A. I don't remember, sir. It was too long ago.
Q. I understand. Do you remember the individual or the source of the information?
A. No, sir.
Q. What was it that you heard, or do you have any particular recollection as to what you heard concerning that?
A. That there was a possibility of another incident.
* * *
Q. Did you communicate that information to anybody else during the trial?
A. No, sir.
Q. Including any other jurors.
A. No, sir.

¶ 7. The whole notion of whether the jury was exposed to extraneous information was spawned by statements made by Wanda Conway. Conway had been a member of James's original venire panel but was not chosen to sit on James's trial jury. At the hearing on James's post trial motion Conway testified to the following:

She was a member of the prospective jury panel at James's trial. During voir dire the jury was instructed to refrain from discussing matters related to the trial. During the lunch break, she had lunch with three other members of the prospective jury, namely, Paula Dedeaux, Shawn Watson, and Juanita Hathorne. Questions regarding the nature of the trial came up and Paula Dedeaux *986 informed the rest of the group that James was on trial for murdering two children. One member of the group, Shawn Watson, was eventually selected and served on James's trial jury.

Conway testified that following the verdict she had a discussion with Shawn Watson regarding the jury deliberations. Conway's version of the conversation was as follows:

Yes. She said that they knew, some of the people in there knew about the second child and that they kept bringing it up. Said, well, you know—she was saying that they was saying he was guilty because it was two children. She said she was one of the ones that kept saying we don't know if there were two children or not; we can only go on this child here. She said several of them, and she never mentioned any names or anything, she kept saying several of them knew. And she also mentioned that—because she asked me had I seen the docket sheet out front because some of them saw that he was charged with something else. I told her I hadn't seen the docket.

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Related

James v. State
912 So. 2d 940 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Dayon James v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
912 So. 2d 982, 2004 WL 1965662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-v-state-missctapp-2004.