John Lee Franklin v. State of Mississippi

170 So. 3d 481, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 364
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 23, 2015
Docket2013-TS-01880-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 170 So. 3d 481 (John Lee Franklin v. State of Mississippi) 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
John Lee Franklin v. State of Mississippi, 170 So. 3d 481, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 364 (Mich. 2015).

Opinions

PIERCE, Justice,

for the Court:

¶1. John Lee Franklin was found guilty of arson by a Scott County jury. The Scott County Circuit Court sentenced Franklin to eighteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and ordered that Franklin pay a $1,500 fine, make restitution to the dwelling house owners in the amount of $10,000 and make restitution to the victim in the amount of $3,000. The court ordered that the fine and restitutions be made in monthly installments of $150, with the first payment due ninety days following Franklin’s release from confinement. Franklin appeals, arguing two issues: (1) the trial court erred in assessing restitution; and (2) the trial court erred in admitting Franklin’s confession into evidence. Finding no merit in either issue, we affirm the trial court judgment.

FACTS

¶ 2. Franklin and his girlfriend, Amanda Ormond, lived together with their children in a house they rented from Eddie and Peggy Johnson located at 328 West Fourth Street in Forest, Mississippi. The couple started having relationship problems, and Franklin began spending several nights sleeping in his car.

¶ 3. One day in September 2012, Amanda drove to Meridian, Mississippi, to pick up her friend, Scott Smith. The two drove back to Amanda’s sister’s house that eve[484]*484ning. Around 10:45 p.m., Amanda, Scott, and Amanda’s one-year-old son Jacoby, drove back to Amanda’s house on West Fourth Street. When they arrived, Scott put Jacoby to bed and sat down to watch television. Around 1:20 a.m., Amanda left to take her sister’s keys back to her house.

¶ 4. While she was gone, Scott heard banging coming from the back door near the laundry/utility room. When Amanda arrived home minutes later, Scott told her about the noise. Amanda opened the door to the laundry/utility room and saw flames.

¶ 5. Scott ran to get Jacoby, Amanda grabbed her purse, and they all ran out of the house. Amanda called 911. Both Amanda and Scott saw Franklin running from behind the house as they waited for the firemen to arrive.

¶ 6. Deputy Fire Marshall Pete Adcock investigated the fire and determined that it was incendiary. Franklin was arrested and gave a statement to Investigator Tom Rigby of the Forest Police Department, stating as follows:

That Thursday, Amanda told me to leave. I kept walking. I came back around nine o’clock that night to talk to her. When I got to her house, she was gone. I had a key to the car, and then I got in the car and left. She said she was going to give me the car, but [sic] hadn’t put it in my name. I came back around twelve-thirty that night. I heard voices inside her house and saw her in the house with another guy. I then sat down and started to cry and then I heard the van leave. I then lost it and went and got a pair of longjohns and soaked them in gas and then struck the match and lit the longjohns on fire and threw them up into the attic. I — I left after that.

¶ 7. Amanda stated that Franklin called her the day after the fire and “he stated that he had set the house on fire because [she] didn’t want him no more, and that [she] had another man holding his baby.”

¶ 8. Franklin was charged with arson and found guilty. He was sentenced to serve eighteen years in the custody of the MDOC. He also was sentenced to pay a $1,500 fine and to pay a total of $13,000 in restitution upon his release. .This appeal followed. Additional facts, as necessary, will be related in our analysis.

ANALYSIS

I. Whether the trial court erred in ordering Franklin to pay restitution.

¶- 9; Franklin claims the trial court erred in assessing restitution because the trial court did not meet the requirements set forth in Mississippi Code Section 99-37-3 (Rev.2007). The State contends that Franklin waived this issue by not objecting to the order of restitution at sentencing.

¶ 10. We agree with the State. Franklin waived this issue by not objecting to the restitution order at trial. See Harris v. State, 757 So.2d 195, 199 (Miss.2000) (holding that because the defendant did not object to the issue of restitution in the trial court, the issue was barred upon appeal); see also Powell v. State, 536 So.2d 13, 17 (Miss.1988) (same); Watts v. State, 492 So.2d 1281, 1290-91 (Miss.1986) (same).

¶ 11. Procedural bar notwithstanding, this issue is meritless. Section 99-37-3(1) states in part as follows: “When a person is convicted of criminal activities which have resulted in pecuniary damages, in addition to any other sentence it may impose, the court may order that the defendant make restitution to the victim....” Miss.Code Ann. § 99-37-3(1). Section 99-37-3(2) requires the trial court to consider the following:

[485]*485(a) The financial resources of the defendant and the burden that payment of restitution will impose, with due regard to the other obligations of the defendant;
(b) The ability of the defendant to pay restitution on ah installment basis or on other conditions to be fixed by the court; and •
(c) The rehabilitative effect on the defendant of the payment of restitution and the method of payment.

¶ 12. According to the record, the trial court heard evidence of the amount of damage caused by Franklin’s crime. The court questioned Franklin as to his ability to pay that amount. Afterward, the trial court ordered that Franklin pay a part of the total claimed and ordered that it be paid in monthly installments, to which Franklin did not object. See Miss.Code Ann. § 99-37-8(3) (“If the defendant objects to the imposition, amount or distribution of the restitution, the court shall, at the time of sentencing, allow him to be heard on such issue.”). For these reasons, we find no error in the trial court’s restitution order.

II. Whether the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress Franklin’s statement.

¶ 13. Franklin contends that his Miranda1 waiver and confession were involuntary because during interrogation, Franklin had stated to Investigator Rigby that he needed help. Franklin argues that because Investigator Rigby failed to inquire further what help Franklin needed, the State failed to meet its burden of proof that his confession was voluntary.

¶ 14. For a confession to be admissible, it must have been given voluntarily and not as a result of promises, threats, or inducements. Morgan v. State, 681 So.2d 82, 86 (Miss.1996). Once a defendant alleges that his confession was coerced, he secures a due-process entitlement to a reliable determination that his confession was not given as a result of coercion, inducement, or promises. Id. The State shoulders the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the confession was voluntary. Id. The State’s burden is met and a priina facie case made out by testimony of an officer, or other persons having knowledge of the facts, that the confession was voluntarily made without threats, coercion, or offer of reward. Chase v. State, 645 So.2d 829, 838 (Miss.1994).

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Bluebook (online)
170 So. 3d 481, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-lee-franklin-v-state-of-mississippi-miss-2015.