Jones v. State

856 So. 2d 389, 2003 WL 1481629
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMarch 25, 2003
Docket2001-KA-01307-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 856 So. 2d 389 (Jones 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
Jones v. State, 856 So. 2d 389, 2003 WL 1481629 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

856 So.2d 389 (2003)

James Lamar JONES, a/k/a James Jones, Jr., a/k/a James L. Jones, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2001-KA-01307-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

March 25, 2003.
Rehearing Denied August 5, 2003.

*391 Daniel Starr Spivey, Canton, Robert Louis Williamson, Brandon, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General By Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, attorney for appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., LEE and MYERS, JJ.

LEE, J., for the court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. James Jones was indicted for murder, armed robbery, and capital murder, and was tried in June 2001 before an Attala County jury. Jones was granted a directed verdict as to the charge of capital murder, but the jury convicted him of murder and armed robbery, and he was sentenced to serve life imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run consecutively. Jones's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative a new trial was overruled, and he appeals to this Court raising the following issues: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment; (2) the appellant's due process rights were violated; (3) the trial court erred in sustaining the State's objection to the appellant's attempt to introduce a written statement into evidence; and (4) the trial court erred in overruling defendant's objections and in denying his motion for mistrial during the closing argument of the State. We review each of these issues and find no merit; thus, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On or about June 21, 2000, the appellant and four friends went to the home of Calvin Haymon in Kosciusko. Jones knocked on the door and Haymon's girlfriend, Angela Barton, answered the door. Jones asked her for some "weed" at about the time Haymon drove up to the house with Yvonne Ellis. Haymon and Ellis had exited the car and were standing at the rear of the car when one of Jones's friends, Vincent Butler, approached the *392 two and pulled two guns. Jones then approached and demanded money from Ellis and Haymon and told them to get into the car. Shortly thereafter, Yvonne Ellis's brother, Daniel Ellis, drove up, causing Butler to throw his guns at Jones, who was now seated in the driver's seat of the vehicle. Yvonne Ellis took off running and later found out that his brother, Daniel, had been shot. Daniel later died from his wounds. Haymon was also found shot dead later that night on a rural road.

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. WAS THE EVIDENCE SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE VERDICT?

¶ 3. Jones first argues that the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdict. We look to our standard of review:

[T]he sufficiency of the evidence as a matter of law is viewed and tested in a light most favorable to the State. The credible evidence consistent with [the defendant's] guilt must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury. We reverse when, with respect to an element of the offense charged, the evidence is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.

Muscolino v. State, 803 So.2d 1240(¶ 10) (Miss.Ct.App.2002) (citations omitted). Jones cites inconsistencies in testimony, mainly centering on clothing witnesses recalled him wearing that night and the stature of the person who shot Daniel Ellis. We are mindful of our ability to review factual questions: "The jury must be left to resolve matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence.... Once a case is submitted to the fact finder, `any factual disputes are properly resolved by the jury and do not mandate a new trial.'" Stevenson v. State, 733 So.2d 177(¶ 37) (Miss.1998) (citation omitted). In viewing the evidence in a light favorable to the verdict, we are not persuaded that reasonable men could only have found Jones not guilty. Thus, we find no merit to this issue.

II. WERE THE APPELLANT'S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS VIOLATED BY THE IN-COURT IDENTIFICATIONS OF HIM AS THE SHOOTER?

¶ 4. Jones next argues that his due process rights were violated when Angela Barton, Daniel Summerlin and Rochelle George were allowed to make in-court identifications of Jones as the shooter. In Bogan v. State, 754 So.2d 1289(¶ 12) (Miss. Ct.App.2000), the appellant failed to object to the in-court identification, which was fatal for purposes of preserving error for appeal. In the present case, Jones failed to object at trial to Barton's and Summerlin's in-court identifications of him; thus, with regard to these two witnesses, he has failed to preserve this point for appeal.

¶ 5. Regarding Rochelle George, Jones objected just before the prosecutor elicited an identification from George. The judge held a bench conference outside the jury's hearing, then removed the jury for further discussion. George told the judge that she could identify Jones from the preliminary hearing as the same person at the crime scene. George explained that, of the three men at the preliminary hearing who were identified as being at the crime scene, Jones fit the description of the figure she saw do the shooting. Jones argued that George should make her identification from the scene, not from the preliminary hearing. The court sustained the objection and ruled that George could *393 only testify that Jones had the same build as the unidentified person she saw do the shooting.

¶ 6. In the presence of the jury, George did not identify Jones as the shooter. We, therefore, find no merit to Jones's argument that his due process rights were violated due to in-court identification by George.

III. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN SUSTAINING THE STATE'S OBJECTION TO THE APPELLANT'S ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE ANGELA BARTON'S WRITTEN STATEMENT INTO EVIDENCE?

¶ 7. Next, Jones argues the trial court erred in declining to allow the written statement of Angela Barton, Haymon's girlfriend, to be used to impeach her testimony, which was inconsistent with her prior statement. Concerning evidentiary issues, our standard of review is clear:

Under the Supreme Court's standard of review, the admissibility of evidence rests within the discretion of the trial court. However, this Court must also determine whether the trial court employed the proper legal standards in its fact findings governing evidence admissibility. If in fact the trial court has incorrectly perceived the applicable legal standard in its fact findings, the Court applies a substantially broader standard of review. However, a denial of a substantial right of the defendant must have been affected by the court's evidentiary ruling. Furthermore, the trial court's discretion must be exercised within the scope of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence and reversal will be appropriate only when an abuse of discretion resulting in prejudice to the accused occurs.

Hayes v. State, 803 So.2d 473(¶ 4) (Miss. Ct.App.2001).

¶ 8. On cross-examination, Jones's attorney got Barton to admit that her statement to the police two days after the shooting was inconsistent with the testimony she had just given. Barton explained that the details she gave to the police were based on her own knowledge, but her testimony was based on personal knowledge as well as all the other information she had learned in the year since the shooting.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
856 So. 2d 389, 2003 WL 1481629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-missctapp-2003.