Lewis v. State

905 So. 2d 729, 2004 WL 3250842
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided November 16, 2004·No. 2003-KA-01959-COA·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

905 So.2d 729 (2004)

Larry Keith LEWIS Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi Appellee.

No. 2003-KA-01959-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

November 16, 2004.

*730 William Wayne Housley, Tupelo, William D. Massey, Memphis, TN, for Appellant.

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

*731 Before KING, C.J., IRVING and MYERS, JJ.

MYERS, J.

¶ 1. On August 4, 2002, Larry Keith Lewis was involved in the shooting death of Paul Goodman. During the incident, Lewis's wife, Cynthia Lewis, suffered a gunshot wound to the neck which she miraculously survived. As a result, Lewis was charged with the murder of Goodman and the aggravated assault of Cynthia. In the Circuit Court of Lee County, Lewis was found guilty of manslaughter for the shooting death of Goodman and of aggravated assault for the injury caused to Cynthia Lewis. Lewis was sentenced to imprisonment for two twenty-year terms which are to run consecutively. With the assistance of counsel, Lewis timely filed a motion for judgment of acquittal or, in the alternative, for a new trial which was denied by the trial court. Lewis now appeals, raising the following four issues on appeal:

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ADMITTING STATE'S EXHIBITS 1 AND 35 THRU 43 OVER THE DEFENDANT'S OBJECTION.
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ADMITTING STATE'S EXHIBITS 31 AND 32 OVER THE DEFENDANT'S OBJECTION.
III. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY OVERRULING THE DEFENDANT'S OBJECTIONS TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROSECUTOR'S CLOSING ARGUMENT.
IV. WHETHER TWO CONSECUTIVE TWENTY-YEAR SENTENCES AMOUNT TO CRUEL AND/OR UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT IN VIOLATION OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND ARTICLE 3, SECTION 28 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF MISSISSIPPI.

Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. Larry Keith Lewis and his wife, Cynthia Lewis, were married on March 20, 1993. After approximately nine and one-half years of marriage, Cynthia decided to seek treatment for a long-term problem she had with abuse of the prescription drug Xanex. Cynthia was admitted to rehabilitation on June 10, 2002, and was released on June 18, 2002. It was during this nine-day period spent in rehabilitation that she met the deceased, Paul Goodman.

¶ 3. During their time spent together in the treatment facilities, Cynthia and Goodman developed an affection for one another. Recently out of rehabilitation and with thoughts of the relationship she developed with Paul Goodman on her mind, Cynthia returned to the marital home. Cynthia decided that she needed to get her life in order and felt that in order to do this successfully she and Lewis needed to obtain a divorce. Cynthia left her husband and their home in Olive Branch, Mississippi and moved to Tupelo, Mississippi to be with Goodman. Goodman and Cynthia moved in with one another soon thereafter.

¶ 4. On August 2, 2002, Lewis and Cynthia met at a restaurant in Tupelo to discuss the terms of their divorce. On August 3, 2002, Lewis returned to Tupelo allegedly to meet with Cynthia and again discuss the terms of their divorce. In the early hours of August 4, 2002, Lewis went to the apartment shared by Cynthia and Goodman and announced his presence at their front door. Goodman came to the door to see who was there and then peered *732 out of the mini-blinds in a nearby window to obtain a better look. Upon seeing Goodman peer through the mini-blinds, Lewis fired a nine-millimeter pistol through the window, striking Goodman and injuring him. Goodman fell to the floor and was crawling for safety behind the couch when he was shot twice more by Lewis, suffering fatal wounds. After being struck initially, Goodman handed the phone to Cynthia who attempted to call 911. As she stepped behind the love seat to disconnect the computer from the Internet, she was shot in the neck, suffering momentary paralysis. A neighbor heard the shots and walked outside her apartment to see Lewis leaving the scene. Medical attention was summoned to the apartment while Lewis returned to his hotel.

¶ 5. Following the incident at Cynthia and Goodman's apartment, Lewis checked out of his Tupelo hotel and returned to his parent's house in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was subsequently arrested on August 5, 2002. On August 6, 2002, Lewis signed a waiver of extradition and was transported to Tupelo to stand trial for murder and aggravated assault. On August 28, 2003, Lewis was convicted of manslaughter and aggravated assault in the Circuit Court of Lee County and was sentenced to two consecutive twenty-year terms of imprisonment.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ADMITTING STATE'S EXHIBITS 1 AND 35 THRU 43 OVER THE DEFENDANT'S OBJECTION.

¶ 6. Lewis first contends that the trial court erred by admitting photographs of the deceased taken both at the crime scene and during the autopsy in violation of Mississippi Rules of Evidence Rules 401,[1] 402,[2] and 403.[3]

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7. "The standard of review regarding admission [or exclusion] of evidence is abuse of discretion. Where error involves the admission or exclusion of evidence, this Court `will not reverse unless the error adversely affects a substantial right of a party.'" Whitten v. Cox, 799 So.2d 1, 13 (¶ 27) (Miss.2000) (citing Floyd v. City of Crystal Springs, 749 So.2d 110, 113 (Miss.1999)).

DISCUSSION

¶ 8. At trial, ten photographs were admitted which Lewis contends were irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. Nine of the photographs at issue were taken at Goodman's autopsy. These photographs illustrate the locations of Goodman's wounds. The tenth photograph depicts the location of Goodman's body at the crime scene, showing the position of the victim's body. It is Lewis's position that *733 his participation in the crime was not at issue since he never denied firing the fatal shots, therefore making the photographs unnecessary to prove the crime. Lewis contends that the photographs only served to inflame the jury.

¶ 9. The issue of admissibility of crime scene and autopsy photographs is well settled in Mississippi. The Mississippi Supreme Court has held,

Photographs have evidentiary value where they: 1) aid in describing the circumstances of the killing and the corpus delicti; Williams v. State, 354 So.2d 266 (Miss.1978); 2) where they describe the location of the body and cause of death; Ashley v. State, 423 So.2d 1311 (Miss.1982); and 3) where they supplement or clarify witness testimony. Hughes v. State, 401 So.2d 1100 (Miss. 1981).

Westbrook v. State, 658 So.2d 847, 849 (Miss.1995). As has been stated in a multitude of Mississippi cases, "[d]iscretion of the trial judge runs toward almost unlimited admissibility regardless of the gruesomeness, repetitiveness, and the extenuation of probative value." McGilberry v. State, 741 So.2d 894, 906 (¶ 27) (Miss.1999) (quoting Williams v. State, 544 So.2d 782, 785 (Miss.1987)). "Some probative value is the only requirement needed in order to support a trial judge's decision to admit photographs into evidence." Scott v. State, 878 So.2d 933, 985 (¶ 158) (Miss.2004) (citing Jordan v. State, 728 So.2d 1088, 1094

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