Mayers v. State

42 So. 3d 33, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2010 WL 610667
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 23, 2010
Docket2008-KA-01722-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 42 So. 3d 33 (Mayers 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
Mayers v. State, 42 So. 3d 33, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2010 WL 610667 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

LEE, P.J., for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Kirk Vincent Mayers was convicted in the Circuit Court of Rankin County of Counts I and II, aggravated assault on law enforcement officers; Count III, possession of a stolen firearm; and Count IV, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Mayers was sentenced to thirty years each for Counts I and II, five years for Count III, and three years for Count IV. Mayers was sentenced to two additional ten-year terms for the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. All sentences, totaling eighty-eight years, were ordered to run consecutively in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without eligibility for parole or probation. Mayers filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial, which was denied by the trial court.

¶ 2. Mayers now appeals his convictions and sentences, asserting the following issues: (1) the indictment charged simple rather than aggravated assault; (2) the State failed to prove that he knowingly assaulted law enforcement officers; (3) the State failed to prove that he knowingly possessed a stolen firearm; (4) the trial court erroneously refused a self-defense instruction; (5) he was entitled to a cau[37]*37tionary instruction concerning his prior convictions; (6) Juror 18 should have been stricken for cause; (7) the State should have been required to stipulate to his prior convictions under Count IV; (8) the trial court allowed improper opinion evidence; and (9) his sentence is illegal. Finding that a portion of Mayers’s sentence was in error, we remand this case for resentenc-ing. Accordingly, we affirm in part and vacate and remand in part.

FACTS

¶ 3. Upon being questioned by an investigator with the Simpson County Sheriffs Department, Jonathan Shelly confessed to stealing several items, including a television and firearms. Shelly told authorities that he had traded the stolen items for drugs at the Crestview Apartment complex in Pearl. On the way to the apartment complex, Shelly pointed out a car and stated that the stolen items would be found in the vehicle. An officer with the Pearl Police Department was called to stop and search the car. Stolen goods were found in the car.

¶ 4. Warrants were obtained for the two apartments where Shelly allegedly traded the stolen items for drugs. The apartment doors were adjacent to each other. Two S.W.A.T. teams were assembled to execute the warrants. The S.W.A.T. teams knocked, announced their presence, and made forceful entry into the two apartments. The first apartment was secured quickly. Upon opening the door of the second apartment, gunshots came from inside. Jake Windham and Philip Arrant, officers with the Pearl Police Department and members of the Pearl S.W.A.T. team, were injured by the gunshots. Officer Windham was shot in the left knee, and Officer Arrant was shot in the right hand. Mayers was found inside lying on the kitchen floor and, subsequently, was arrested. A .22-caliber pistol, which matched the description of the stolen weapon, was found on the floor near May-ers.

DISCUSSION

I. COUNTS I AND II OF THE INDICTMENT

¶ 5. Mayers argues that his convictions under Counts I and II should be reversed and remanded or, in the alternative, that he should be resentenced on the lesser charge of simple assault on law enforcement officers because the indictment did not specifically state that Mayers used a “deadly weapon.” The issue of whether an indictment is fatally defective is a question of law, which is reviewed de novo. Qualls v. State, 947 So.2d 365, 369 (¶9) (Miss.Ct.App.2007).

¶ 6. Count I of the indictment states: KIRK VINCENT MAYERS ... did unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and knowingly, cause or attempt to cause bodily injury to Officer Jake Windham, a law enforcement officer with the Pearl Police Department, by shooting the officer in the leg with a gun, knowing the officer was acting within the course and scope of his official duties in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated § 97-3-7....

(Emphasis added). Count II of the indictment states:

And, based upon a series of acts connected together and constituting parts of a common scheme and plan, KIRK VINCENT MAYERS ... did unlawfully, fe-loniously, purposely and knowingly, cause or attempt to cause bodily injury to Officer Phillip [sic] Arrant, a law enforcement officer with the Pearl Police Department, by shooting at the officer with a gun, knowing the officer was acting within the course and scope of his [38]*38official duties in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated § 97-3-7....

(Emphasis added). Mayers argues that the indictment is unclear because the word “gun” does not necessarily refer to a “handgun.” Mayers argues that a “gun” could refer to a paint gun, staple gun, toy gun, or grease gun.

¶ 7. Uniform Rule of Circuit and County Court 7.06 states the requirements for the substance of an indictment as follows:

The indictment upon which the defendant is to be tried shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged and shall fully notify the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation. Formal and technical words are not necessary in an indictment, if the offense can be substantially described without them....

¶ 8. The heading of Mayers’s indictment states that he is being charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Counts I and II state the statute under which he was charged. Count I states that Mayers shot Officer Windham “in the leg with a gun,” and Count II states that Mayers caused or attempted to cause Officer Arrant bodily injury “by shooting at the officer with a gun.” As Rule 7.06 states: “Formal and technical words are not necessary in an indictment, if the offense can be substantially described without them.” We find that it is clear from the indictment that Mayers injured the two police officers with a deadly weapon. Therefore, we find that this issue is without merit.

II. KNOWING ASSAULT

¶ 9. Mayers argues that the State failed to prove an essential element of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer because he did not knowingly shoot the law enforcement officers. Mayers asserts that he thought someone was breaking into the apartment and fired a gun toward the door in self-defense.

¶ 10. Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-7(2) (Supp.2009) states, in part, that:

A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he ... (b) attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm....

The statute goes on to provide for an enhanced penalty if aggravated assault is committed upon a law enforcement officer who is acting within the scope of his duty. Id.

¶ 11. In Dotson v. State, 358 So.2d 1321, 1322 (Miss.1978), the supreme court addressed the issue of whether it is necessary for the accused to have knowledge that the individual assaulted was a police officer in order to sustain a conviction for simple assault on a law enforcement officer. In Dotson, two police officers had a search warrant to search Frederick Dotson’s vehicle. Id. at 1321.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 So. 3d 33, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 88, 2010 WL 610667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayers-v-state-missctapp-2010.