McDonald v. State

881 So. 2d 895, 2004 WL 943859
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 4, 2004
Docket2002-KA-02051-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 881 So. 2d 895 (McDonald 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
McDonald v. State, 881 So. 2d 895, 2004 WL 943859 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

881 So.2d 895 (2004)

Eric Shautey McDONALD a/k/a Eric Wash, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KA-02051-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 4, 2004.
Rehearing Denied August 24, 2004.

*898 James A. Williams, Meridian, attorney for appellant.

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

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

CHANDLER, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Eric McDonald was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to thirty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Feeling aggrieved, McDonald appeals citing numerous errors. We identify the following issues in his appeal, although stated differently than stated in his brief.

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL JUDGE MADE IMPROPER COMMENTS DURING TRIAL.

II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED ERROR WHEN IT DENIED THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A MISTRIAL.

III. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING CERTAIN ITEMS INTO EVIDENCE.

IV. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO ASK THE JURY IF ANYONE HAD DISCUSSED THE CASE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND DAY OF TRIAL.

V. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN REQUIRING THE JURY TO CONTINUE TO DELIBERATE.

*899 VI. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT DENIED THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A DIRECTED VERDICT.

VII. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT PROPERLY INSTRUCTED THE JURY WITH REGARD TO THE ELEMENTS CONTAINED IN MCDONALD'S INDICTMENT AND WHETHER THE JURY WAS PROPERLY INSTRUCTED CONCERNING ACCOMPLICE TESTIMONY.

VIII. WHETHER THE STATE PROVIDED SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE ARMED ROBBERY WAS COMMITTED WITH VIOLENCE.

IX. WHETHER THE JURY VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE AND WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL.

X. WHETHER THE DEFENDANT RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL.

¶ 2. Finding no merit, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.

FACTS

¶ 3. On March 23, 2002, Eric McDonald and Donnie Lard drove to a Texaco store in Scooba, Mississippi. McDonald entered the store and found three employees at work. After purchasing some gum, McDonald returned to the car and waited for the customers to leave the store. McDonald then re-entered the store with a sawed-off shotgun and demanded all of the money in the cash register. The cashier, Megan Grace, complied with McDonald's command and gave him the money.

¶ 4. Jennie Huett arrived at the Texaco store as McDonald was exiting the store. Huett identified the suspect as being an African American male. She described the getaway car as being a late 1980 model Buick that was red or burgundy in color. At the time of the crime, Lard owned a burgundy colored 1990 Buick LeSabre.

¶ 5. Officer William Powell of the Scooba Police Department retrieved a surveillance video of the robbery and took a statement from each clerk. The store clerks identified the robber as an African American male wearing a black shirt with a red logo on it. The clerks stated the suspect was approximately five feet nine inches tall and weighed one hundred sixty pounds.

¶ 6. Following the crime, Lard was arrested on a separate charge. While in custody, Lard confessed to driving the getaway car in the Texaco store robbery. Lard also implicated McDonald as an accomplice in the robbery.

¶ 7. Faye Powell, Police Chief of the Scooba Police Department, went to the house of McDonald's grandmother to search for evidence that might link McDonald to the crime. Chief Powell, after receiving permission to search the house, discovered a shirt that was identical to the one worn by the person seen in the surveillance video committing the robbery. McDonald's mother also provided the police with a picture of her son. This picture depicted McDonald wearing the same shirt that the robber was wearing in the surveillance video.

¶ 8. McDonald surrendered to the police after learning that a warrant was issued for his arrest. The police noticed that McDonald was wearing shoes that matched the ones worn by the robber in the surveillance video. The police seized the shoes and placed McDonald under arrest.

*900 ¶ 9. The store clerks were shown a lineup of possible suspects. Each clerk identified McDonald as the person who robbed the store. McDonald wrote a letter to Lard while in custody awaiting trial and urged Lard to refuse to give a statement to the police. Lard replied by asking McDonald to confess to the crime because the police had arrested Richard Naylor believing that he was the robber. Naylor and McDonald have very similar facial features. Naylor was never charged with the Texaco robbery and was subsequently released.

¶ 10. McDonald's trial began on October 29, 2002. Each store clerk testified and identified McDonald as the person who robbed the store. The surveillance tape was placed into evidence as were McDonald's shirt and shoes which were compared to the items worn by the robber in the video. Lard testified that McDonald committed the robbery.

¶ 11. The jury found McDonald guilty of armed robbery on October 30, 2002. McDonald's motion for a new trial and his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict were denied.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL JUDGE MADE IMPROPER COMMENTS DURING TRIAL.

¶ 12. McDonald alleges the trial judge made the following improper comments in front of the jury which were prejudicial to McDonald.

A. Admonishing the jury to refrain from discussing the facts of the case.

¶ 13. McDonald argues the trial judge erred in telling the jury not to discuss the facts of the case after voir dire. McDonald asserts that by describing evidence presented in voir dire as facts, the court communicated to the jury that the judge knew and had already decided what the facts were.

¶ 14. The standard of review in examining the conduct of voir dire is abuse of discretion. Berry v. State, 575 So.2d 1, 9 (Miss.1990) (citing Billiot v. State, 454 So.2d 445, 457 (Miss.1984)). Abuse of discretion will only be found where a defendant shows clear prejudice resulting from undue lack of constraint on the prosecution or undue constraint of the defense. Davis v. State, 684 So.2d 643, 652 (Miss.1996).

¶ 15. There was no contemporaneous objection made to the judge's statement to the jury. Failure to object to the argument at trial is fatal to McDonald's attempt to appeal this issue. Mack v. State, 650 So.2d 1289, 1320 (Miss.1994). Notwithstanding the procedural bar, McDonald fails to meet the necessary burden of proof to make his claim. "[T]here is a presumption that the judgment of the trial court is correct, and the burden is on the appellant to demonstrate this reversible error to this court." Branch v. State, 347 So.2d 957, 958 (Miss.1977).

¶ 16. The trial judge was well within his discretion in telling the jury not to discuss the facts of the case after voir dire. In fact, this instruction properly insured the sanctity of the jury process. This prevented the prospective jurors from discussing the case among themselves prior to the time for their deliberation.

B. Commenting on the letter exchanged between Lard and McDonald.

¶ 17. McDonald argues the trial judge erred when he described the letter McDonald sent to Lard as a statement against interest.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
881 So. 2d 895, 2004 WL 943859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonald-v-state-missctapp-2004.