Moffett v. State

938 So. 2d 321, 2006 WL 2673132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 19, 2006
Docket2004-KA-02419-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 938 So. 2d 321 (Moffett 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
Moffett v. State, 938 So. 2d 321, 2006 WL 2673132 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

938 So.2d 321 (2006)

Gregory Darnell MOFFETT, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2004-KA-02419-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

September 19, 2006.

*322 Eileen M. Maher, Natchez, attorney for appellant.

*323 Office of the Attorney General by Jose Benjamin Simo, attorney for appellee.

Before MYERS, P.J., IRVING, CHANDLER and ROBERTS, JJ.

CHANDLER, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. An Adams County jury convicted Gregory Darnell Moffett of the murder of his girlfriend, Tantanisha Thomas. The Circuit Court of Adams County sentenced Moffett as a habitual offender to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Moffett appeals, arguing that (1) reversible error occurred when the prosecutor violated a court order to refrain from opining that Moffett's prior domestic violence convictions indicated a propensity for violence against the victim; (2) the prosecutor's improper examination of a witness requires a new trial; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support the murder conviction; and (4) the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. In his reply brief, Moffett makes the additional argument that the cumulative effect of the errors requires reversal.

¶ 2. We find no error and, therefore, affirm Moffett's conviction and sentence.

FACTS

¶ 3. Moffett, Thomas, and their two children lived together in a house (hereinafter, Thomas's house) in Natchez, Mississippi. Thomas was brutally killed in the early morning hours of December 7, 2003. Thomas's body was discovered sometime after daybreak by a neighbor who looked through a window of Thomas's house and observed Thomas lying still. The front and rear doors of the house were locked. A crying child was inside, and the neighbor broke a window to gain access to the interior. When the police arrived, they encountered a bloody crime scene with Thomas's body propped against a couch in the entry of house. Thomas's baby was in the bedroom; her other child was not at home. The crying child was a neighbor's godchild, D.H., who had spent the night at Thomas's house. The police found no signs of a burglary.

¶ 4. The county coroner, Reverend James E. Lee, determined that Thomas had died from several blows to the left forehead inflicted with a claw hammer found next to her body. Lee placed the time of death at around 3:00 a.m. that morning but stated that the actual time of death could be within two hours before or after 3:00 a.m. The state pathologist, Dr. Stephen Hayne, deferred to Lee's estimate of the time of death. There was no evidence that Thomas had been sexually assaulted. The claw hammer was tested for fingerprints, but none were recovered.

¶ 5. In June 2004, Moffett was indicted for Thomas's murder. The trial occurred on November 16-18, 2004. At the trial, two of Moffett's prior convictions for domestic violence against Thomas, one on September 9, 2003, and one on October 8, 2003, were introduced into evidence. Also admitted was Moffett's November 29, 2003, charge for domestic violence against Thomas that had been dropped due to Thomas's death. Moffett testified that he would have pled guilty to this charge because he had committed the charged conduct. A jailer and a detention officer both testified that Thomas had refused to bail Moffett out of jail after the November 29, 2003 charge. The detention officer heard Moffett tell Thomas on the phone that she had better get him out or he would "beat her a —." The jailer heard Moffett state, "She knows what I will do." Both witnesses overheard Moffett state, "When I get out of here, I'm going to kill that b____."

¶ 6. The following evidence was presented about the chronology of events on the *324 night of December 6, 2003, and the morning of December 7, 2003. Bobbie Woods had lived next door to Moffett and Thomas and was friends with Thomas. Woods had prior convictions for shoplifting and giving false information to the police. Woods testified that, on the evening of December 6, 2003, her fifteen-year-old son, Damien Davis, had gone to Thomas's house to keep Thomas company because Thomas was afraid of Moffett. Thomas had babysat D.H. that day and Woods gave D.H. permission to spend the night at Thomas's house. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Moffett and Thomas visited Wood's house. Moffett and Thomas were arguing during the visit and Thomas stated, "Bobbie, tell Greg that I'm not cheating on him." Thomas was upset and did not want to leave, but Moffett kept urging her to go.

¶ 7. After several minutes, Moffett and Thomas returned to Thomas's house. Woods called Thomas several times and asked her to send Davis home; once, Moffett answered the phone. Woods stated that Davis did not return from Thomas's house until 2:15 a.m. Very shortly thereafter, Thomas called and asked Davis to come back, and Davis said he would. Telephone records admitted into evidence established that this call occurred at 2:16 a.m. However, Davis fell asleep and did not return to Thomas's house that night. Woods called Thomas at 2:49 a.m., but there was no answer. Phone records showed that no incoming calls to Thomas's house were answered until after the police arrived.

¶ 8. Davis testified that he went to Thomas's house at Thomas's request at 7:00 p.m. on December 6, 2003. Davis said that he did not leave the premises until 2:15 a.m. on December 7, 2003. He played video games most of the time he was there. He witnessed Moffett and Thomas arguing throughout the night. Moffett kept telling Thomas that he was going to kill her. Moffett told her that he would "put her family in black" and that "they might as well go on and get their black dress ready." Moffett told Thomas that she would need a bat, and then handed her one. Woods called, but Moffett stood beside the phone and prevented Thomas from talking to Woods. Moffett kept urging Davis to leave, but Thomas asked Davis to stay. Davis stayed because he could see that Thomas was frightened. Later, Davis observed that Moffett had changed into black clothes and shoes. Davis stated that Moffett called someone named Mike Freeman. Moffett told Freeman that he had "some business to take care of." Then, Moffett asked Davis to leave so that he and Thomas could take a bath together. Davis refused to leave. Thomas ran a bath. During the night, Woods repeatedly phoned for Davis to come home and he did so at 2:15 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Thomas called him and asked him to return. Davis said that he would return, but he accidentally fell asleep. Davis said that Moffett did not leave Thomas's house the entire time Davis was there, except when Moffett and Thomas briefly went to Woods's house.

¶ 9. Another neighbor, Rosie Williams, testified that she saw Moffett and Thomas arguing in their driveway sometime after midnight. Carolyn Harris testified that she lived at Brumfield Apartments and that Moffett visited her apartment at about 4:30 a.m. on December 7, 2003. Moffett used the phone and Harris overheard Moffett saying, "Don't tell anyone where I am." Moffett left after 10:30 a.m. and said that he was going to Baton Rouge. Officer Gary Nations of the Natchez Police Department testified that the witnesses who saw Moffett that morning reported that he was wearing all black.

*325 ¶ 10. Officer Todd Ainsworth of the Concordia Parish Sheriff's Department testified that he apprehended Moffett at a Quickstop convenience store outside of Ferriday, Louisiana at 4:50 a.m. on December 10, 2003. Moffett had been outside the Quickstop, shaking the door and demanding to be allowed inside.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
938 So. 2d 321, 2006 WL 2673132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moffett-v-state-missctapp-2006.