Neal v. State

805 So. 2d 520, 2002 WL 89730
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 2002
Docket2000-KA-01291-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 805 So. 2d 520 (Neal v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Neal v. State, 805 So. 2d 520, 2002 WL 89730 (Mich. 2002).

Opinion

805 So.2d 520 (2002)

Antonio NEAL a/k/a Antonio L. Neal a/k/a Deano
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2000-KA-01291-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

January 24, 2002.

*522 Aelicia L. Thomas, Greenville, for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Dewitt T. Allred, III, for Appellee.

Before PITTMAN, C.J., WALLER and CARLSON, JJ.

WALLER, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Antonio "Deano" Neal was convicted in the Bolivar County Circuit Court of the murder of Lee Wallace Williams and of aggravated assault upon Jeff Stewart and Starr Parker. Neal was sentenced as a habitual offender to life imprisonment for murder and to 20 years imprisonment for aggravated assault, to run consecutively. On appeal, Neal raises issues on evidentiary (hearsay and photographs) and discovery (failure to supplement) rulings, failure to grant a manslaughter instruction, weight of the evidence and the classification of a witness as hostile. We affirm the convictions and sentences.

FACTS

¶ 2. On October 3, 1999, at about 4:00 a.m., Jeffrey Stewart and Starr Parker were parked in a field off White Street east of United States Highway 61 in Cleveland, Mississippi. Two men pulled in and parked next to them. Stewart and Parker heard the men arguing. Stewart heard a man say, "Deano, you know I wouldn't do this to you," then, "Oh God," followed by a gun shot. A short stocky man fitting the description of Neal approached their car. Frightened, Stewart and Parker drove away while the short stocky man fired a gun at them, shattering the back window of their car.

¶ 3. Stewart and Parker began looking for the police and found Cleveland Police Lieutenant Reneal Little who was on patrol. *523 Lt. Little testified that Parker was screaming and Stewart said that "somebody got shot or somebody got killed," and gave him the location of the shooting. Lt. Little found Williams's body in the location given to him by Stewart and Parker.

¶ 4. Other witnesses placed Neal and Williams together near the time of Williams's murder and document an ongoing dispute between the two. Joyce Jones testified that about 3:30 a.m., she saw Neal and Williams in a vehicle at a convenience store. Jones got in the vehicle. Williams began speaking to Jones and Neal told him to shut up and hit him on the shoulder or bumped his head. She told Neal to get out of Williams's car. Neal replied that he would not because Williams owed him too much money. Jones then got out of the car. Neal got out of the vehicle to go to the bathroom and Jones testified that he almost dropped a gun that was in his right front pocket. A short time later she saw Neal driving alone. Michael Diggs also testified that earlier that morning, he had seen Williams, Neal, and Fred Miller in a heated argument about money at a nightclub and saw the three men leave together in a car. Ira Williams, L.W. Williams's brother, also testified that he saw Williams and Neal riding around earlier that morning.

¶ 5. Dr. Stephen Hayne performed an autopsy on Williams's body. He found abrasions on the decedent's head and testified that the cause of death was a gunshot wound through the neck.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE APPELLANT'S OBJECTION TO HEARSAY TESTIMONY.

¶ 6. Neal argues that the trial court erred in overruling his objection to a hearsay statement. Lt. Little testified that, while he was on patrol, a car pulled up beside him. A young lady inside the car was screaming and a young male yelled, "Hey somebody got shot or somebody got killed." The statement was offered to show the basis for Lt. Little's subsequent actions in his investigation, and not offered to prove the truth of the matter. See M.R.E. 801(c). No error is committed where the trial court overrules a hearsay objection when the statement is not used to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Martin v. State, 609 So.2d 435, 439 (Miss.1992). The statement is also admissible under M.R.E. 803(1) as a present sense impression or M.R.E. 803(2) as an excited utterance. See Clark v. State, 693 So.2d 927, 932 (Miss.1997); Knight v. State, 601 So.2d 403, 406 (Miss.1992).

¶ 7. This assignment of error is without merit.

II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING INTO EVIDENCE CERTAIN PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE VICTIM.

¶ 8. Neal argues that the photographs of the deceased admitted into evidence were not relevant and only served to inflame jury. One photograph (Exhibit SA-1) depicted the location of the body when found by Lt. Little. Another photograph (Exhibit SB-1) showed the wound and identified the deceased after the emergency technicians moved the body for examination purposes.

¶ 9. We have held that, when photographs depict the circumstances of death, location of body and manner of death, deference must be given to the trial judge's exercise of discretion on the admissibility of photographs of victims in murder cases:

*524 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).
This Court has determined that the admissibility of photographs rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge. Griffin v. State, 557 So.2d 542 (Miss. 1990); see also Mackbee v. State, 575 So.2d 16, 31 (Miss.1990); Boyd v. State, 523 So.2d 1037, 1039 (Miss.1988); Smith v. State, 419 So.2d 563, 567 (Miss.1982), cert. denied 460 U.S. 1047, 103 S.Ct. 1449, 75 L.Ed.2d 803 (1983). Furthermore, the decision of such trial judge will not be disturbed absent a showing of an abuse of discretion. Herring v. State, 374 So.2d 784, 789 (Miss.1979); see also Cabello v. State, 471 So.2d 332, 341 (Miss.1985), cert. denied 476 U.S. 1164, 106 S.Ct. 2291, 90 L.Ed.2d 732 (1986). Such "discretion of the trial judge runs toward almost unlimited admissibility regardless of the gruesomeness, repetitiveness, and the extenuation of probative value." Hart v. State, 637 So.2d 1329, 1335 (Miss.1994) (quoting Williams v. State, 544 So.2d 782, 785 (Miss.1987)).

Westbrook v. State, 658 So.2d 847, 849 (Miss.1995).

¶ 10. There is nothing gory or inflammatory about the pictures. These photographs were admissible to show the location of the victim's body, indicating the circumstances of the killing, and the cause of death of the deceased. See Westbrook, 658 So.2d at 849. There was no abuse of discretion committed by the trial court in allowing the photographs into evidence.

III. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ITS DETERMINATION NO DISCOVERY VIOLATION OCCURRED WHEN THE STATE FAILED TO MAKE A SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NEW STATEMENTS MADE BY THE STATE'S WITNESSES.

IV. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING NEAL'S MOTION FOR A MISTRIAL BASED ON THE DISCOVERY VIOLATION.

¶ 11. Neal argues that Stewart's testimony stating that he remembered hearing the name "Deano" when he overheard the conversations coming from the vehicle pulled up beside him violated URCCC 9.04 I, because the prosecution did not notify the defense of its intent to use this evidence until ten days prior to trial.

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Bluebook (online)
805 So. 2d 520, 2002 WL 89730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neal-v-state-miss-2002.