Nelson v. State

10 So. 3d 898, 2009 Miss. LEXIS 198, 2009 WL 1085485
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 23, 2009
Docket2008-KA-00299-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 10 So. 3d 898 (Nelson 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
Nelson v. State, 10 So. 3d 898, 2009 Miss. LEXIS 198, 2009 WL 1085485 (Mich. 2009).

Opinions

PIERCE, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Issac Jermaine Nelson (Nelson) was indicted for Count I, murder of Shannon Lee Torrence (Shannon) while engaged in the commission of a robbery in violation of Mississippi Code Section 97-3-19(2)(e), and Count II, kidnapping of Shannon in violation of Mississippi Code Section 97-3-53. On January 22-24, 2007, Nelson was tried in the Scott County Circuit Court, Judge Marcus D. Gordon presiding, for the [900]*900capital murder and kidnapping of Shannon. The jury convicted Nelson of simple murder, a lesser offense, and kidnapping. Nelson was sentenced in Count I to life imprisonment for murder and in Count II to forty years for kidnapping, to run consecutively with Count I.

FACTS

¶ 2. Mary Carpenter, Shannon’s mother, testified that on February 23, 2007, Shannon was at home when she left for work at 6:15 a.m. When Shannon did not call her at 12:15 p.m., as he did each day, Carpenter became concerned about her son. Carpenter then called Shannon at their home telephone number and at his cell-phone number, and called his school, Scott Central High School. The school informed her that Shannon had not attended school that day. By 3:00 p.m., Carpenter had left work and arrived home to look for Shannon. She noticed that Shannon’s clothes were still in the dryer, his cell phone was on the counter, and his car was missing.

¶ 3. At 11:00 a.m. on February 23, Betty Lewis, a cook at Scott Central High School, saw Nelson driving a car that was later identified as belonging to Shannon near the Midway community. Lewis knew Shannon and Nelson from school. Several days after Shannon disappeared, Lewis reported to the police that she had seen Nelson driving the car.

¶ 4. The following Monday, on February 26, 2007, Billy Patrick, a Scott County investigator, participated in the search for Shannon. He searched a roadway near Nelson’s house and noticed tire tracks going into the woods. Patrick parked his vehicle and walked into the woods, where he discovered a body with a plastic bag around the head.

¶ 5. Steven Crotwell, a Scott County investigator, testified that he also was investigating the missing-person report on Shannon. On February 26, Crotwell saw Shannon’s body in the woods with a black garbage bag secured with duct tape around his head. Nelson and Craig McBeath, another friend, both were present at Shannon’s house on the day of his disappearance. Crotwell had spoken with Nelson and McBeath the previous day about the disappearance of Shannon. Following the discovery of Shannon’s body on February 27, an arrest warrant was issued for Nelson.

¶ 6. On February 27, 2007, Crotwell and Danny Knight, an investigator with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, interviewed Nelson. Prior to the interview, Knight read Nelson his Miranda rights.1 Nelson put his initials beside his rights and signed the waiver form. At the interview, Nelson told Crotwell that Shannon had brought him home around 11:00 a.m. on February 23, however, he had nothing to do with Shannon’s death.

¶ 7. A few days later, Crotwell was informed that Nelson, who was in jail, wanted to speak to him. The next morning, on March 2, 2007, Crotwell and Knight met with Nelson. Prior to the interview, Knight reread Nelson his Miranda rights. Nelson initialed each statement of rights and signed the waiver form. Knight wrote a note at the bottom of the waiver form and Nelson signed it. The signed note stated: “I have requested to talk to [Special Agent] Danny Knight [and] Scott [County Sheriffs Office Investigator] Steven Crotwell [without] my attorney present.”2 Crotwell testified that no threats, [901]*901use of violence, or promises of leniency were made to Nelson. Nelson never requested a lawyer. In addition, Crotwell stated that Nelson did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and appeared to understand his rights. The interview was digitally recorded and transcribed, and was played for the jury. Crotwell testified that the transcription accurately reflected the digital recording of Nelson’s confession. Knight’s testimony corroborated Crotwell’s testimony.

¶ 8. Nelson confessed to the following, in part:

Nelson: I don’t know where to start. You got to ask me questions.
Knight: Ok. Well, let’s start uh the 23rd of uh, of uh February, was on Friday. And we’ll, we’ll go back to the, statement you that you give me and you give uh Steve [Crotwell] uh and I’ll just recap it a little bit that you said that y’all had uh, uh, that uh, Puddy a guy name Puddy had taken you and uh, uh, Craig Nelson (sic) over to Shannon Torrance’s house the morning of February 23rd.
Nelson: Yes, sir.
Knight: And y’all were over there and you uh, y’all was smoking marijuana, smoking blunts and uh and just, just hanging out.
[[Image here]]
Nelson: Well when we went over to Shannon’s house like I said we was just hanging out smoking weed, watching TV doing all that. But it came a time when I got mad for some reason. I still don’t know to this day why I got mad at Shannon. But I did. And when Shannon came out the bathroom I started choking him until he got red in the face, or whatever. But I ain’t kill him though. I just kept choking him man. I don’t know why. And then when I let go he was still alive but Craig was like “man you can’t do this and don’t go all the way with it.” So he grabbed him and started choking him until he was dead, (cries) I’m sorry.
[[Image here]]
Nelson: Like I said though man I don’t even know why I did it he didn’t do nothing to me. He didn’t make me mad. It’s just something got in me man that’s why I started choking him for no reason. And then when I was choking him he was begging me please to stop. And that’s when I let him go. And Craig told me “man you done did this and you ain’t goan finish HIT He was laying on the floor. He was gasping for air trying to get air. And then Craig went ahead and he choked him until he died. We went and got garbage bags. I gave them to Craig I went outside on the porch. I guess, guess Craig he tied him up or whatever with the bags and put the tape around his face. We put him in the trunk I took him out to Midway we drove him out to Midway in his car. And we threw him in the woods.

¶ 9. Both Nelson and McBeath claimed that they were scared that Shannon was going to tell someone what had occurred. McBeath then choked Shannon and punched him in the head to try to knock Shannon unconscious. After this, Nelson stated that “Shannon was just laying there he weren’t moving or nothing. So we just knew he was dead.” Nevertheless, Nelson went to find garbage bags and tape on McBeath’s instructions. According to Nelson, McBeath placed the garbage bag around Shannon’s face and Nelson tied the duct tape around Shannon’s face. [902]*902McBeath got a sheet and put it around Shannon’s body. Nelson and McBeath then put Shannon in the trunk of the car and dumped the body.

¶ 10. Nelson drove Shannon’s car to East Central Junior College and parked the car. Soon thereafter, McBeath remembered that the duct tape was in the trunk of the car and he asked Nelson for the keys to Shannon’s car. McBeath said he never retrieved the tape, because there were too many people near the car and he did not want anyone to see him get the tape.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 So. 3d 898, 2009 Miss. LEXIS 198, 2009 WL 1085485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-state-miss-2009.