Noah Booth a/k/a Noah D. Booth a/k/a Noah Deanthony Booth v. State of Mississippi

• Court: Court of Appeals of Mississippi
• Decided: December 3, 2024
• Docket: 2023-KA-00906-COA
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

NO. 2023-KA-00906-COA

NOAH BOOTH A/K/A NOAH D. BOOTH A/K/A APPELLANT NOAH DEANTHONY BOOTH

v.

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 07/24/2023 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. ROBERT B. HELFRICH COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: FORREST COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER BY: GEORGE T. HOLMES ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: SCOTT STUART DISTRICT ATTORNEY: PATRICIA A. THOMAS BURCHELL NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 12/03/2024 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:

BEFORE WILSON, P.J., WESTBROOKS AND McDONALD, JJ.

WILSON, P.J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. Following a jury trial, Noah Booth was convicted of second-degree murder and

sentenced to serve forty years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Booth

appealed. Booth’s appointed appellate counsel filed a brief pursuant to Lindsey v. State, 939

So. 2d 743 (Miss. 2005). Counsel represents that he has diligently reviewed the record but

has been unable to find any arguable issue for appellate review. This Court notified Booth

of the Lindsey brief’s filing and gave him time to file a pro se supplemental brief, but Booth

did not do so. We have now conducted our own review of the record and find no arguable

issues on appeal. Accordingly, we affirm Booth’s conviction and sentence. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. On February 6, 2019, William Myers was shot while at a small outdoor gathering at

a residence in Hattiesburg. Witnesses told police that the shots came from a wooded area

next to the property, but no one saw the shooter. Myers died from a single gunshot wound

to the back. Myers’s autopsy revealed the bullet was a .38-caliber projectile.

¶3. The lead detective on the case, Jeremy Dunaway, learned that Myers was a gang

member and drug dealer. Myers allegedly had several enemies, and Dunaway learned that

the shooting was likely gang-related. Dunaway identified several potential suspects. He

ruled out some suspects whose alibis he could confirm.

¶4. About three weeks after the shooting, Hattiesburg police initiated a routine traffic

stop. During the stop, the officers asked the vehicle’s two occupants to exit the vehicle and

conducted a pat-down search of both individuals. The passenger in the vehicle, Alfred

McCaskill, had a handgun near his ankle. McCaskill fled on foot, but the gun fell to the

ground. Officers recovered the gun, a silver .357 revolver.

¶5. Dunaway believed that the gun was connected to Myers’s murder, so he sent it to the

Mississippi Forensics Laboratory for analysis. Testing showed that the projectile recovered

during Myers’s autopsy was fired from the revolver recovered during the traffic stop.

¶6. A few days later, McCaskill was arrested, and Dunaway interrogated him. McCaskill

stated that he had purchased the gun from Booth a few days before the traffic stop, but he did

not know it had been used in Myers’s murder. McCaskill told Dunaway that days before

Myers’s murder, Booth posted on Facebook that he “was going to retaliate” against a rival

2 gang for a previous shooting.

¶7. Dunaway located Booth and brought him in for questioning. Booth claimed he had

been in Brookhaven on February 6 with his girlfriend, Monicia White. Booth said he read

about Myers’s murder on social media but that if Dunaway “needed to know more” about the

murder, he “would need to ask the guys under the trees.” Dunaway testified that Booth was

“all over the place” during the interview, which “spiked his interest” in Booth as a suspect.

¶8. Dunaway then interviewed White. White testified at trial that when she saw Booth

on February 3, three days before Myers’s murder, Booth showed her a silver revolver and a

second gun. White did not talk to Booth again for three days. On February 6, White called

Booth on the phone, and Booth answered and said, “[B]abe, I’m gonna call you back. I’m

hiding in the bushes.”

¶9. A few days later, Booth told White that he had killed someone. White testified that

she did not believe Booth at first. A few weeks later, Booth said again that he had killed

someone, but White still doubted him. A few days later, Booth told White a third time that

he had killed someone. When White asked whom he had killed, Booth said he had killed

“Biscuit” for “retaliation.” “Biscuit” is Myers’s nickname. At trial, White testified that the

silver revolver Booth showed her on February 3 was the same gun that officers later

recovered from McCaskill.

¶10. Dunaway learned that Booth was being held in the Stone County jail on an unrelated

charge. Dunaway approached one of Booth’s cellmates, James Windham, to gather

information on Booth. Windham testified that “multiple times a day,” Booth told other

3 inmates that “he really had a body,” meaning he had killed someone. Windham stated that

Booth spoke openly to him about Myers’s murder. Booth told Windham that he and another

man “laid in the bushes” and “shot into the house.” Windham testified that Booth frequently

rapped about Myers’s murder and said that he shot Myers with a silver .357 revolver.

¶11. Booth was indicted for first-degree murder, and his case proceeded to trial. At the

conclusion of the State’s case-in-chief, the court denied Booth’s motion for a directed

verdict. Booth chose not to testify and rested his case without presenting any evidence. The

jury found Booth guilty of second-degree murder, and the court sentenced him to serve forty

years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Booth filed a motion for judgment

notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, which was denied, and a notice of appeal.

DISCUSSION

¶12. Lindsey establishes the procedure to follow when appellate counsel representing an

indigent criminal defendant identifies no arguable issues on appeal. Lindsey, 939 So. 2d at

748 (¶18). Booth’s appellate attorney complied with Lindsey’s requirements and certifies

that he “has diligently searched the procedural and factual history of this criminal action and

scoured the record searching for any arguable issues which could be presented to the Court

on Mr. Booth’s behalf in good faith for appellate review, and upon conclusion, found no

errors which were ultimately prejudicial to Mr. Booth.” After counsel filed his brief, we

granted Booth forty days to file a pro se supplemental brief, but Booth has not done so.

¶13. We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that there are no arguable

issues for appellate review. Therefore, Booth’s conviction and sentence are AFFIRMED.

4 BARNES, C.J., CARLTON, P.J., WESTBROOKS, McDONALD, LAWRENCE, McCARTY, SMITH, EMFINGER AND WEDDLE, JJ., CONCUR.