Page v. State

989 So. 2d 887, 2007 WL 2421723
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 28, 2007
Docket2006-KA-00330-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 989 So. 2d 887 (Page 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
Page v. State, 989 So. 2d 887, 2007 WL 2421723 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

989 So.2d 887 (2007)

Isreal Boone PAGE a/k/a Scooter, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2006-KA-00330-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

August 28, 2007.
Rehearing Denied May 20, 2008.
Certiorari Denied August 28, 2008.

*888 Pearson Liddell, Mississippi State, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Ladonna C. Holland, attorney for appellee.

Before MYERS, P.J., ISHEE, ROBERTS and CARLTON, JJ.

ROBERTS, J., for the Court.

SUMMARY OF THE CASE

¶ 1. A jury sitting before the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court found Isreal Boone Page guilty of the murder of Dorothy Hall. The jury also found Page guilty of possession of a deadly weapon by a previously convicted felon. Incident to Page's murder conviction, the circuit court sentenced Page to life imprisonment in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. As for the possession conviction, the circuit court sentenced Page to three years in the custody of the MDOC, to run concurrent with the sentence incident to Page's murder conviction.

¶ 2. Aggrieved, Page advances three issues on appeal. First, for reasons that will become abundantly clear, Page claims the circuit court should have granted a mistrial after it severed one count from the previous three-count indictment. Second, Page claims the circuit court erred when it did not give a culpable negligence manslaughter instruction. Finally, Page claims that "[o]ther errors found, even if insufficient to warrant reversal individually, *889 taken together, have prejudiced the appellant's right to a fair trial." Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Just after midnight on May 22, 2004, the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department received a report that a woman had been shot. Deputy Shank Phelps and two other deputies responded. They found Dorothy Hall lying in her bedroom. Unfortunately, emergency responders could do nothing to save her. Hall was transported to Pearl, Mississippi for a forensic examination and an autopsy.

¶ 4. Deputy Phelps encountered Dorothy's daughter, Tlisha Boxley, in the street outside Hall's home. Tlisha, then nine years old, informed Deputy Phelps that she personally witnessed Isreal Page shoot her mother. Later that morning, Tlisha gave a statement. Otherwise, Deputy Phelps recovered a .12 gauge shotgun and a spent shotgun shell from the scene.

¶ 5. Later that same day, Greg Page, Isreal Page's brother, brought Deputy Phelps a .22 caliber rifle. Deputy Phelps asked Isreal Page if he knew anything about the .22 caliber rifle. Isreal Page admitted that it belonged to him.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 6. On July 20, 2004, the Oktibbeha County Grand Jury returned a three-count indictment against Page. Count I charged Page with murder. Count II charged Page with unlawful possession of a shotgun as a prior convicted felon. Count III charged Page with unlawful possession of the .22 caliber rifle as a prior convicted felon. Page pled "not-guilty" incident to all three counts.

¶ 7. On July 29, 2005, Page filed a motion to sever Counts II and III from Count I. On July 31, 2005, the circuit court conducted a hearing on Page's motion to sever. During the hearing, Page submitted that the circuit court should sever Count III, the possession of the .22 caliber rifle charge, from Counts I and II. Based on the belief that Boxley would likely testify that Page had four or five firearms on the night of May 22, 2004, the circuit court overruled Page's motion to sever and the parties proceeded with jury selection.

¶ 8. After Page renewed his motion to sever, the prosecution began its case-in-chief. The prosecution called Dr. Steven Hayne as its first witness. Dr. Hayne performed Dorothy's autopsy. According to Dr. Hayne's expert opinion, Dorothy died as a result of a shotgun wound to the upper part of her chest. Further, Dr. Hayne opined that the fatal shot was fired from approximately four feet from Dorothy.

¶ 9. Next, the prosecution called Dorothy's daughter, Tlisha Boxley. As of the date of trial, Tlisha was ten years old. Tlisha testified that Page was abusive with Dorothy. Tlisha related an incident in which Page, Dorothy, Tlisha, and her younger brother were on a trip to visit Page's family. According to Tlisha, Page forced Dorothy to stop on the side of a dirt road because Page was unhappy with Dorothy's clothes. Tlisha testified that Page grabbed Dorothy by her hair, dragged her down the dirt road and into some nearby woods, forced her to take off her clothes, and "fussed" at her. Tlisha stated that Page told her and her brother to stay with the car, but they disobeyed because they feared for their mother's safety.

¶ 10. Tlisha then related another incident in which Page was abusive with Dorothy. That time, Page forced Dorothy and Tlisha into his car, drove them down "a different dirt road," and hit Tlisha in the head. Dorothy got out of Page's car while he was still driving. Page stopped his car, *890 got out, caught Dorothy, and "started beating her up, and kicking her in the stomach while she [lay] on the ground." Tlisha intervened, and they returned to Page's house. Shortly after they arrived, Dorothy tried to take Tlisha and leave. At that point, Page choked Dorothy until Tlisha was able to get some of Page's cousins to stop Page.

¶ 11. Tlisha then testified as to the events as they transpired on the day Dorothy died. According to Tlisha, she had attended a graduation with some family acquaintances. Afterwards, she rode with a family friend to a gas station, where she met Page and Dorothy in Dorothy's car. Tlisha noticed that Page looked angry. To be precise, Tlisha testified, "I hopped out the car anyway because I wanted to go with my momma because I seen his [Page's] eyes red. And every time his eyes get red that means he's mad."

¶ 12. Dorothy, Page, and Tlisha then drove to Page's home. At that time, Dorothy and Tlisha were living with Page. Tlisha and Dorothy went into the living room, where Tlisha showed Dorothy some handheld computer games. Page went into his bedroom. According to Tlisha, Page called for Dorothy. Before long, Tlisha "heard them fussing." Because she was scared for her mother's safety, Tlisha interrupted and asked Dorothy whether she could have some pudding. Dorothy and Page were still "fussing" though — to the point that Tlisha "said, please don't let my momma die, because [she] was scared by the way they was fussing."

¶ 13. Dorothy later told Tlisha to get a blanket from another bedroom and to make a pallet on the floor. Tlisha complied and laid on the couch. Tlisha could not rest, though. Tlisha then testified:

I went and I keep on hearing them fussing. I keep getting scared. I went to go stand by the stove and all I see is a gun aimed at my momma. I didn't really see him aim it, but I seen the end of the black aiming at my momma. And then when I seen it when she got shot and she felled against the door and fell down.

Tlisha then testified that she asked Page why he shot her mother. When asked what Page did in response, Tlisha responded:

[Page] was running around. And he said, I didn't try to [shoot Dorothy]. But I said you had to, you were aiming that gun at her and you fussing at her. And then I kept saying, momma, wake up. And she wouldn't even wake up. And then I seen him running in the back and he knocked on his neighbor's back door.

¶ 14.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gore v. State
45 So. 3d 662 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
989 So. 2d 887, 2007 WL 2421723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-v-state-missctapp-2007.