Powell v. State

806 So. 2d 1069, 2001 WL 1243855
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 18, 2001
Docket97-KA-00793-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by87 cases

This text of 806 So. 2d 1069 (Powell 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
Powell v. State, 806 So. 2d 1069, 2001 WL 1243855 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

806 So.2d 1069 (2001)

Eric Troy POWELL a/k/a Troy McClinton
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 97-KA-00793-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October 18, 2001.
Rehearing Denied February 14, 2002.

*1072 Kent E. Smith, Oxford, Attorney for Appellant.

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

Before PITTMAN, C.J., MILLS and COBB, JJ.

COBB, J., for the court:

¶ 1. On August 22, 1996, Eric Troy Powell was convicted of aggravated assault on a police officer following a jury trial in the Marshall County Circuit Court. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He now appeals his conviction, raising the following issues:

I. WHETHER THE APPELLANT WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT TO PROTECTION AGAINST DOUBLE JEOPARDY AS GUARANTEED BY THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 3, SECTION 22 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890.
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE PROSECUTION TO FIRST CROSS-EXAMINE POWELL AND THEN, FOLLOWING HIS EXCULPATORY STATEMENTS, PRESENT REBUTTAL TESTIMONY REGARDING HIS ROLE IN A PRIOR CRIME.
III. WHETHER APPELLANT WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL AS GUARANTEED BY THE SIXTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND BY ARTICLE 3, SECTION 26 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890.
IV. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO CHARGE THE JURY AS REQUESTED IN WRITING BY THE APPELLANT WITH THE ONLY THREE INSTRUCTIONS DEALING WITH THE DEFENSE THEORY OF THE CASE.
V. WHETHER THE VERDICT OF THE JURY IS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

¶ 2. Concluding that these issues are without merit, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS

¶ 3. On August 13, 1995, Officer Randy Harper of the Holly Springs Police Department saw a vehicle matching the description of one reported stolen earlier that day. Harper later testified that he followed the vehicle until he could positively identify it as the stolen vehicle. Harper notified his dispatcher that he had found the vehicle and then made the stop. Once *1073 stopped, Eric Troy Powell, the driver of the vehicle, jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards nearby woods. Harper pursued Powell into a gully and found him after a brief search.

¶ 4. At that point, the facts become disputed, but according to Harper's testimony at trial, he fell on top of Powell, Powell pointed a gun at him, and he and Powell struggled over the gun, which then went off. Harper was not hit by the gunshot, and other deputies soon arrived to help him take Powell into custody. Harper could not say for certain whether Powell already had the gun out or whether he pulled it out after Harper fell onto Powell. Harper also testified on cross-examination that, after the shot was fired, Powell said "You shot me."[1] Harper was the sole witness offered by the State during its case-in-chief.

¶ 5. Powell later took the stand in his own defense, basically agreeing with Harper's account, but adding that he ran so that he could dispose of the gun and some drugs that he was carrying on his person. He also claimed to have told Harper "I have a gun in this hand" because he feared getting shot, and that Harper responded to that statement by trying to grab the gun away from him, thereby causing it to fire accidentally. Powell claimed that he did not even realize that his gun had fired and that he initially thought that he himself had been shot.

¶ 6. On cross-examination, Powell claimed that he bought the gun from a friend who also let him borrow the vehicle. In rebuttal, the State then called Teddy Dwight Dallas, the actual owner of the gun and vehicle, who identified Powell as one of two men who robbed him at gunpoint, taking the vehicle and the gun that was kept in it, as well as other possessions of Dallas's. At the conclusion of Dallas's testimony, Powell's attorney moved for a mistrial, and the court denied the motion without giving any justification. After about fifty minutes of deliberation, the jury convicted Powell of aggravated assault on a police officer. The circuit judge sentenced Powell as a habitual offender to a term of twenty years.

ANALYSIS

I. WHETHER THE APPELLANT WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT TO PROTECTION AGAINST DOUBLE JEOPARDY AS GUARANTEED BY THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 3, SECTION 22 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890.

¶ 7. Powell's first argument is that he was denied his right to protection from double jeopardy which was triggered when he pled guilty to charges of resisting arrest stemming from the same incident that gave rise to this aggravated assault charge. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment states that no person shall "be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U.S. Const. amend. V. This proscription is made applicable to Mississippi through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Cook v. State, 671 So.2d 1327, 1331 (Miss.1996). Also, the Mississippi Constitution contains a Double Jeopardy Clause which provides that "[n]o person's life or liberty shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense; but there must be an actual acquittal or conviction *1074 on the merits to bar another prosecution." Miss. Const. art. 3, § 22.

¶ 8. Double jeopardy consists of three separate constitutional protections: (1) protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, (2) protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and (3) protection against multiple punishments for the same offense. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). In other words, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars successive prosecutions for the same criminal offense. Cook, 671 So.2d at 1331. In determining whether the protection is applicable under either the Federal or State provision, we apply the "same-elements" test as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). Keyes v. State, 708 So.2d 540, 544 (Miss. 1998). The Blockburger test "inquires whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the `same offence' [sic] and double jeopardy bars additional punishment and successive prosecution." Cook, 671 So.2d at 1331 (quoting United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 689, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2851, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993)).

A. Is Powell's Double Jeopardy Claim procedurally barred?

¶ 9. The State argues as a threshold matter that Powell's double jeopardy claim is procedurally barred because he failed to pursue it to a hearing and ruling. The record reflects that this issue was raised in a Motion to Dismiss Indictment on Grounds of Double Jeopardy, but there is nothing in the record which reveals the disposition of that motion. However, the issue of double jeopardy was raised again by Powell in his Motion for J.N.O.V., which was denied by the trial court.

¶ 10.

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

Related

Elmer Norwood v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2023
Monya Davis a/k/a Yayo v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2022
Joseph Eubanks v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2022
Alondo Greenleaf v. State of Mississippi
267 So. 3d 749 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2019)
Roger Lee Jackson v. State of Mississippi
245 So. 3d 433 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2018)
Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi
240 So. 3d 1082 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2017)
James Douglas Willie v. State of Mississippi
204 So. 3d 1268 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2016)
Albert L. McDonald v. State of Mississippi
204 So. 3d 774 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Dequane Lomax v. State of Mississippi
192 So. 3d 975 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2016)
Robert O'Neal Miller v. State of Mississippi
192 So. 3d 383 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Steven Lee Boggs v. State of Mississippi
188 So. 3d 515 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2016)
Jessie T. Beal v. State of Mississippi
186 So. 3d 943 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Donald Williams, Jr. v. State of Mississippi
167 So. 3d 252 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2015)
Samuel Lee Thomas v. State of Mississippi
161 So. 3d 1121 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2015)
Charles Douglas Owens, II v. State of Mississippi
150 So. 3d 114 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
806 So. 2d 1069, 2001 WL 1243855, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-state-miss-2001.