Ray v. State

330 So. 2d 580
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 1976
Docket48840
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 330 So. 2d 580 (Ray 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
Ray v. State, 330 So. 2d 580 (Mich. 1976).

Opinion

330 So.2d 580 (1976)

John RAY
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 48840.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 20, 1976.

*581 Beach, Beach, Luckett & Hanbury, Jackson, for appellant.

A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Karen A. Gilfoy, Asst. Atty. Gen., Pete J. Cajoleas and John C. Underwood, Jr., Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before INZER, P.J., and SUGG and WALKER, JJ.

INZER, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

John Ray, appellant, was indicated in the Circuit Court of Pike County for the crime of discharging a firearm into a dwelling house. Pursuant to his motion for a change of venue trial was had in the Circuit Court of Lawrence County. Defendant was convicted and sentenced to serve a term of ten years in the State Penitentiary. From this conviction and sentence he appeals. We reverse and remand.

There were no eye witnesses to establish a connection between appellant and the crime charged, and the state's case was based entirely upon circumstantial evidence. The principal facts reflected by the record are as follows:

At about 10 A.M. on November 1, 1973, Mrs. Katherine Roach, wife of Judge J. Gordon Roach, upon entering the sun parlor at the front of their home, located at 310 Kentucky Avenue in the City of McComb, discovered holes in the front windows and in the wall opposite these windows. Upon investigation by the police, the holes were determined to have been made by a .00 buckshot. The pellets had penetrated both the window glass and surrounding wooden frames and had crossed the room and pierced the wall opposite the window.

On the previous day, which was Halloween, Mrs. Roach spent the entire day at home. During that day she cleaned the sun parlor and everything was in order. Nothing unusual occurred until that night. Judge Roach returned home from a meeting about 10:15 P.M. As he approached his home driving east on Kentucky Avenue, he observed nothing unusual. He turned left into his driveway and parked his car in the rear of his house and entered his home by the kitchen door. He and Mrs. Roach were in the den watching television with all the lights in the house off, except in one bathroom, that was not visible from the street. About ten minutes after Judge Roach arrived home, he heard a car traveling west on Kentucky Avenue making a loud noise because of some defect in the muffler. At about the same time, he heard three or four loud explosions that he said could not have been fire-crackers *582 but were shotgun shots. He telephoned the police and informed them that someone was shooting in the area. Nothing else of an unusual nature occurred that night. The next morning Mrs. Roach discovered that her home had been shot into.

Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Rushing live next door to the Roach's home and although their home is not directly on the corner, it is in close proximity to the intersection of Kentucky Avenue and Broadway Street and the intersection is clearly visible from their home. On the night of October 31, 1973, the Rushings were at home watching television when they heard a car with a loud muffler stop in front of their house. Mr. Rushing went to the front door to see if he could get the tag number of the car because some drag racing had been occurring on that street. Mr. Rushing testified that the first time he saw the car at about 10:10 P.M. it turned off Broadway and was traveling west on Kentucky Avenue. The next time the Rushings heard the car it was traveling east on Kentucky Avenue and turned south on Broadway. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rushing said that the car was traveling very slowly and that they were able to get a clear view of it. Both described the car as being a Pontiac Grand Prix with brown bottom and white top. It had a fine white stripe down the side with one hubcap on the left and no hubcaps on the right side. They noticed dents in the rear of the trunk and on the left front door. Neither were able to get the tag number. The next time they heard the car it was traveling west on Kentucky Avenue. Mr. Rushing said he heard it coming, and by the time he got to the door the car stopped in front of his house. When he opened his door, the car took off, as he stepped on the porch he heard three or four shots. He said as far as he could tell the shots were coming from the car. Mr. Rushing stated that he observed what he thought were two occupants in the front seat of the car, but he could not identify these occupants, either as individuals or generally as to color, sex, or dress. Mrs. Rushing also heard the car and the shots, but did not see the car on its third trip. She said she saw the same car pass in front of her home about 2 A.M. on that night. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rushing identified photographs of the automobile allegedly driven by appellant on this night as being the car they saw passing in front of their home when the shots were fired.

Police Officer Billy Knight was on duty on the night in question and at 10:30 he heard a radio communication regarding shooting going on near the Roach home. When he heard the communication he was about one block from the Roach home driving west on Georgia Street. He did not respond to the call but continued west on Georgia Street. As he approached the intersection of Georgia and Caston Streets, about four blocks from the Roach home, he saw a white over brown Pontiac Grand Prix stop at a stop sign at the intersection and then proceed south on Caston at about 20 to 25 miles per hour. As this car passed in front of him, he saw the driver and recognized him as being the appellant, John Ray. Another person was in the front seat, but he could only identify this person as being white. He could not tell whether the person was male or female. He testified that he noticed that the car was running rough and the muffler was hanging down. Later that same night he saw the car parked in front of appellant's home.

The following day after learning of the shooting the police found four green .12 gauge .00 shotgun shell hulls on Kentucky Avenue near the north curb in front of the Roach home. The distance between the easternmost point and the westernmost point where the shells were found was about 21 steps.

Further investigation revealed that on October 24, 1973, Gentry Dowland, a game warden, had received notice that someone was shooting east of Fernwood. He went to investigate and about two miles east of Fernwood he saw a 1971 Pontiac, white *583 over brown, or chocolate car, parked on the roadside. At the time he saw the automobile, he heard shots from a .22 caliber rifle and a single shotgun shot off to the southwest. Investigating, he came upon a person named Freddie Andrews carrying a .22 rifle and a dead squirrel. Andrews did not have a hunting license and Dowland gave him a ticket requiring him to answer the charge of hunting without a license. Although Andrews told Dowland that he had been hunting alone, Dowland observed that the squirrel had been shot by a shotgun instead of a rifle. Investigating further, Dowland came upon the appellant to the southeast of where the car was parked. Appellant was carrying a shotgun but had no game. When appellant was asked for his hunting license he stated that he did not need a license because he was not hunting but was just shooting snakes. After some words, Dowland placed appellant under arrest for hunting without a license and seized from him a .12 gauge shotgun and one unfired .12 gauge shotgun shell loaded with.06 shot, which Dowland ejected from the gun. At the jail, Dowland seized seven additional unfired blue .12 gauge shotgun shells loaded with No. 6 shot, which appellant had in his jacket.

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

Related

Lewis v. State
814 So. 2d 819 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
Walker v. State
671 So. 2d 581 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1995)
Conner v. State
632 So. 2d 1239 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1994)
Wilson v. State
592 So. 2d 993 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1991)
Willie v. State
585 So. 2d 660 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1991)
Van Buren v. State
498 So. 2d 1224 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1986)
Collier v. State of Nevada
705 P.2d 1126 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1985)
Jackson v. State
377 So. 2d 1060 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1979)
Thornton v. State
369 So. 2d 505 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
330 So. 2d 580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ray-v-state-miss-1976.