Readus v. State

997 So. 2d 941, 2008 WL 1795175
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 22, 2008
Docket2005-KA-01618-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 997 So. 2d 941 (Readus 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
Readus v. State, 997 So. 2d 941, 2008 WL 1795175 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

997 So.2d 941 (2008)

Kenneth READUS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-KA-01618-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 22, 2008.
Rehearing Denied September 30, 2008.
Certiorari Denied January 8, 2009.

Julie Ann Epps, Canton, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, attorney for appellee.

Before MYERS, P.J., IRVING and ISHEE, JJ.

ISHEE, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Kenneth Readus was convicted on one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault and sentenced to life imprisonment plus twenty years to run *942 concurrently all in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Aggrieved, he appeals asserting:

I. The trial court erred in granting the State's jury instruction S-7 which combined the definitions of both deliberate design murder and depraved heart murder.
II. The verdict of murder and/or aggravated assault was unsupported by sufficient evidence or, alternatively, against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Readus was indicted for the murder of his wife, Sherry, and the aggravated assault of his stepson, Marlow Jackson. Readus and his wife lived in an apartment in Canton, Mississippi with their two children and two of Sherry's children from a previous marriage.

¶ 3. On the night of March 29, 2002, Readus returned from work between 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. to find that Sherry was not home. Sherry had not returned from completing her shift at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson. When Readus asked Sherry's daughter, Yuvonda, where her mother was, she replied that she thought her mother was still at work. Sherry did not return home until early the next morning. According to Yuvonda, Readus confronted Sherry and asked her where she had been. Sherry responded by telling him that it was none of his business. Subsequently, an argument ensued, and Sherry called for help from her son, Marlow.

¶ 4. According to Marlow, upon entering the room, he saw Readus standing over his mother with his fists balled up. Marlow stated that his mother was on the ground holding her face. Marlow admitted that he picked up a broom to defend his mother, but it is disputed as to whether he actually struck Readus with the broom. It is undisputed, however, that Marlow demanded that Readus leave the apartment. Readus gestured toward the door, but he did not leave. Instead, he stated, "I'm tired of this," and subsequently drew a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Marlow. Marlow testified that Readus shot three times: (1) once at him, (2) once at his mother, and (3) once into the kitchen. Readus claimed that he only intended to fire the gun in the air. He alleged that the gun discharged accidentally when Marlow tried to grab the gun out of his hand. Readus claimed that the shots were fired as he and Marlow struggled to gain control of the gun. According to Yuvonda, when Marlow reached for the gun, Readus shot him. The extent of an alleged struggle between Readus and Marlow is disputed in the record. After witnessing Readus shoot her brother, Yuvonda stated that she fled for safety. While running out of the room, she heard the second shot. This second shot was later determined to be the fatal round which ended Sherry's life.

¶ 5. The next door neighbor, Doris Lewis, heard the shots coming from the Readuses' home. Shortly thereafter, Lewis witnessed Readus leave the apartment. When Lewis went over to investigate, she found Sherry lying on the floor unconscious with a gunshot wound to her stomach and blood coming from the back of her head. She also saw Marlow sitting up in a corner of the room with a gunshot wound to his upper chest. Lewis called the police for assistance and stayed until an ambulance arrived. Both Marlow and Sherry were transported to the hospital. Marlow was treated for his injuries. Sherry was pronounced dead on arrival.

¶ 6. Readus turned himself into police later that evening. After signing a Miranda *943 waiver, he voluntarily gave a statement to the police. In his statement, Readus admitted to pulling out a loaded .25 caliber pistol and shooting his wife and his stepson. Readus claimed that his decision to shoot came after his wife hit him with a broom, and they started "tussling." After the shooting, Readus stated that he left the apartment, got into his car, and drove to his mother's house. He admitted that he hid the pistol in his mother's storage room. Shortly thereafter, he decided to turn himself in.

¶ 7. Readus was indicted on June 10, 2002, for one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault. He was tried on April 7, 2004. At the conclusion of the case, the jury was given instructions for murder which included the definitions of both murder by deliberate design and depraved heart murder. The jury was also given an instruction for the lesser offense of manslaughter, as well as a separate instruction for the aggravated assault charge. Readus was found guilty of both murder and aggravated assault and given a life sentence and a twenty-year concurrent sentence in the custody of the MDOC. From that conviction, he now appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. Whether the trial court erred in granting the State's jury instruction S-7.

¶ 8. Readus contends that the trial court erred by granting jury instruction S-7 which defined the elements of murder. It instructed the jury that:

Murder is the killing of a human being, with malice aforethought, not in necessary self defense, and without the authority of law, by any means or by any manner, when done with premeditated and deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed or when done in the commission of an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved heart, regardless of human life, although without premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual.

Readus contends that this instruction was improper because it failed to instruct the jury that it was required to unanimously agree on either deliberate design murder or depraved heart murder. Readus argues that, without such an instruction, there was no way to ensure that the jurors were unanimous as to the elements supporting their verdict of murder. He, therefore, contends that his Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous verdict was violated. The State contends that an evidentiary basis existed for the jury instruction and that precedent exists for allowing the jury instruction.

¶ 9. As previously stated, the jury instruction S-7 allowed the jury to convict Readus of murder if the killing was of deliberate design, Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19(1)(a) (Rev.2006), or if the killing evinced a depraved heart, Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19(1)(b) (Rev.2006). This Court has previously recognized that the State may submit jury instructions that enable the jury to convict either for deliberate design murder or for depraved heart murder. Lett v. State, 902 So.2d 630, 636(¶ 19) (Miss.Ct. App.2005). Further, the Mississippi Supreme Court has held that it is not error to grant a jury instruction which combines the elements of deliberate design murder with the elements of depraved heart murder as stated in Mississippi Code Annotated sections 97-3-19(1)(a) and (1)(b). See Schuck v. State, 865 So.2d 1111, 1119-20 (¶¶ 19-20) (Miss.2003); Catchings v. State, 684 So.2d 591, 599 (Miss.1996).

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Bluebook (online)
997 So. 2d 941, 2008 WL 1795175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/readus-v-state-missctapp-2008.