Roberts v. State

53 So. 3d 803, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 440, 2010 WL 3221935
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 17, 2010
DocketNo. 2008-KA-01707-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 53 So. 3d 803 (Roberts 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
Roberts v. State, 53 So. 3d 803, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 440, 2010 WL 3221935 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

GRIFFIS, J„

for the Court:

¶ 1. Eric Roberts appeals his conviction of burglary. On appeal, Roberts argues that: (1) the trial court erred by allowing Roberts’s statement to Officer Michael Hall into evidence; (2) the trial court erred by allowing Roberts’s statements to Detective Jon Traxler into evidence; (3) the prosecutor made an improper closing argument; (4) the trial court erred in denying Roberts’s motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial; (5) he received ineffective assistance of counsel; and (6) cumulative errors deprived him of his constitutional right to a fair trial. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On February 1, 2007, Ledonna Ellis had two girlfriends over to her apartment. The three girls went to a party and were home by midnight. Ellis went to sleep alone in one room, while the other two girls slept in a second bedroom.

¶ 3. At approximately 3:00 a.m., Ellis awoke to a man standing in her bedroom. Her room was dark, so she ran to her bathroom to turn on a light and did not see anyone. She then raced to her kitchen to turn on the light. In the kitchen, she saw the intruder in a crouched position in front of her refrigerator. Ellis ran to the other bedroom, slammed the door, and called 911. The intruder rummaged around the apartment for a few minutes; then he left through the front door.

¶ 4. At approximately 3:30 a.m., Officer Michael Hall responded to a call about a potential burglary. He was given a description — a black male wearing a blue hoodie. Officer Hall arrived at the apartment complex’s parking lot approximately a minute later. Upon arrival, he saw Eric Roberts walking across the parking lot. He called him over and asked him where he was coming from. Roberts responded that he was coming from McDonalds. Officer Hall told Roberts that Roberts fit the description of a suspect that was involved in a burglary. He then patted Roberts down and found an open-bladed knife in Roberts’s pocket. After finding the knife, Officer Hall placed Roberts in the back of his patrol car.

[807]*807¶ 5. Officer Hall waited for other officers to arrive to help investigate the burglary. Roberts knocked on the police car’s window to get Officer Hall’s attention. Officer Hall opened the door, and Roberts told the officer: “All right, I just came out of this female’s room. I realized I forgot my phone, so I went back and got it, and I just left.” At that time, Officer Hall read Roberts his Miranda rights.

¶ 6. When they arrived at the police station, Detective Traxler spoke with Roberts and again read Roberts his Miranda rights. Roberts signed a waiver of his Miranda rights and wrote the following statement:

The individual at a party ask[ed] me to walk a girl home from the little party. I walked her home. I overheard her talking over the phone to her roommate, so I walk[ed] out to Ross Street and the officers were there! They informed me that something had happen[ed] that I wasn’t authorized to control “on my own,” so I cooperated with the officers!
I walk[ed] someone home[,] but I was not wearing or fit the description the [officer] said, it may have been a totally difference [sic] place, but I had -been drink[ing], but not driv[ing] after the party!

Detective Traxler then wrote a series of questions for Roberts, and Roberts wrote his answers. The questions and answers are as follows:

Q: Did you know anyone that lives at 105 Ross Blvd.?
A: On my way to Quizno’s. So[,] I stopped at the party[,] but I didn’t know anyone personally.
Q: Do you know the name of the girl you walked home?
A: Don’t know her name. I was drinking, she may have been drinking.
Q: . Do you know what apartment she lives in?
A: Don’t know the apartment number because we w[ere] walking and being loud.
Q: Do you remember what she was wearing?
A: I can’t exactly remember what she was wearing! Was talking and being loud!
Q: How many people were with you when you walked her home?
A: It started as me and two girls! One went to an apartment and the other went to another.
Q: Do you know the other girl[’]s name and what she was wearing?
A: No.
Q: Do you know what her apartment [number] is?
A: No sir.
Q: Did one of the girls ask you to come in her apartment?
A: No, but one informed me that there were blankets and you [sic] could sleep on the floor.
Q: How did you get in the apartment?
A: I walk[ed] through a door “drunk” with the next male’s so[-]called girlfriend!
Q: What do you mean the next male’s so[-]called girlfriend?
A: Not meaning the word “drunk” but she possibly could have been involved in [a] relationship because she told me she had blankets!
Q: What did she do when she went in the apartment?
A: She was quiet, I just left, I realized] my phone was drop[ped] on the floor with blankets. Went back th[ere] got the phone off the floor. Lockfed] them in by twisting the [808]*808knob and the[n] I talk[ed] to officers.
[[Image here]]
Did you go in her bedroom? O’
Whe[n] I left, I didn’t go into the bedroomf.] I yelled, I’m leaving. <d
Did you go in the kitchen? <©
I’m unsure where the kitchen is! But, no. t>
Did you lock the door when you left? <©
A: After I walked back and yelled where is my phone[.] I lock[ed] the door behind me!
Q: Was there anyone else at the apartment?
A: I’m not sure!

¶ 7. Roberts was charged pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-17-23(1) (Supp.2009), which provides:

Every person who shall be convicted of breaking and entering the dwelling house or inner door of such dwelling house of another, whether armed with a deadly weapon or not, and whether there shall be at the time some human being in such dwelling house or not, with intent to commit some crime therein, shall be punished by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than three (3) years nor more than twenty-five (25) years.

¶ 8. A jury found Roberts guilty of the charge. Roberts was sentenced to twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with five years suspended, twenty years to serve, and five years of post-release supervision. Roberts’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, a new trial was denied.

ANALYSIS

1. Whether the trial court erred in allowing Roberts’s statements made to Officer Hall into evidence.

¶ 9.

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Related

Jenkins v. State
102 So. 3d 273 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 So. 3d 803, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 440, 2010 WL 3221935, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roberts-v-state-missctapp-2010.