Ryals v. State

794 So. 2d 161, 2001 WL 665507
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 14, 2001
Docket1999-KA-00752-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 794 So. 2d 161 (Ryals 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
Ryals v. State, 794 So. 2d 161, 2001 WL 665507 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

794 So.2d 161 (2001)

Pamela RYALS a/k/a Pamela Sue Ryals a/k/a `Pam'
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 1999-KA-00752-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 14, 2001.
Rehearing Denied August 16, 2001.

*163 Michael V. Ratliff, Hattiesburg, for Appellant.

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

EN BANC.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. This case comes to this Court on appeal of Pamela Ryals ("Ryals") from the Circuit Court of Lamar County. In June of 1998, Ryals was indicted in the Circuit Court of Lamar County for the murder of Wendell Ryals ("Wendell"), alleged to have occurred on or about January 30, 1998. Ryals was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term of twenty (20) years imprisonment. Ryals timely appealed to this Court. Finding that Ryals's arguments lack merit, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTS

¶ 2. Pamela Ryals and Wendell Ryals were divorced on February 11, 1997. Following their divorce, the couple's relationship severely deteriorated due in large part to Wendell's attempts to take his children from Ryals and his objections to Ryals's dating Bobby Gates, a black man.

¶ 3. Despite a permanent restraining order Ryals had against Wendell, he continued to harass her on several occasions. On the night of January 30, 1998, Ryals and Gates returned home, and after coming back outside to get Gates who was listening to the car radio, Ryals heard something land on the sidewalk. Ryals assumed that the person throwing things at her was Wendell. She then got her loaded gun out of the dresser and went back outside to look for Wendell, who was in the street in front of Ryals's apartment between her car and Gate's car, approximately ten feet from her.

¶ 4. Ryals asked Wendell to leave, but he would not. He dodged and hid between other apartment complexes, behind wooden fences, and amongst the trees. Ryals followed Wendell in hopes of finding the location of his car so that she could report the location to the police. Ryals and Wendell repeated the above scenario, where Wendell would hide from Ryals, surprise her, and disappear again. Ryals and Wendell finally met behind some apartment buildings and engaged in a physical confrontation that ended in Ryals shooting Wendell three times.

¶ 5. On the night in question, Deputy Sheriff James Perry ("Perry") of the Lamar *164 County Sheriff's Department, responded to a "shot-fired" call. In response to Perry's questioning, Ryals told Perry that she shot Wendell. Ryals then took Perry to some apartments not far from her own, where Perry discovered a body lying on the ground. He checked the body for a pulse but could not get one. He then went back to his patrol car and radioed for an ambulance and for investigators.

¶ 6. Aggrieved by the judgment of the trial court, Ryals raises the following issues on appeal:

I. WHETHER THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI SYSTEMATICALLY EXCLUDED FEMALES FROM THE JURY IN VIOLATION OF PAMELA RYALS' RIGHT TO HAVE A JURY OF HER PEERS?
II. WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO SUPPRESS RYALS' STATEMENTS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS?
III. WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO DECLARE A MISTRIAL DUE TO THE INTRODUCTION OF A WITNESS'S INFLAMMATORY STATEMENTS?
IV. WHETHER THE STATE FAILED TO PROVE ITS CASE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT?
V. WHETHER RYALS' SENTENCE WAS EXTREME IN LIGHT OF HER HAVING NO PREVIOUS CRIMINAL RECORD?

DISCUSSION

I.

¶ 7. Ryals asserts that the peremptory strikes used by the State during the voir dire process were based solely on gender, and therefore, they violated the United States Supreme Court decision, see J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994). She further asserts the trial court erred by allowing the State to systematically exclude females from the jury when the venire group was almost evenly divided among men and women and where the State was not required to give gender-neutral reasons for its peremptory strikes.

¶ 8. We find that Ryals did not make a prima facie case of gender-based discrimination in the State's use of peremptory strikes against women. There is simply no indication that the State's use of peremptory challenges against female venire persons created an inference of purposeful discrimination.

¶ 9. This Court has stated on numerous occasions that a trial court's determinations under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 93-94, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), are afforded great deference because they are largely based on credibility. See, e.g., Puckett v. State, 788 So.2d 752, 756 (Miss.2000); McGilberry v. State, 741 So.2d 894, 923 (Miss.1999); Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777, 785 (Miss.1997). This Court will not reverse factual findings relating to a Batson challenge unless they are clearly erroneous. Puckett, 788 So.2d at 756.

¶ 10. The Batson doctrine is not concerned with racial, gender, or ethnic balance on petit juries, and it does not hold that a party is entitled to a jury composed of or including members of cognizable group. Rather, it is concerned exclusively with discriminatory intent on the part of the lawyer against whose use of his peremptory strikes the objection is interposed. See Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 406, 411, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991); Batson, 476 U.S. at 93-94, 106 *165 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69. This Court has specifically held, "[p]roportional representation of [members of cognizable groups] on a jury is not required." Harris v. State, 576 So.2d 1262, 1264 (Miss.1991). We have further stated that defendants are not entitled to a jury of any particular composition. Id. Under the Batson doctrine, the objecting party has the right to be tried by a jury selected on a nondiscriminatory criteria, but the petit jury actually chosen need not mirror the community. Britt v. State, 520 So.2d 1377, 1379 (Miss.1988).

¶ 11. In J.E.B., the United States Supreme Court extended the standard for determining a prima facie case of discrimination in peremptory strikes based on race from Batson v. Kentucky to apply to peremptory challenges based on gender. Id. at 129, 106 S.Ct. 1712. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 96, 106 S.Ct. at 1723, 90 L.Ed.2d at 87 (citations omitted); see also Duplantis v. State, 644 So.2d 1235, 1246 (Miss.1994). J.E.B. held that "gender, like race, is an unconstitutional proxy for juror competence and impartiality." J.E.B., 511 U.S. at 128, 114 S.Ct. 1419. The three considerations in determining whether the defendant has made a prima facie case of gender-based discrimination are whether 1) he/she is a member of a cognizable gender group 2) the prosecution has exercised peremptory challenges to remove members of his/her gender and 3) the facts and any other relevant circumstances raise an inference that the prosecution excluded potential jurors on the basis of their gender. Id. at 144-45, 114 S.Ct. 1419 (citing Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712).

¶ 12.

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Bluebook (online)
794 So. 2d 161, 2001 WL 665507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ryals-v-state-miss-2001.