Scott v. State

829 So. 2d 688, 2002 WL 1365562
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided June 25, 2002·No. 2000-KA-01957-COA·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

829 So.2d 688 (2002)

Sheila Ann SCOTT, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2000-KA-01957-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 25, 2002.
Rehearing Denied October 29, 2002.

*690 Gail P. Thompson, Oxford, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by: Deirdre McCrory, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, P.J., LEE, and IRVING, JJ.

LEE, J., for the court.

¶ 1. In September 2000, Sheila Ann Scott was convicted in the Tunica County Circuit Court of capital murder and of aggravated assault. She was sentenced to serve life imprisonment for the murder and five years for the aggravated assault charge, said sentences to run concurrently.

¶ 2. On appeal, Scott raises the following issues for our review: (1) did the trial court err in denying her motion to quash the indictment for violating her right to a speedy trial; (2) did the trial court err in giving the state's requested instructions concerning elements of the crimes of capital murder and aggravated assault and in denying the appellant's motion for directed verdict at the close of the State's case-in-chief; (3) did the trial court err in failing to grant a mistrial; (4) did the trial court err in allowing certain cross-examination of the defendant; and (5) was the appellant's right against double jeopardy violated? Having reviewed these issues and finding no merit, we therefore affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Jerry Thompson lived with Sammy Wilburt and Thompson's girlfriend, Plashett "Shun" Garner in Tunica. The appellant, Sheila Scott, had been in a homosexual relationship with Shun prior to Shun's dating Thompson. Scott confronted Thompson to inform him that his relationship with Shun would not work out because Shun did not like being with men and because Scott was still secretly seeing Shun.

¶ 4. The incident at issue in this case occurred in Tunica on or about May 10, 1997. On that date, Sheila Scott, James Meeks and Tyrone Havercome drove a U-Haul *691 truck, which Scott had rented earlier, to Thompson's home. Stephanie Lewis was at Thompson's home that day and testified that two teenage boys knocked on the door and asked if Sammy Wilburt was there, which she affirmed. The boys entered and went to Wilburt's room where Wilburt and Thompson were, and Lewis testified that one of the boys asked which of them was dating Shun. After that, Lewis testified she heard shots and ran to hide. When she emerged, she found both Wilburt and Thompson lying on the floor in blood. Thompson eventually recovered, but Wilburt later died from his wounds.

¶ 5. After the shots were fired, Scott, who had remained in the truck, backed the U-Haul up to the door of Thompson's home, and Havercome and Meeks gathered some items from the house and put them into the back of the truck, then they both got into the truck and Scott drove off. A neighbor called the police, and they pursued the U-Haul truck on a high-speed chase. After evading one road block, Scott ran through another road block, but the officers shot out the truck tires, forcing Scott to stop the truck.

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN DENYING THE APPELLANT'S MOTION TO QUASH THE INDICTMENT FOR VIOLATING HER RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL?

¶ 6. With this first issue, Scott argues that the trial court erred in not granting her motion to quash the indictment for violation of her right to speedy trial. We look to our standard of review concerning allegations of denial of speedy trial. First, concerning a constitutional right to speedy trial, we apply those factors enunciated in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), which include (1) length of delay, (2) reason for delay, (3) the defendant's assertion of his right to a speedy trial and (4) prejudice resulting to the defendant. For constitutional purposes, the right to a speedy trial attaches at arrest. Perry v. State, 637 So.2d 871, 874 (Miss.1994). Under Mississippi statutory law, the 270 day time is calculated from the date of arraignment. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-17-1 (Supp.2001).

¶ 7. We initially note that Scott only raised the issue of speedy trial as it concerned her first trial which took place in June 1997. At no point thereafter did she raise the issue as it concerned her retrial; thus, we find the issue procedurally barred as it concerns her retrial. We do, however, briefly address our standard of review as it applies to the merits.

¶ 8. Although Scott asserts to the contrary, we find that the time from Scott's arraignment or arrest in May 1997 to the date of the first trial in June 1997 is not significant at this point because "the statutory 270 day rule is satisfied once the defendant is brought to trial, even if that trial results in a mistrial. Thereafter, the time of retrial is within the discretion of the trial court." Bryant v. State, 746 So.2d 853(¶ 61) (Miss.Ct.App.1999). Accordingly, we are only permitted to examine the passage of time from the first trial to the retrial.

¶ 9. From the date of Scott's trial on June 7, 1999, to the date of her retrial on September 11, 2000, approximately fifteen months passed. Since Scott failed to raise this issue at the trial court level, the only Barker factor which she may satisfy is length of delay as no other evidence has been preserved for our review. See Sanders v. State, 678 So.2d 663, 670 (Miss.1996). We are to review all four Barker factors together. State v. Magnusen, 646 So.2d 1275, 1278 (Miss.1994). However, without *692 any evidence concerning the other three factors, we cannot conduct such evaluation, and having first found this issue to be procedurally barred, we additionally find no merit.

II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN GIVING THE STATE'S REQUESTED INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING ELEMENTS OF THE CRIMES OF CAPITAL MURDER AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND IN DENYING THE APPELLANT'S MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT AT THE CLOSE OF THE STATE'S CASE-IN-CHIEF?

¶ 10. With this issue, Scott claims the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the State's instructions S-1, S-2, and S-3 which instructed the jury on the elements of the capital murder and the lesser-included offense of murder and of aggravated assault. Essentially, Scott argues that the evidence did not show she had the requisite mental state to commit murder and that she only intended to commit robbery when she drove to Thompson's home. We look to our standard of review:

In considering the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the verdict, this Court will consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict. Credible evidence which is consistent with the guilty verdict must be accepted as true. The prosecution must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. Matters regarding the weight and credibility to be accorded the evidence are to be resolved by the jury. This Court may reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.

Spann v. State, 771 So.2d 883 (¶ 16) (Miss. 2000) (cit

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