Shabazz v. State

729 So. 2d 813, 1998 WL 217390
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 21, 1998
Docket96-KA-00473 COA
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 729 So. 2d 813 (Shabazz 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
Shabazz v. State, 729 So. 2d 813, 1998 WL 217390 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

729 So.2d 813 (1998)

Ya-Sin Alfatir SHABAZZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 96-KA-00473 COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 21, 1998.
Rehearing Denied July 21, 1998.
Certiorari Denied October 15, 1998.

*815 Joseph P. Hudson, James Donald Evans, III, Hudson Smith & Evans, Gulfport, for Appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Attorney General, Jean Smith Vaughan, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., for Appellee.

Before BRIDGES, C.J., and COLEMAN and DIAZ, JJ.

BRIDGES, Chief Judge, for the Court:

¶ 1. Shabazz was indicted, tried, and convicted of aggravated assault in the Harrison County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to serve a term of twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with placement in an appropriate mental health program. He presents twelve issues for appellate consideration:

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO HOLD A COMPETENCY HEARING AS REQUIRED BY THE MISSISSIPPI UNIFORM CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURT RULES, RULE 9.06.
II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO MAKE REQUIRED SPECIFIC *816 FINDINGS BEFORE ISSUING AN ORDER TO FORCIBLY MEDICATE THE DEFENDANT.
III. IT WAS IMPROPER FOR APPELLANT TO BE FORCIBLY MEDICATED BEYOND THE POINT THAT HE WAS FOUND COMPETENT AND NO LONGER A DANGER TO HIMSELF OR TO OTHERS.
IV. APPELLANT RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL BECAUSE HIS TRIAL COUNSEL EFFECTIVELY WAIVED A HEARING ON THE ISSUE OF APPELLANT'S MENTAL COMPETENCY IN VIOLATION OF RULE 9.06 OF THE MISSISSIPPI UNIFORM RULES OF CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURT.
V. APPELLANT RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL BECAUSE HIS TRIAL COUNSEL ACQUIESCED ON THE ISSUE OF APPELLANT'S COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL AND TO BE SENTENCED BY RELYING ON THE STATE'S EXPERTS' OPINIONS.
VI. THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING APPELLANT'S REQUESTS FOR A SENTENCING AND RE-SENTENCING HEARING.
VII. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING INTO EVIDENCE CERTAIN EXHIBITS WHEN SUCH ITEMS HAD NOT BEEN PROPERLY AUTHENTICATED AND A PROPER CHAIN OF CUSTODY HAD NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED BY THE STATE.
VIII. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING INTO EVIDENCE AN INFLAMMATORY AND PREJUDICIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE VICTIM WHICH UNFAIRLY PREJUDICED THE JURY.
IX. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING JURY INSTRUCTION S-1M.
X. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN WITHDRAWING JURY INSTRUCTION C50 AND ALTERNATIVELY GRANTING JURY INSTRUCTION S-5.
XI. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DEFENDANT'S REQUEST FOR A LESSER-INCLUDED-OFFENSE INSTRUCTION.
XII. WHETHER APPELLANT'S TWENTY YEAR SENTENCE IS HARSH UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS CASE SUCH THAT THE PENALTY VIOLATES THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 3, SECTION 28 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm the conviction of aggravated assault and sentence of twenty years in the custody of the MDOC.

FACTS

¶ 3. Shabazz was a life-long resident of the coast, and during summer vacations from Yale University, he returned home and worked for the local Sun-Herald newspaper. After college, Shabazz worked for a newspaper in Miami. At some point, Shabazz returned to the coast, but did not work at the newspaper. One of his fellow employees while he was at the Sun-Herald was Riva Brown. Shabazz and Brown were both Knight-Ridder scholarship recipients, and also worked on community projects together. The two were friends, but were never involved romantically.

¶ 4. On the evening of July 18, 1994, at approximately 6:30 P.M., Brown, a full time employee of the Sun-Herald, left the office and headed across the parking lot to her car. She saw Shabazz sitting in a car in the parking lot. Brown approached Shabazz's car in an effort to speak, but whenever Brown got close to the car Shabazz would pull away. Brown finally gave up and went to her own car to go home. Brown got in her car and was about to back out when she realized that Shabazz had pulled up behind her and blocked her in. She then saw Shabazz rushing hurriedly towards her car holding something down in his hand. Brown testified that the next thing she knew, her drivers' side window blew out. She felt something hit her arm, and experienced sharp pain in her left arm and lower abdomen. At that point, Brown looked up to see *817 Shabazz pointing a shotgun at her head. The gun clicked again, but did not go off. She did not see any other person with Shabazz. Brown immediately crawled to the passenger's side of the car, got out, and ran back to the office to get help. Brown received severe injuries to her left arm (she is left-handed) and her abdomen. She had fourteen holes in her intestines, and has had a total of four reconstructive surgeries on her arm and abdomen. As a result of the shotgun blast, Brown's body is and will remain full of lead pellets.

¶ 5. Michael Tonos, executive editor of the Sun-Herald, testified that he saw Brown walking to her car on the evening of the shooting. As he noticed that her car was blocked in, he saw Shabazz get out of the car with a shotgun in his hand, walk to Brown's car, hold it up to Brown's window, and fire. Tonos did not see anyone besides Brown and Shabazz in the parking lot near her car.

¶ 6. Shabazz testified of his own version of events. According to Shabazz, he met a guy named Noray at a fast food restaurant, and elicited his help in shooting Brown's car. Shabazz got the shotgun, the shells, and a rental car and asked Noray to shoot Brown's car. However, Shabazz testified that he never asked Noray to actually shoot Brown or harm her. According to Shabazz, he drove Noray to the parking lot of the Sun-Herald and had him sit low down in the passenger seat so no one would see him. After pulling in behind Brown, Noray got out of the car, gun in hand, and proceeded to shoot Brown. Noray then ran back and put the gun in the car and then took off on foot and has not been seen or heard from since. Shabazz panicked and drove off. He was later arrested after being pulled over at a service station. Shabazz stated that he wore white gloves during the incident, but took them off as he drove away. Noray was shorter than Shabazz, weighed less then Shabazz, was much darker skinned than Shabazz, but still Shabazz testified that the victim and eyewitness were wrong when they identified Shabazz as the shooter.

¶ 7. When Shabazz was arrested, police recovered from the car the shotgun, shells and a pair of white gloves. Shabazz was subsequently jailed, and at the request of his attorneys, was sent to the State Hospital at Whitfield for psychiatric examination and necessary medication. After being found competent to stand trial, Shabazz was tried and convicted by a jury after a one day trial.

ANALYSIS

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO HOLD A COMPETENCY HEARING AS REQUIRED BY THE MISSISSIPPI UNIFORM CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURT RULES, RULE 9.06.

¶ 8. Shabazz complains that the trial court erred in not holding a competency hearing before proceeding to trial. However, Shabazz's attorneys at the time, the same attorneys representing him on this appeal, petitioned the court on August 5, 1994, to place Shabazz in the state hospital for evaluation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
729 So. 2d 813, 1998 WL 217390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shabazz-v-state-missctapp-1998.