Smoot v. State

780 So. 2d 660, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 8, 2001 WL 19725
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 9, 2001
DocketNo. 1999-KA-01542-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 780 So. 2d 660 (Smoot 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
Smoot v. State, 780 So. 2d 660, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 8, 2001 WL 19725 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

PAYNE, J., for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Kevin Smoot was indicted in Adams County along with several other men for the aggravated assault of Ernest Clark. The trial was set for September 5, 1997, at which time Smoot claims that the district attorney told the judge he would nolle prosse the charges against Smoot.

¶ 2. On September 30, 1998, Smoot and all of the other co-defendants, except for one, were reindicted for the same charge of aggravated assault, pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-7 (Rev.1994). The judge ordered separate trials for each defendant, and an Adams County Circuit Court jury found Smoot guilty of aggravated assault. Smoot was sentenced to serve twenty years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections with ten years suspended. Smoot’s motion to dismiss, motion for directed verdict, and motion for new trial were all denied. Feeling aggrieved, Smoot now appeals to this Court.

FACTS

¶ 3. On May 25, 1996, in Natchez, Mississippi, Kevin Smoot, along with several other men, assaulted Ernest Clark and severely beat him. Clark was taken to a hospital where he remained comatose for nine weeks. At the time of trial, Clark was still confined to a wheelchair, and he testified that his doctor told him he probably would never walk again. In Clark’s testimony at trial, Clark had trouble recalling the events surrounding his attack, but he did testify that Smoot had hit him in the back of the head with a brick, and that Smoot had joined the others in assaulting him.

¶4. Margaret Williams testified as an eyewitness. Williams stated she was sitting on her front porch with a friend the morning of the assault on Clark, and that she had heard two shots. She then saw a group of men chasing Clark, eventually catching him and proceeding to beat him. [662]*662Smoot declined to testify in his own defense, nor did the defense call any witnesses in Smoot’s defense.

ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUES PRESENTED

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. With this appeal, appellant Kevin Smoot raises the following issues for our review:

I. THE COURT BELOW ERRED IN FAILING TO DISMISS THE CASE AGAINST APPELLANT KEVIN SMOOT BECAUSE THE STATE FAILED TO TIMELY REINDICT SAID APPELLANT AFTER ELECTING TO NOLLE PROSEQUI THE ORIGINAL INDICTMENT.
II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO GRANT SMOOT’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL BECAUSE THE JURY VERDICT RENDERED WAS CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

¶ 6. Of Smoot’s two issues on appeal, the first concerns the trial court’s refusal to dismiss his case due to the statute of limitation’s having run. Since statute of limitations are questions of law, we employ a de novo standard of review with this issue. Sykes v. State, 757 So.2d 997 (¶ 4) (Miss.2000).

¶ 7. With his second issue, Smoot argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial. Our standard of review regarding a motion for new trial is stated in McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778-81 (Miss.1993):

Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury....
Moreover, the challenge to the weight of the evidence via motion for a new trial implicates the trial court’s sound discretion. Procedurally such challenge necessarily invokes [Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 10.05]. New trial decisions rest in the sound discretion of the trial court, and the motion should not be granted except to prevent an unconscionable injustice. We reverse only for abuse of discretion....

(citations omitted).

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. THE COURT BELOW ERRED IN FAILING TO DISMISS THE CASE AGAINST .APPELLANT' KEVIN SMOOT BECAUSE THE STATE FAILED TO TIMELY REINDICT SAID APPELLANT AFTER ELECTING TO NOLLE PROSEQUI THE ORIGINAL INDICTMENT.

¶ 8. The crux of Smoot’s first issue concerns an alleged nolle prosse order and the timing of such order. Smoot contends that the time had passed for the State to reindict him for the same charge for which he, was originally indicted, and thus, Smoot’s motion to dismiss should have been granted. This motion to dismiss to which Smoot refers does not appear in the record but is briefly addressed in the trial transcript. Specifically, Smoot alleges that on September 5, 1997, the date his trial was to begin, the State announced in open court that it would ask the judge to nolle prosse the charges. Smoot argues that this date, rather than the date the order was actually entered, October 1, 1997, was the date the statute of limitations began to run for the State to re-file charges. As additional support, Smoot argues that on September 5 the trial court authorized several attorney’s fees orders that would indicate that the case had been rendered nolle prossed as of that date. However, as described below, these orders do not appear in the record.

¶ 9. Rule 10 of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure states, “if the appellant intends to urge on appeal that a finding or conclusion is unsupported by the evidence or is contrary to the evidence, the appellant shall include in the record a transcript of all evidence relevant to such [663]*663finding or conclusion.” The record on appeal contains no account of the supposed September 5, 1997, announcement of the court’s decision to nolle prosse the charges, nor does the supposed October 1, 1997, order awarding attorney fees appear in the record. Since these orders are not found in the record, nor does a transcript of the hearing at which time Smoot argues such orders were discussed appear in the record, we find the record inadequate to sustain Smoot’s arguments.

¶ 10. Next, looking to the rule regarding nolle prosse procedures, the defendant erroneously presumes that the following statute sets the time limitation for reindicting a defendant under the same charges that were initially nolle prossed:

When an indictment shall be lost or destroyed, or quashed or abated, or the judgment thereon arrested or reversed for any defect therein or in the record, or for any matter of form or other cause, not being an acquittal on the merits, the further time of one year from the time when such indictment shall be lost, destroyed, quashed or abated, or the judgment thereon arrested or reversed, shall be allowed for the finding of a new indictment.

Miss.Code Ann. § 99-1-9 (Rev.2000). Smoot argues that, according to § 99-1-9, his September 30, 1998, reindictment should be quashed, since this reindictment occurred more than a year after the State announced in open court that it would ask the judge to nolle prosse the aggravated assault charges against him, that date being September 5, 1997. Smoot misplaces his reliance on § 99-1-9 as this statute is irrelevant to the current preceding. Reading the statute, all the actions described therein are actions against the State. A decision to nolle prosse is an action by the State. Thus, we do not find this statute applicable to Smoot’s situation.

¶ 11.

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780 So. 2d 660, 2001 Miss. App. LEXIS 8, 2001 WL 19725, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smoot-v-state-missctapp-2001.