Towner v. State

812 So. 2d 1109, 2002 WL 49915
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 15, 2002
Docket2000-KA-00273-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 812 So. 2d 1109 (Towner 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
Towner v. State, 812 So. 2d 1109, 2002 WL 49915 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

812 So.2d 1109 (2002)

Oscar TOWNER a/k/a Oscar Haven Towner, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2000-KA-00273-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 15, 2002.
Rehearing Denied April 2, 2002.

*1110 Lisa D. Collums, Gulfport, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, Attorney for Appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., LEE, and MYERS, JJ.

SOUTHWICK, P.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Oscar Haven Towner was convicted on two counts of armed robbery. On appeal he alleges prosecutorial misconduct, multiplicity errors in the indictment, ineffective assistance of counsel, and inadequacy of the evidence. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Near midnight on November 15, 1998, one masked man committed a robbery at Toucan's restaurant, located in Gulfport. Both an employee and one of the owners would ultimately be confronted by the robber. Donna McMurtray was the employee. She testified that she was in the kitchen area when she first saw an intruder. He ordered her at gunpoint to come to where he was standing. He grabbed her throat and placed a gun to her head. The assailant threatened to kill *1111 her if she did not cooperate. While this was occurring, the restaurants's co-owner Jennifer Larson walked into the encounter. Larson was told to be quiet and open the office door.

¶ 3. The man forced Larson and McMurtray into the office. There he demanded the money that was lying on the desk, the money in a register drawer, two money bags, a surveillance video tape, and the keys to the office door. Larson complied with all of these demands. The robber smashed the telephone and fax machine, then locked the two women in the office. Larson then used the cell phone in her purse to call the police.

¶ 4. About $2,000 was taken. Both witnesses described the robber as a black male, with a bulky build, perhaps five feet, six inches tall, and wearing dark camouflage pants and a dark colored jacket.

¶ 5. Terry Davis was an officer with the Gulfport Police Department who was on patrol the night of the robbery. He testified that he and a second patrolman heard the report of the robbery and decided to patrol the Turnkey subdivision to look for someone matching the robber's description. They saw a gray Nissan with two black males parked in front of an apartment. Officer Davis parked his patrol car and observed the driver of the vehicle walk up to an apartment door and start knocking in a frantic manner. Officer Davis exited his vehicle and ordered the man to come over to him. The man looked back at Davis but continued knocking on the door. He was wearing camouflage pants and a white t-shirt. Soon thereafter the other man who had been in the Nissan also walked up to the apartment door. Davis testified that this man was wearing a dark colored jacket and a pair of dark colored pants.

¶ 6. Davis called the police dispatcher to say that he had two suspects who matched the physical description of the person who committed the Toucan robbery. When the two men at the apartment door heard Davis contact the dispatcher, both started running. Officer Davis pursued on foot. One of the suspects ran to the rear of a house in the subdivision. A search of this area revealed a person later identified as the defendant, Oscar Towner, hiding in a small building that contained a washer and dryer. Davis found Towner leaning against the wall of the building and sweating profusely. He had over $1,300 in his possession. A search of the interior of the building revealed money in a washing machine and in the general area where Towner was apprehended. Towner was then wearing a black tank top and dark colored pants. A subsequent search discovered the black jacket that Towner had been wearing when Officer Davis first saw him exiting the vehicle.

¶ 7. Towner was indicted, tried and found guilty on two counts of armed robbery. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to serve two concurrent twenty year terms.

DISCUSSION

I. The cross-examination of Towner and Sylvia Jackson

¶ 8. Towner testified that, at the time of the robbery, he was home alone after taking his wife to work. On appeal he alleges that the prosecutor asked him and his sister, Sylvia Jackson, questions that improperly inferred that the statement Towner's wife had given police was inconsistent with Towner's courtroom testimony. Such a statement from Towner's wife was never introduced into evidence. The principal argument is that the testimony given by Towner and his sister were discredited by innuendo and not by evidence.

*1112 ¶ 9. This is the exchange between Towner and the prosecutor.

Q: Now, you stated that you had taken your wife to work earlier that day?
A: Yes, sir, I have. She have work at Domino's.
Q: Wasn't she at home at the time you left to go get your children?
A: No, sir, she wasn't.
Q: She wasn't?
A: No. She went to work at Domino's. On Saturday they close about 2:00 in the morning.
Q: Okay. Were you present when she gave a statement to the police?
A: No sir, I wasn't. I was locked up in Harrison County.
Q: Do you know what she told them?
A: No, sir, I do not.
Q: You haven't discussed with her what she told them?
A: No, sir, I did not.
. . .
Q: You[r] kids weren't already at home?
A: No, sir.
Q: And your wife wasn't at home?
A: No, sir.
Q: You don't know that she told the police that or not, do you?
A: No, sir

¶ 10. Sylvia Jackson, who was Towner's sister, also was asked about Towner's wife.

Q: When you talked to her the next morning, did she tell you she was at home?
A: No. She told me she was at work.
Q: Did she tell you she talked to the police?
A: No, sir
Q: You never talked to her about what she told the police?
A: No, sir.

¶ 11. The initial obstacle for our review is that no objection to these questions was made. An objection gives the trial court an opportunity to consider whether erroneous questions are being posed and if so, to stop further inquiry and attempt to prevent any prejudice from arising by giving admonitions to the jurors. Sullivan v. State, 749 So.2d 983, 990 (Miss.1999). It is normally too late to raise the issues for the first time on appeal.

¶ 12. One exception to this general rule is that if the error fundamentally deprives the defendant of a fair trial, it may be reviewed regardless of whether a contemporaneous objection was made at trial. Johns v. State, 592 So.2d 86, 90 (Miss. 1991). Also, because of the seriousness of the impact on the integrity of the criminal justice system, the Supreme Court has noted that in "cases of prosecutorial misconduct... this Court has not been constrained from considering the merits of the alleged prejudice by the fact that objections were made and sustained, or that no objections were made." Mickell v. State, 735 So.2d 1031, 1035 (Miss.1999). Towner argues that misconduct occurred.

¶ 13. In Mickell,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Victor Washington v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2020
Cameron Dwayne May v. State of Mississippi
267 So. 3d 803 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2018)
Jacob Reynolds v. State of Mississippi
227 So. 3d 428 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2017)
Johnny Lewis Washington v. State of Mississippi
158 So. 3d 1246 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2015)
Conner v. State
26 So. 3d 383 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Culp v. State
933 So. 2d 264 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Tvedt
153 Wash. 2d 705 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
Woods v. State
883 So. 2d 583 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)
Graham v. State
861 So. 2d 1053 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2003)
Elliot Culp v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
812 So. 2d 1109, 2002 WL 49915, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/towner-v-state-missctapp-2002.