Tyler v. State

911 So. 2d 550, 2005 WL 646688
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMarch 22, 2005
Docket2003-KA-02009-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 911 So. 2d 550 (Tyler 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
Tyler v. State, 911 So. 2d 550, 2005 WL 646688 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

911 So.2d 550 (2005)

Robert Lee TYLER, Jr., Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2003-KA-02009-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

March 22, 2005.
Rehearing Denied June 21, 2005.
Certiorari Denied September 22, 2005.

*551 Thomas J. Lowe, Brandon, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by John R. Henry, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, P.J., GRIFFIS and ISHEE, JJ.

*552 LEE, P.J., for the Court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. In 2001, Robert Tyler, Jr. lived in Atlanta, Georgia, working as a warehouse supervisor and serving as assistant pastor in an Atlanta church. Unknown to Tyler, a child named Alice Smith[1] had been born to a woman with whom Tyler had a romantic relationship during 1986 and 1987. During 2001, Alice decided to look for her natural father, and she contacted Tyler and requested that he come to Mississippi for a DNA test. After Tyler was confirmed as Alice's father, Alice's mother encouraged Alice to become acquainted with Tyler, and Alice visited Tyler twice during the summer of 2001.

¶ 2. Tyler returned to Mississippi in September of 2001, where he worked at a local store and became a pastor at a local church. Alice visited with Tyler and his family on weekends. Because Alice and her mother lived in a different town from Tyler, Tyler would drive to Alice's home on Sundays to pick her up, returning Alice later that evening.

¶ 3. During the weekend of January 11 through 13, 2002, Alice was visiting with the Tyler family. According to Tyler, he had to finish some work at the store where he was employed, so he took Alice with him. While at the store Alice gave Tyler a note that read: "I'm willing to have sex with my father whenever we get a chance /s/ Alice." Tyler testified that he asked Alice why she wrote the note, and she did not respond. He folded the note and placed it in his pocket, intending to notify Alice's mother. Tyler returned Alice to her home and forgot about the note. On Wednesday of that week, Alice sent Tyler and his family an e-mail, telling them that she hoped to see the family again soon. Some time during that week, Mrs. Tyler found the note, and she confronted Tyler about it. Mrs. Tyler then called Alice's mother to ask why Alice would write such a note.

¶ 4. When Tyler and his family drove to pick up Alice that Friday, Alice and her mother accused Tyler of raping Alice. At this time, Alice was sixteen years old. According to Alice, Tyler forced her to have sex with him three times the night of January 11 while his family slept, once on Saturday morning, three times Saturday night, and on Sunday morning while they were at the store. Alice further testified that she wrote the note after he raped her Sunday morning. She explained that the e-mail she sent was in obedience to Tyler's order that she e-mail him.

¶ 5. On February 8, 2002, Officer Barbario came to Tyler's house, and told him that he had been accused of sexual battery. Tyler voluntarily went to the station for questioning. On March 29, Officers Michael Lee and Lee Hodge sent Alice to the Tyler home with a radio transmitter attached to her clothing. As instructed by the officers, Alice told Tyler that she was pregnant. Alice left after conversing with Tyler for a few minutes, and she and her mother went to the police station. Officer Hodge testified that the transmission of Tyler and Alice's conversation was no good and that the officers could not hear anything on the tape. The officers then went to the Tyler home and asked him to return to the police station.

¶ 6. At the station, Tyler and Alice and Alice's mother were allowed to talk. According to Officers Hodge and Lee, Tyler told Alice that he would take care of the child if the child was indeed his. Tyler denies making statements to this effect.

¶ 7. The officers then took Tyler into an interrogation room, and began to interrogate *553 him. They advised Tyler of his rights, and Tyler stated that he probably would need an attorney. Officer Hodge, who was outside the interrogation room, walked back into the room and asked Tyler if he wanted a lawyer. Tyler responded that he did not, but stated something to the effect that he was "crucifying himself." Tyler then signed a waiver and wrote a statement in which he admitted to having slept with Alice once, and that he did not know that Alice was his daughter until May of 2001.

¶ 8. Tyler's account of the interrogation varies from the officer's testimony. According to Tyler, Lee and Hodge played good cop/bad cop in an effort to get Tyler to sign the waiver. Tyler testified that he continually asked the officers if he needed to get a lawyer, but they never answered. Tyler further testified that when he delayed signing the waiver, Officer Hodge jumped across the table and told Tyler that Hodge would give him thirty-four years in prison. Hodge also stated that he knew the judge, and if Tyler would make a statement he could probably get a more lenient sentence.

¶ 9. Tyler was convicted of sexual battery and sentenced to a term of thirty years without the possibility of parole. It is from this conviction that Tyler appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in the following actions: (1) allowing the State to peremptorily challenge the only black man on the jury panel; (2) not declaring a mistrial when the State asked Tyler if he had ever been accused of anything before; and (3) by admitting Tyler's confession into evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.

DISCUSSION OF ISSUES

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN ITS BATSON ASSESSMENT?

¶ 10. Our standard of review requires reversal only if the factual findings of the trial judge are "clearly erroneous or against the overwhelming weight of the evidence." Tanner v. State, 764 So.2d 385(¶ 14) (Miss.2000). Any determination made by a trial judge under Batson is accorded great deference because it is "based, in a large part, on credibility." Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777, 785 (Miss.1997). In the Batson context, the term "great deference" has been defined as meaning an insulation from appellate reversal of any trial findings which are not clearly erroneous. Lockett v. State, 517 So.2d 1346, 1349-50 (Miss.1987).

¶ 11. Batson provides procedural directives for the trial court to follow in detecting and disallowing the practice of using peremptory challenges to remove members of an identified racial group from jury service based upon nothing more than their racial identification. Forrest v. State, 876 So.2d 400, 403(¶ 4) (Miss.Ct.App.2003).

First, the defendant must make a prima facie showing that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Second, if the requisite showing has been made, the burden shifts to the prosecutor to articulate a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors in question. Finally, the trial court must determine whether the defendant has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination.

Berry v. State, 728 So.2d 568(¶ 11) (Miss.1999) (citing Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 358-59, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991)). Furthermore, "[w]hen the prosecution gives race-neutral reasons for its peremptory strikes, the sufficiency of the defendant's prima facie case becomes moot." Manning v. State, 735 So.2d 323(¶ 28) (Miss.1999). If a defendant offers no rebuttal, the trial court may base its decision solely on the reasons given by the prosecution.

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

Related

Demarco Wolfe v. State of Mississippi
237 So. 3d 848 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2017)
Talbert v. State
125 So. 3d 66 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2013)
Murray v. State
19 So. 3d 1278 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Tyler v. State
19 So. 3d 663 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2009)
Blakeney v. State
29 So. 3d 46 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Robert Lee Tyler, Jr. v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2008
Perry v. State
949 So. 2d 764 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
911 So. 2d 550, 2005 WL 646688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyler-v-state-missctapp-2005.