Webster v. State

754 So. 2d 1232, 2000 WL 72265
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 27, 2000
Docket97-CT-00996-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 754 So. 2d 1232 (Webster v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Webster v. State, 754 So. 2d 1232, 2000 WL 72265 (Mich. 2000).

Opinion

754 So.2d 1232 (2000)

J.W. WEBSTER
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 97-CT-00996-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

January 27, 2000.

*1233 Cheryl Webster, Clarksdale, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, Attorney for Appellee.

EN BANC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

PITTMAN, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. J.W. Webster was convicted in the Circuit Court of Coahoma County of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Webster appealed and his case was assigned to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed his conviction. He subsequently filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari which was granted by this Court. Because the trial court erroneously found that Webster used his peremptory strikes in a racially motivated manner, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

¶ 2. On July 5, 19996, Deloris LeFlore, her children, and Bennie Rosebur, her boyfriend, were in the process of moving LeFlore to another house when Webster, according to his testimony, arrived to retrieve his lawn mower and several other items. LeFlore told Webster to leave after *1234 an altercation between Webster and Rosebur. LeFlore also told her younger son to call the police. Webster then picked up a beer bottle, but LeFlore's oldest son Michael intervened, and Webster was again asked to leave.

¶ 3. After it appeared that Webster had left, Rosebur went outside to fix a chair while LeFlore's younger son, Curtis, stood in the doorway and talked to him. Curtis and LeFlore both testified that Webster was subsequently seen exiting the house with a knife. According to Curtis' testimony, Webster walked over to Rosebur and stabbed him in the left side of the neck. Curtis further testified that as Rosebur attempted to stagger away, Webster appeared to be chasing after him.

¶ 4. After Curtis locked the door and ran upstairs, Webster tried to re-enter the house, but was unable to get in. Webster then left the house, and Curtis and Michael put Rosebur in the car and took him to the hospital. LeFlore testified that she later flagged Webster down as he drove by in his car and stated, "I think you might have killed Bennie." LeFlore stated that Webster's response was that "if he had then he ought to be dead." Bennie later died from his wound.

¶ 5. When the police arrived, LeFlore pointed out Webster to the police. After Webster was given his Miranda rights and searched by the police, Webster informed them that he had been cut with the knife. The police then took him to the hospital for treatment. Webster was indicted for murder on December 10, 1996, and was subsequently convicted of murder. Webster appealed, and his case was assigned to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed his conviction. Webster then filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari which we granted.

ANALYSIS

I.

Was Webster's use of his peremptory challenges racially motived?

¶ 6. Webster first argues that the Court of Appeals' opinion is in conflict with Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Specifically he argues that he gave a race neutral reason for striking Morris Favi from the panel in that he was in a position of management at Cooper Rubber and Tire when his attorney, Cheryl Webster, successfully sued the company for discriminatory employment practices. He further argues he did not strike two other jurors, one of which was white and one of which was African American, who worked for the same company because they were labor, not management. Webster goes on to state that because Favi was allowed to serve on the jury, he was judged by a tainted juror and two people who worked for the tainted juror.

¶ 7. On this issue, the Court of Appeals found:

In the case sub judice, Webster exercised his first five peremptory challenges on white jurors. Webster then attempted to strike Juror No. 2, and the State objected challenging the strike under Batson and its progeny. It is this Court's finding that determination of whether a prima facie case exists must focus on whether Webster was excluding all or almost all of the potential white jurors. Since that occurred here, an explanation was required. Webster then gave his explanation for striking Juror No. 2, and the court rejected it holding that it was not race-neutral. Webster attempted to further justify the strike, but the court refused to change its ruling.
As stated above, trust is placed in a trial judge to determine whether or not a discriminatory motive drives the reasons given for striking a potential juror. The determination of discriminatory intent will likely turn on a trial judge's evaluation of a presenter's credibility and whether an explanation should be believed. Id.; Batson, 476 U.S. at 98[, 106 S.Ct. 1712]. Thus, trial courts are given great deference in their findings of *1235 fact surrounding a Batson challenge. Lockett, 517 So.2d at 1350. This deference specifically includes a trial judge's determination of any racially discriminatory motive underlying any articulated reasons given. Harper, 635 So.2d at 868. The following dialogue occurred between the parties when Webster attempted to strike Juror No. 2:
BY MR. ROSSI: Your Honor, the State would challenge under [Batson] and its progeny. The defense's strikes, they have levied a total of five strikes striking all white jurors with those five strikes and several of these jurors have not responded to any questions regarding any of the things that the Court or the attorneys asked in the open court, to differentiate them from any other jurors that are left on the panel.
BY THE COURT: All right. Ms. Webster, what is your reasons [sic] for striking D-1 which is Juror No. 2?
BY MS. WEBSTER: Oh, Morris Favi, is because I had sued Cooper Tire when he was plant manager for discrimination and that the party that I had sued him for, I believe, was Anna Webster.
BY THE COURT: Who is Anna Webster?
BY MS. WEBSTER: Anna Webster is J.W. Webster's sister-in-law and I won. And so I would strike Morris Favi
because of that particular conflict.
. . . .
BY MR. ROSSI: First of all Mr. Favi was asked whether or not he knew Mr. Webster, the attorney, and he indicated he did not. The fact that he works at a company that has been sued by Ms. Webster, and I don't doubt that she has represented she has sued that company, that [she has] is not grounds to then strike Mr. Favi. I further point out that there are other Cooper Tire employees who are on the list, who are black, who have not been struck.
BY MS. WEBSTER: Well, he was the plant manager, I believe, at the time.
BY THE COURT: In view of the fact that there are other jurors similarly situated, Ms. Webster, who were not stricken and those other jurors being white and the first one that I see is Henry Larry, the Court reinstates Juror No. 2 who becomes our first juror.
BY MS. WEBSTER: Did you say Henry Larry was white?
BY MR. ROSSI: No, Henry Larry, I believe is black.
BY THE COURT: Is a black person who works at the same company who was not stricken.
BY MS.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
754 So. 2d 1232, 2000 WL 72265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webster-v-state-miss-2000.