Williams v. State

923 So. 2d 990, 2006 WL 51407
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 2006
Docket2004-KA-02348-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 923 So. 2d 990 (Williams 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
Williams v. State, 923 So. 2d 990, 2006 WL 51407 (Mich. 2006).

Opinion

923 So.2d 990 (2006)

Willie Hutchinson WILLIAMS
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2004-KA-02348-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

January 5, 2006.
Rehearing Denied March 30, 2006.

*991 Robert T. Laster, Jr., Grenada, Phillip Broadhead, Oxford, attorneys for appellant.

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

Before SMITH, C.J., CARLSON and RANDOLPH, JJ.

SMITH, Chief Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Willie Hutchinson Williams was convicted of armed robbery following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Grenada County and sentenced to serve a twenty-year sentence in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, without the possibility of probation or parole. It is from this conviction that Williams seeks relief in the present appeal to this Court.

FACTS

¶ 2. On January 3, 2004, at approximately 7:30 p.m. a man dressed in dark clothing with bushy hair entered the General Nutrition Center (GNC) store in Grenada, Mississippi, and inquired about the nutritional supplement creatine. GNC employee Charry Brown directed the man to the rear of the store, where the supplement was located. Brown was the manager and lone employee at the GNC that evening. As he pondered what type of creatine to buy, the man knocked a promotional shaker cup off of a nearby shelf. The man placed the shaker cup back on the shelf, selected the capsule form of creatine, and then approached the counter with the supplement. Brown met him in the aisle before he reached the counter. The man handed the supplement to Brown, who headed toward the counter to ring up the sale. As Brown turned toward the counter, the man struck her in the face and demanded the store's money.

¶ 3. As Brown began to scream, her assailant ran to the front of the store. However, shortly after scurrying to the front of the store, the man turned around and returned to the counter. He then took hold of Brown and held a red-handled steak knife to her throat. The man ordered Brown to open the cash register and *992 threatened Brown's life several times in the process. After taking all of the money from the register, the now armed robber headed to the rear of the store to retrieve the shaker cup he knocked over earlier. As the man left the store he had in his possession the money from the cash register, a bottle of creatine capsules and the shaker cup. Before exiting the store, the man threatened to kill Brown if she contacted the authorities. He then fled on foot around the corner of the building. Brown initially testified at trial that the total amount of cash stolen from the register was "around" $233.

¶ 4. Once the assailant left the store Brown immediately telephoned the police, who arrived at the GNC at 7:48 P.M. Officers Justin Gammage and George Douglas were two of the first officers to arrive at the scene. When Officer Gammage asked about the identity of the robber, Brown said that she recognized the culprit as Willie Summerville who lived in the Washington Garden apartment complex. Officer Gammage asked Brown if she meant Willie Williams, and she responded "yeah, that's his name." In her testimony at trial Brown, explained that she forgot that Willie used the last name Williams and not the surname "Summerville" as used by his mother. Brown informed the officers that she had known Willie "all [her] life just about" and they "grew up together in the same neighborhood." Brown also positively identified Willie Williams in a photo lineup as the man who had assaulted her and committed the armed robbery.

¶ 5. While on the scene, Officer Douglas took a statement from Gwendolyn Stinson, a clerk at the Shoe Show, which is a shoe store located near the GNC in the same shopping center. Stinson informed Officer Douglas that prior to the robbery of GNC, a suspicious male entered the Shoe Show. The manager of the store noticed that the individual was acting in a peculiar manner, and directed Stinson to keep an eye on him. Stinson observed the man for approximately five minutes before he approached her and uttered "I can't seem to find no shoes today." Stinson testified at trial that as this individual addressed her, she "looked him dead straight in the face." She also maintained that the man left Shoe Show heading in the direction of GNC. After the robbery Officer Douglas produced a photo array and asked Stinson if she could identify any one of the eight men pictured as the same suspicious character she observed in her store. Stinson identified Willie Williams's picture from the photo lineup.

¶ 6. Shortly after determining that Willie Williams was a prime suspect in the armed robbery, authorities traveled to Williams's residence in the Washington Garden Apartment Complex. In the meantime, Williams's mother, Mary Summerville, was contacted by a family member who informed her that the police suspected her son was involved in an armed robbery. Summerville immediately and emotionally voiced concerns to her son regarding his possible involvement in the armed robbery of the GNC.

¶ 7. When officers arrived at Williams's home at approximately 8:17 p.m. they were met at the door by Summerville. Summerville advised the officers that Williams was present in the apartment and she allowed the officers entry into her home. The officers requested and received Summerville's consent to search the apartment. Before searching the apartment, Officer Gammage presented a consent form for Summerville to sign. After Officer Gammage explained the form and obtained Summerville's signature, a search of the apartment commenced.

*993 ¶ 8. The officers discovered Williams in the bathroom. He was shirtless, sweaty and in the process of cutting his own hair. The officers noticed a black tee shirt on the bathroom floor, apparently damp with sweat. During the course of searching Williams's bedroom, the police recovered $178 in cash concealed under a sheet on his bed. Thereafter the police took Williams into custody and placed him on "investigatory hold" until further questioning was conducted.

¶ 9. After leaving the apartment, the officers retraced a path leading from the back of the GNC to the Washington Garden Apartment Complex. A leisurely walk from the GNC to the Washington Garden Apartments was timed at approximately twelve minutes. Officers also walked the trail searching for the missing creatine and shaker cup that was stolen from the GNC. The officers did not find the creatine. However, they did find a GNC shaker cup and lid in a wooded area along the path.

¶ 10. The police clearly and concisely issued Miranda warnings prior to Williams's interrogation. Additionally, Williams voluntarily read aloud and signed a waiver of rights form prior to the commencement of questioning. Throughout his interview with the police Williams consistently asserted that he was not responsible for the robbery of the GNC. Williams maintained that he could not have perpetrated the robbery because he was at a friend's apartment in the Washington Garden Complex watching football when the crime was committed. During the interview, Williams stated that he was unemployed and had no source of income. Further, Williams alleged that he was unaware of any money in his room, but acknowledged he would have known had there been any present.

¶ 11. Williams was indicted for the armed robbery of the GNC. Williams was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court of Grenada County and was subsequently found guilty of the armed robbery and sentenced to twenty years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

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Bluebook (online)
923 So. 2d 990, 2006 WL 51407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-state-miss-2006.