Wilson v. State

956 So. 2d 1044, 2007 WL 1413057
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 15, 2007
Docket2005-KA-01752-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 956 So. 2d 1044 (Wilson 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
Wilson v. State, 956 So. 2d 1044, 2007 WL 1413057 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

956 So.2d 1044 (2007)

Christopher WILSON, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-KA-01752-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 15, 2007.

*1046 David L. Tisdell, attorney for appellant.

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

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

GRIFFIS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Christopher Wilson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, Wilson argues that: (1) the trial court erred in allowing evidence of prior bad acts of the defendant; (2) the trial court failed to apply the Weathersby rule; (3) the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; and (4) the elements of murder were not supported by sufficient evidence. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Wilson was indicted for the murder of Ulanda Brown. During the trial, Wilson did not take the stand to testify, but a large portion of the evidence of the shooting came from his account of the incident made to police. This account was derived from several different statements Wilson made to Investigator Romelle Matthews.

¶ 3. On June 19, 2004, Wilson and Ulanda Brown were at their home in Clarksdale. A shotgun discharged fatally striking Brown in the side. Wilson told Investigator Matthews that it was an accident that gun discharged and that the shotgun was not supposed to be able to fire because it was broken. When asked exactly what happened, Wilson told Investigator Matthews that he was showing Brown how to use the gun so she would no longer be afraid of it. Wilson stated that this demonstration occurred after they had gotten out of the bed and Brown was getting ready for work. Investigator Matthews testified that Wilson's description of where Brown was physically located when the shotgun discharged was inconsistent with Wilson's other statements. At one point, Wilson told Investigator Matthews that the gun discharged while she was on the bed. He also told Investigator Matthews that she was standing at the dresser combing her hair when the gun discharged.

¶ 4. Investigator Matthews asked Wilson why he loaded the shell into the gun if he was just showing her how use the shotgun. Wilson replied that he did not know and just kept saying it was an accident. When asked why he even had a shotgun, Wilson stated that he had a general fear of people, and he would use it to intimidate others.

¶ 5. Investigator Matthews questioned Wilson about his relationship with Brown. At first Wilson said that they were very happy together. Later, Wilson stated that they had been having problems and that she was thinking about leaving him. Wilson also told Investigator Matthews that he saw the application for an apartment lease on the dresser the morning of the shooting.

¶ 6. In addition, the State offered the testimony of several of Brown's friends and two expert witnesses. Steve Byrd was offered by the State as a firearms expert. Byrd testified that he was unable to get the shotgun to fire in its present condition, but he stated that it could be possible with enough torque to still fire the shotgun. When presented with a hypothetical question, Byrd testified that it could have been possible for Wilson to fire the shotgun and then break it. Dr. Stephen Hayne also testified about the entrance wound that Brown received and her cause of death.

¶ 7. For his defense, Wilson did not testify, but offered two witnesses. Ellis Wilson Barber corroborated Wilson's story *1047 that the shotgun was broken prior to it discharging on June 19th. Barber testified that the shotgun was broken at the time they found it at Wilson's mother's house. Craig Harris, a record producer, also testified that he had received a letter and a demonstration tape from Wilson. Wilson sent these materials in an effort to receive a recording contract from Harris's recording company.

¶ 8. The jury returned a verdict of guilty for the murder of Brown. Wilson's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was denied.

ANALYSIS

I. The trial court erred in allowing in prior bad acts of the defendant

¶ 9. Wilson's first issue concerns the evidence of prior bad acts. Wilson claims that the trial court erred when it admitted evidence of a prior shooting and Wilson's rap lyrics about the prior shooting. Generally, evidence of a crime other than the one for which the accused is being tried is not admissible. Ballenger v. State, 667 So.2d 1242, 1256 (Miss.1995) (citing Duplantis v. State, 644 So.2d 1235, 1246 (Miss.1994)). However, Rule 404(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence allows prior bad acts to be admitted to show intent and absence of mistake, among other things. In addition, the evidence must pass through the filter of Rule 403 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence. It requires that if the prejudicial effect of the evidence substantially outweighs the probative value, then the evidence should be excluded. M.R.E. 403. "The standard of review regarding the admission or exclusion of evidence is abuse of discretion." Palmer v. State, 939 So.2d 792, 794(¶ 4) (Miss.2006) (citing Jones v. State, 904 So.2d 149, 153(¶ 11) (Miss.2005)).

¶ 10. Did the trial judge abuse his discretion in allowing evidence of prior bad acts for a limited purpose? This question was addressed prior to the trial in a motion in limine. The defense requested that any evidence of a prior shooting of Brown, by Wilson, be excluded from the trial as an inadmissible prior bad act. The State argued that it would offer such evidence to show absence of mistake or accident. The trial judge denied the motion in limine and allowed the evidence of the prior shooting to come in for the limited purpose of absence of mistake or intent. During the trial, when the evidence was presented to the jury, the trial judge instructed the jury that "evidence of the defendant shooting the deceased on a previous occasion may not be considered by you as evidence that he committed the crime with which he is now charged. It may, however, be considered for the limited purpose of showing absence of mistake or accident."

¶ 11. The State cites us to Readus v. State, 272 So.2d 659, 661 (Miss.1973). In Readus, a child of the deceased testified on direct examination that the defendant had previously shot his mother prior to the day of the fatal shooting. Id. The trial court, during cross-examination, held that the testimony of the prior shooting was inadmissible. Id. The defense then made a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied. Id. The defendant was later convicted of murder. Id. at 659. On appeal, the supreme court held that the evidence of the prior shooting was admissible. Id. at 661. After addressing the relevant case law and noting that the general rule requires the exclusion of prior bad acts, the supreme court stated, "[t]he prior shooting incident in this case is an exception to the general rule and would tend to show the intent of the appellant and absence of accident in the shooting which caused the death of [the victim]." Id.

*1048 ¶ 12. Readus is instructive to us here. In Readus and in this case, the State sought to introduce evidence of a prior shooting of the victim when the defendant was claiming accident as the cause of a later fatal shooting. Also, the probative value of the prior shooting was not substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. Here, the trial court even gave the proper limiting instruction when evidence of the prior shooting was introduced.

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Bluebook (online)
956 So. 2d 1044, 2007 WL 1413057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-state-missctapp-2007.