Woods v. State

883 So. 2d 583, 2004 WL 885715
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 27, 2004
Docket2002-KA-00759-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 883 So. 2d 583 (Woods 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
Woods v. State, 883 So. 2d 583, 2004 WL 885715 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

883 So.2d 583 (2004)

Timothy Allen WOODS, Jr. a/k/a Timothy Allen Woods, Sr., Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KA-00759-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 27, 2004.
Rehearing Denied July 20, 2004.
Certiorari Denied October 7, 2004.

*585 Carol L. White-Richard, Stephen Nick, Greenville, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Billy L. Gore, attorney for appellee.

Before McMILLIN, C.J., BRIDGES and GRIFFIS, JJ.

*586 McMILLIN, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Timothy Allen Woods was convicted on both counts of a two-count indictment charging him with aggravated assault and armed robbery. The two counts arose out of a single incident in which it was alleged by the State that Woods deprived his victim of certain personal property by threatening her with a knife and that he subsequently inflicted actual injuries on the victim's person by cutting her about the throat with the knife. Woods's appeal raises five issues in the following order: (a) he contends that the State's proof on the robbery count was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain a conviction; (b) he claims that the trial court improperly limited his defense counsel in its efforts to impeach the victim's credibility through showing her history of drug use; (c) he contends that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain his conviction on the aggravated assault count; (d) alternatively, he contends that the verdict on both counts was against the weight of the evidence, entitling him to a new trial; and (e) he contends that the prosecuting attorney's remarks during summation constituted an improper comment on Woods's post-arrest silence.

¶ 2. Woods, in addition, has filed a pro se supplemental brief in which he claims that his representation at trial fell below constitutionally-mandated standards of competence, thus effectively denying him the right to representation by counsel afforded him under the Constitution of the United States.

¶ 3. We find the issues presented to be without merit and affirm the convictions and resulting judgment of sentence.

I.

Facts

¶ 4. The facts that follow are taken from the testimony of witnesses for the prosecution. Woods, in the company of a friend named Robert Pluard, was riding in a vehicle along with the victim, Lisa Latham, on the day in question. They were drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and smoking crack cocaine. After reaching the conclusion that Latham had a quantity of crack cocaine on her person that she was not sharing with the others, Woods forced her at knife-point to empty the contents of her pockets and assumed possession of those contents. Woods subsequently purposely cut Latham about the throat. Latham claimed that she pretended to be unconscious after she was cut and that Woods and Pluard dragged her body into a field and left her, apparently satisfied that they had killed her. In that regard, Latham testified that Pluard cut her about the neck after Woods had inflicted her initial injuries.

¶ 5. After Woods and Pluard left, Latham wrapped her throat wounds with her shirt and managed to walk to a nearby house. Medical aid was summoned, and law enforcement officers were notified. Pluard, who testified as a witness for the prosecution, offered testimony seeming to indicate that Latham may have been carrying rocks of crack cocaine in a cigarette pack and that the cigarette pack was obtained by Woods from her pockets but was later lost in the confusion of moving Latham's inert body. As a result, Woods and Pluard returned to the location for the purpose of searching for the packet. Rather than finding the cigarette pack, they discovered that Latham's body was gone. As they attempted to depart the scene, they encountered law enforcement officers responding to information provided by Latham. Woods and Pluard attempted to flee in their vehicle, and when their escape route appeared blocked, Woods departed the vehicle and fled on foot. He was ultimately apprehended.

*587 ¶ 6. Woods, testifying in his own defense, admitted to the episode of drug and alcohol consumption in the company of Pluard and Latham, but claimed that he had been dropped off at his home by Pluard while Latham was still in the vehicle. Woods testified that Pluard came back about forty-five minutes later by himself, and they resumed their efforts aimed at "getting high." When law enforcement officers attempted to stop the vehicle, Pluard "freaked out" and attempted to flee. Woods explained his own flight on foot as being driven by his fear that he might be subject to arrest for previous offenses committed years earlier. Woods could offer no plausible explanation for why Pluard, as an alleged accomplice, and Latham, as the crime victim, would have coordinated their stories to falsely implicate him as a participant in the events.

¶ 7. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts of the indictment, and this appeal followed.

II.

The Sufficiency of the Evidence of Guilt of Armed Robbery

¶ 8. If, at the conclusion of all the evidence, the State has failed, as a matter of law, to present probative evidence establishing each of the essential elements of the charged crime, the trial court is obligated, upon proper defense motion, to direct a verdict of acquittal. George v. State, 812 So.2d 1103, 1106-07(¶ 14) (Miss.Ct. App.2001). After the jury has returned a verdict of guilty, the same issues may be raised by the defense in a JNOV motion. If the trial court ultimately concludes that the verdict should stand, the defendant may assert that decision as error on appeal. In that situation, the appellate court reviews all the evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the verdict and with the view that the jury, sitting as factfinder, drew all inferences consistent with guilt that could reasonably be drawn from the proof. Id. Only if the appellate court, after reviewing the evidence on that basis, is convinced that the evidence on one or more essential elements of the crime was so deficient that a reasonable juror fairly viewing the evidence could only reach a not guilty verdict may the appellate court disturb the result obtained in the trial court. Id.

¶ 9. Woods, in his argument, focuses on the requirement in the armed robbery statute that requires as an element of the crime that the defendant "shall feloniously take ... from the person ... the personal property of another . . . ." Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-79 (Rev.2000) (emphasis added). Woods points out that the only evidence offered by the victim was a statement that "[a]fter I slumped down that's when they proceeded to go through my pockets." Woods concedes that his alleged accomplice, Pluard, testified that Woods had, in fact, taken the contents of Latham's pockets. However, Woods points out that Pluard testified that Woods demanded that Latham empty her pockets and that she complied before her neck was cut whereas Latham indicated that her pocket contents were not disturbed until after she had been injured and was feigning unconsciousness. Woods also points out that neither witness testified as to what the contents of the pockets might have been, thus rendering it impossible to determine that she was robbed of anything of value.

¶ 10. There is no requirement in the armed robbery statute that the property taken have any particular value. Clay v. State, 811 So.2d 477, 479(¶ 8) (Miss.Ct. App.2002).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
883 So. 2d 583, 2004 WL 885715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woods-v-state-missctapp-2004.