Young v. State

425 So. 2d 1022
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 1983
Docket53,727
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 425 So. 2d 1022 (Young 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
Young v. State, 425 So. 2d 1022 (Mich. 1983).

Opinion

425 So.2d 1022 (1983)

Jerry Lynn YOUNG
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 53,727.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

January 5, 1983.
Rehearing Denied February 9, 1983.

*1023 David O. Butts and Michael Thorne, Tupelo, for appellant.

Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Charles W. Maris, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before SUGG, ROY NOBLE LEE and DAN M. LEE, JJ.

ROY NOBLE LEE, Justice, for the Court:

Jerry Lynn Young was indicted, tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Lee County, Mississippi, for armed robbery, Honorable Neal Biggers, Jr., presiding, and was sentenced to twenty (20) years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He has appealed to this Court and assigns thirteen (13) errors in the trial below.

I.

Was the verdict of the jury contrary to the over-whelming weight of the evidence?

According to the evidence for the State, two (2) fully-masked individuals entered the rear door of the Union National Life and Fire Insurance (Union National) office in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Friday, February 15, 1980, after opening the door with a key. E.R. Easterling and Patricia Thrasher, employees of the insurance company, were at work inside. Easterling looked up from his desk and saw a masked figure at the rear entrance holding a shotgun. He was ordered to "get on the floor" and complied with that order. The robber wore a mask, gloves, and his entire body was covered, but Easterling estimated his height to be 5'7" to 5'8" and stocky build. He could not identify the person. The robber walked over to him and took his wallet which was clipped to his belt loop. As he lay on the floor, Easterling was unable to see any other person involved. Mrs. Thrasher was in an adjoining room, where she was engaged in receiving cash premium checks collected by insurance agents during the week. She heard someone coming in, thought an agent was returning from lunch, and was surprised by a masked figure wearing dark glasses and gloves, who told her to be quiet. She saw the second person with the shotgun and screamed. Mrs. Thrasher did not see any other weapons, and described the first individual seen by her as tall and slim. She could not see the robber's skin, but thought his voice was that of a black person. After about five (5) minutes, Easterling heard Mrs. Thrasher call and ask, if the robbers were gone, and he got up and attempted to call the police. The robbers had ripped out the telephone lines and Easterling went out the back to a business across the alley and called the police. On returning, he noticed a shiny new key still in the back door lock. That door was always kept locked, and all the agents had keys to it.

The police began an investigation of the robbery, but no arrests were made. On March 17, 1980, they arrested James Troy Harrison on another robbery charge and he confessed to the robbery of the Union National office. On March 26, 1980, he gave a statement implicating the appellant in the Union National robbery.

At trial, the facts stated above were testified to by the witnesses. James Troy Harrison and Jimmy Dorman also testified for the State. Harrison, age 33 years, stated he had known appellant approximately fifteen (15) months, and that they worked together in appellant's cleaning and painting business. On the day of the robbery, appellant picked up Harrison around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m.; they talked about robbing the insurance office; appellant told him that there would be a lot of money in the office on Fridays; and that he had a key to get in, together with a drawing of the layout of the building. About a week earlier, Harrison was with appellant and saw one Jimmy Dorman give him a key to the rear door of the building.

Harrison further testified that on the morning of the robbery, he and appellant drove to the home of a Garrett couple, took their truck, and returned to Tupelo where the truck was left at a mall. Then they *1024 went to appellant's home, waited there until around 11:30 a.m., and then returned to the truck, using it to drive to the insurance office. Harrison carried a sawed-off shotgun and Young had a chrome .32-caliber pistol. Harrison got the key from appellant, opened the rear door of the office, and they entered together. Harrison ordered the employees to lie down, and admitted taking Easterling's billfold. They obtained approximately twenty-eight hundred fifty dollars ($2,850.00) from the insurance company, pulled the wires loose from the telephones, and drove back to the mall where they switched vehicles and returned to appellant's home. Appellant gave Harrison six hundred dollars ($600.00) of the money.

Jimmy Mac Dorman, age thirty-two (32) years, testified for the State that he was formerly employed by the insurance company and had worked there approximately two and one-half (2 1/2) months. He had known appellant for two and one-half (2 1/2) years, and met Harrison through appellant. According to him, appellant had seen him with a large sum of money which he had collected from insurance customers and appellant asked him about the collections and agents turning in money on Fridays. Dorman said that appellant told him "I don't want you to do anything, all I want is a key." Dorman gave appellant and Harrison a key to the rear door. On the day of the robbery, Dorman did his usual work, went to lunch, and returned to the office after the robbery was over. That night, he went to appellant's house and appellant gave him six hundred dollars ($600.00).

Appellant's defense was an alibi testified to by himself and his wife. He cross-examined Harrison and Dorman pro se and attempted to discredit their testimony by inconsistencies and contradictions. Appellant contended that Harrison and Dorman were not telling the truth and that he never went to the insurance office nor did he have anything to do with the crime.

Only slight corroboration of an accomplice's testimony is required to sustain a conviction. Feranda v. State, 267 So.2d 305 (Miss. 1972). The testimony of Harrison and Dorman was corroborated to some extent by Easterling and Patricia Thrasher. The credibility and reasonableness of the testimony of Harrison and Dorman was for the determination of the jury. Cochran v. State, 278 So.2d 451 (Miss. 1973). It is within the province of the jury to accept parts of the testimony and to reject parts of the testimony of any witness, and the jury may give consideration to all inferences flowing from the testimony. Grooms v. State, 357 So.2d 292 (Miss. 1978).

We are of the opinion that, applying the same rule here as in a request for a peremptory instruction of not guilty, considering all the evidence in behalf of the State as true, together with reasonable inferences flowing therefrom, and rejecting the evidence of the defendant in conflict therewith, the evidence for the State is sufficient to sustain the verdict of guilty, and it is not contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 (Miss. 1977).

II.

Did the lower court err in declining to dismiss the indictment against appellant?

The appellant contends that he was not sufficiently notified that he would be tried on the indictment here since he was indicted May 26, 1980, arraigned May 27, 1980, and the case was not set at the next August 1980 Term or the next November 1980 Term. The case was set for the February 1981 Term of court, but appellant testified that he did not know the State was serious about trying him. The record does not indicate the reason why the case was not tried during the August and November 1980 Terms.

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

Related

Darnell Stevenson v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2023
Holbrook v. State
4 So. 3d 382 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Golden v. State
968 So. 2d 378 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2007)
Aguilar v. State
955 So. 2d 386 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
Allen v. State
945 So. 2d 422 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
Pearson v. State
937 So. 2d 996 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
Hardin v. State
932 So. 2d 70 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
William Golden, Jr. v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2006
Biggs v. State
942 So. 2d 185 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
Lawrence v. State
928 So. 2d 894 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Acreman v. State
907 So. 2d 1005 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Knox v. State
912 So. 2d 1004 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Robertson v. State
921 So. 2d 348 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Manix v. State
895 So. 2d 167 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Michael Shane Manix v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002
Woulard v. State
832 So. 2d 561 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
Mangum v. State
762 So. 2d 337 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)
Hathorne v. State
759 So. 2d 1127 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)
Payton v. State
785 So. 2d 267 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)
Bennett v. State
738 So. 2d 300 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
425 So. 2d 1022, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-state-miss-1983.