Brooks v. State
| Decision Date | 12 July 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 50542,50542 |
| Citation | 360 So.2d 704 |
| Parties | Lewis BROOKS, Jr. v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Sullivan, Smith, Hunt & Vickery, Ralph E. Chapman, Clarksdale, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Marvin L. White, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, C. J., and LEE and BOWLING, JJ.
Lewis Brooks, Jr., appeals from a conviction of aggravated assault and a sentence of five years by the Circuit Court of Coahoma County.
On the morning of June 15, 1976, Mrs. Sheila Garrard left her place of employment in the McWilliams Building in the City of Clarksdale and walked to her car in the parking lot behind the building. After getting into her automobile, she reached to close the door when a black man approached her stating, "Move over, or I'll beat you up." He pushed, shoved and struck her with his hands and arms, as well as a school book and a notebook. Mrs. Garrard fought back, kicking and pushing until they were out of the car. At that time she was struck several times across the face, her back and neck. Suddenly, her assailant turned and ran from the parking lot.
Mrs. Garrard shouted to Floyd Shankerman, who was standing nearby, that she had been assaulted and pointed to the fleeing assailant. As he pursued, she ran to the front of the McWilliams Building where Officers Jimmy Vanlandingham and Wayne Havens of the Clarksdale Police Department were sitting in a patrol car. She and Officer Vanlandingham proceeded to the parking lot while his partner began pursuit in the car.
In a few minutes a police car drove into the parking lot with a black man in the back seat. Mrs. Garrard was unable to identify him as her assailant, although at trial she described him as being a young black of medium weight with a medium Afro wearing a light colored shirt and darker pants.
Shankerman testified that after parking that morning, he watched a young black running across the lot and heard Mrs. Garrard calling him. He described the man as being between five feet eight inches and five feet ten inches, weighing about 160 or 165 pounds, wearing a light blue shirt and darker pants, having a semi-Afro haircut and carrying what appeared to be a book under his arm. Shankerman gave chase in his car, losing sight of the assailant for approximately 20 to 25 seconds but saw him again and resumed the chase, arriving at the scene of apprehension. He identified the appellant, a youth, as the individual who left the parking lot, stating that he had run no more than two blocks from the time he first observed him until he was stopped by the police within a time span of 30 seconds to a minute.
No readable fingerprint was found at the scene. Although the Police Department sent the victim's and the accused's clothes to the FBI for analysis, the results were negative as to transfer of textile material and hair samples.
Appellant testified on his own behalf stating that while on his way to school he saw a police car approaching at full speed with the lights on. He began running in the direction it was going to see what it was pursuing. The police photo introduced at trial indicated that Brooks was five feet eleven inches tall, weighed 163 pounds, and was of medium build.
Mrs. Garrard's injuries consisted of a few bruises and marks on the left side of her neck.
The major issues facing this Court are as follows:
1. Whether the lower court at the hearing for a new trial improperly refused to allow newly-discovered evidence that a member of a juror's immediate family had been the recent victim of a criminal attack where the juror had answered a question in this regard negatively on voir dire, and
2. Whether the verdict was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
While on voir dire, defense counsel asked, "Have any of your family ever been the victim or the subject of an assault and battery, or a criminal attack on their person?" The record reflects no affirmative responses from the jurors. In moving for a new trial, appellant averred in his sworn affidavit that the juror, Mrs. Earnest L. Easley, Jr., failed to disclose that a member of her immediate family was the recent victim of a crime. However, the trial court overruled the motion.
A very similar situation occurred in Dase v. State, 356 So.2d 1179 (Miss.1978), in which a prospective juror failed to respond to the question, "Have any of you or members of your immediate family ever been the victim of a crime or a violent crime?" Subsequent to a guilty verdict, defense counsel learned that this juror's son had been stabbed to death approximately one month prior to appellant's trial. We reversed the cause basing our decision upon the test established in Odom v. State, 355 So.2d 1381 (Miss.1978), in which we held the following:
. . . Therefore, we hold that where, as here, a prospective juror...
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Tolbert v. State
...1217 (Miss.1982); Adkinson v. State, 371 So.2d 869, 870 (Miss.1979); Dase v. State, 356 So.2d 1179, 1181-82 (Miss.1978); Brooks v. State, 360 So.2d 704, 706 (Miss.1978); Odom v. State, 355 So.2d 1381, 1383 Odom originated the guidelines and then said: If the trial court's determination of t......
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Doss v. State, 1999-DR-00296-SCT.
...conviction arising from car crash reversed where juror failed to mention two relatives killed in car accidents); Brooks v. State, 360 So.2d 704 (Miss.1978) (assault conviction reversed on several grounds, including where juror failed to mention family member was victim of crime); Dase v. St......
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Norris v. State
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Simmons v. State
...produce death." Furthermore, she claims that the simple assault conviction was not supported by the evidence. Simmons cites Brooks v. State, 360 So.2d 704 (Miss.1978), to support her argument. In Brooks, this Court reversed an aggravated assault conviction because there was "insufficient ev......