Brown v. State

• Decision Date: 11 June 2015
• Docket Number: No. 2013–KA–01585–SCT.,2013–KA–01585–SCT.
• Citation: 176 So.3d 1
• Parties: Andy Nicholas BROWN a/k/a Andy Brown v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

176 So.3d 1

Andy Nicholas BROWN a/k/a Andy Brown

v.STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2013–KA–01585–SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 11, 2015.

Office of the State Public Defender by Michael E. Robinson, George T. Holmes, attorneys for appellant.

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

Opinion

PIERCE, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Andy Brown was indicted and convicted under Mississippi Code Section 97–3–19(1)(a)for the death of Earlie D. Balford, after Brown stabbed Balford eighteen times with Balford's screwdriver. On appeal, Brown argues he was provided ineffective assistance of counsel and that the trial court erred by excluding Brown's jury instructions, by denying Brown's motion to quash his indictment, by denying Brown's motion for directed verdict, by denying Brown's motion for a new trial, and by excluding evidence Brown sought to introduce from a psychiatric evaluation. Brown further contends that these errors resulted in cumulative error, denying Brown a fair trial in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Brown appeals to this Court seeking reversal of his conviction and a new trial. We find no error and affirm Brown's conviction.

FACTS

¶ 2. Balford, a sixty-seven-year-old man, and Brown, a twenty-eight-year-old college student, had been neighbors for years. Brown and his brother lived with their mother, Annie D. Brown, in her house atop a small hill in Pittsboro, Mississippi. Balford lived in one of a few small mobile homes near the Brown family home.

¶ 3. To make a living, Balford solicited odd jobs from local businesses, churches, and people around Grenada. At the time of Balford's death, Brown was three credits shy of completing his associate degree at a local community college. Brown's mother normally cooked dinner for herself and her two sons each night, while all three worked on their college homework. When Annie Brown cooked for her family, she also set aside a dinner portion for Balford that either Andy or her other son delivered to Balford nightly.

¶ 4. On the morning of April 18, 2012, Annie Brown asked Andy to walk to Balford's home to borrow a jumper cable to restart her lawnmower's dead battery. Brown did so, and Balford went back to the Browns' house to help start the mower. Brown testified that, after successfully jumping the battery, Balford demanded money for his help. Brown maintained that he told Balford that he did not have money and would not give him money in any event, but that Balford would receive the nightly dinner he always had. Brown testified that Balford next asked Brown to engage in some sexual activity, and that Brown refused.¹Brown subsequently left.

¶ 5. Later that evening, Annie Brown sent Andy to Balford's trailer with the dinner she had set aside for him. Brown claimed that when he knocked on Balford's door, Balford lunged at him with a screwdriver. Brown testified that he then dropped the plate of food, and it shattered on the ground outside Balford's trailer.

Brown reached for Balford's arm to stop Balford from stabbing him with the screwdriver. Brown testified that Balford next began to strangle Brown, pulling Brown into Balford's five-foot-by-ten-foot trailer. Immediately next to the door inside Balford's trailer, Balford kept a small upholstered couch. Upon being pulled into the trailer, Brown stated that Balford fell backward onto the couch while strangling Brown. According to Brown, Brown was now on top of Balford, and Brown struggled for air and begged for his life. Brown testified he reached for an object with which to defend himself and found the screwdriver that Balford had wielded earlier. Brown contended that as he fought for air he stabbed Balford with the available screwdriver so that Balford would release his stranglehold, and that, when Balford did release his hold, he was no longer moving or breathing.

¶ 6. Brown ran back to his mother's house and told her to call the police because he and Balford “got into it.” Annie Brown wanted to call Balford or check on him, at which point Brown said “Mama, he's not going to answer.” At her son's direction, Annie Brown called 911 emergency services at approximately 7:31 p.m. A 911 dispatcher directed police to Balford's residence eight minutes later. Brown waited on his mother's stoop for the police to arrest him.

¶ 7. Police took Brown to the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office. At 9:20 p.m., Brown signed a document advising him of his rights and simultaneously waiving those rights. At the police station, Annie Brown wrote a statement that she had called 911 after Brown had told her he had fought with Balford and that she had checked on Balford to find him lying over the couch in Balford's trailer. Another statement was written at 10:00 p.m. by Officer Plunk, who overheard Brown tell Officer Poynor that he killed Balford because “he talked too much.” Officer Poynor did not write a statement. Poynor testified he received another call shortly after Brown said he had killed Balford because he talked too much, and the interrogation was suspended until Poynor returned. At that point, Poynor claimed Brown refused to speak any further.

¶ 8. On October 22, 2012, Brown was indicted by a Calhoun County grand jury. A grand jury indicted Brown under Section 97–3–19(1)(a), “... That [Brown] ... did unlawfully, willfully, feloniously and without authority of law and with the deliberate design to effect the death of Earlie B. Balford, kill and murder the said Earlie B. Balford, a human being, by stabbing said Earlie B. Balford with a screw driver ...” Brown pleaded “not guilty.”

¶ 9. On January 25, 2013, Brown, through counsel, filed a joint motion with the State for psychiatric evaluation to determine competency for trial. On January 30, 2013, the trial court granted an order to that effect and allowed Brown to be evaluated by the Mississippi State Hospital staff at Whitfield. The agreed order waived Brown's medical privilege with the evaluation doctor. On February 15, 2013, Dr. Criss Lott performed the psychological evaluation on Brown.²

¶ 10. On August 13, 2013, Lott testified at a pretrial hearing that he had found Brown to be a rational person capable of assisting his attorney in his defense at trial. Dr. Lott further testified that he had examined the defendant a second time that morning and that his findings had not changed. On cross-examination, Dr. Lott testified that he was of the opinion that defendant was “very polite and cooperative.”

When asked whether, based upon his professional psychological evaluation of the defendant, Dr. Lott could testify as to the defendant's tendency for truthfulness, Dr. Lott stated that “A tendency for truthfulness, all I can say is it was my impression he was being forthright; and I did not get the sense that he was in any way trying to—we call it simulate—trying to fake good or bad.” Based upon this testimony, the trial court then found Brown competent to stand trial.

¶ 11. Brown filed a motion with the trial court to allow Dr. Lott to testify before the jury at trial on Brown's propensity for truthfulness. The defense called Dr. Lott as a witness for pretrial proceedings. Dr. Lott again testified that, during the clinical interview, Brown had appeared to be truthful. Dr. Lott also testified that Brown was not attempting to exaggerate or distort the facts. The State objected to Dr. Lott's testimony on Brown's propensity for truthfulness. The State argued, “We think that's so out of bounds that I don't even know how to argue it, Judge, except its not permissible under the rules of evidence.” The trial court agreed with the State and did not allow Dr. Lott to testify, finding “First of all, we don't know whether Mr. Brown is going to testify or not, second Dr. Lott doesn't know what he's going to testify to until he's heard him; and third, I believe the only way he could testify is to his reputation for truthfulness or veracity. I don't think that's where we're going on this, and I just don't think this type of testimony would be relevant or admissible.”

¶ 12. Nine witnesses testified for the State of Mississippi during its case-in-chief, including Dr. Mark LeVaughn, a forensic pathologist and the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Mississippi. Dr. LeVaughn testified that he counted eighteen puncture wounds

during Balford's autopsy and that “Mr. Balford died as a result of multiple stab wounds.” Dr. LeVaughn said that three woundsin particular, punctures to Balford's neck, lung, and liver, were fatal.

¶ 13. Dawn Cannon, the 911 operator, next testified that she had received a call from Annie Brown, who stated “... that her son, Andy Brown, had just stabbed their neighbor in the chest with a screwdriver.”

¶ 14. Kenneth White, an officer with the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office, testified he was dispatched to the scene, where he observed Balford lying motionless on a couch in a laid-back position.

¶ 15. Keith Thacker, a part-time employee with the Calhoun County Sherriff's Office, next testified that he was the first to arrive on the scene. Upon arriving, he observed the defendant, his brother, and his mother standing in their driveway. Thacker testified Brown said “he did it” and “he was responsible.”

¶ 16. Greg Pollan, Calhoun County sheriff, testified that he photographed both the scene and the victim. Pollan observed and photographed objects on the floor but observed no injuries on Brown later that night at the station house.

¶ 17. Dean Poynor, chief deputy, testified that he interviewed Brown at the station, where Brown gave him a voluntary statement after signing a waiver of rights. Poynor testified, “I went to talking to Andy Brown. I looked at him during the interview and I asked him why he done it. He looked me right in the eyes and said, ‘He talks too much.’ ”

¶ 18. Earlie Balford, Jr., Balford's son, testified that he had received a handwritten letter signed by Brown and delivered by Balford Jr.'s neighbor and...