Chinn v. State

Decision Date31 May 1971
Docket NumberNo. 46364,46364
PartiesC. O. CHINN v. STATE of Mississippi.
CourtMississippi Supreme Court

Anderson, Banks, Nichols & Leventhal, Jackson, for appellant.

A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Karen Gilfoy, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

HARPER, Justice.

Appellant was tried and convicted on September 29, 1970, in the Circuit Court of Madison County for the crime of manslaughter.

On May 22, 1970, the appellant, C. O. Chinn, was involved in an altercation with one Vernon Ricks in which shots were fired and which resulted in the death of Ricks. The appellant voluntarily went to the police headquarters to surrender himself. He was charged with manslaughter and bound over to the Madison County Grand Jury which indicted appellant for said crime.

The basic issue presented by the appellant is whether appellant's motion to quash the venire should have been sustained. The determination of this question makes moot the other assignments of error made by the appellant. Hence, it will be unnecessary to detail the facts relating to the altercation.

Appellant filed a motion to quash the indictment alleging systematic exclusion of Negroes from jury service in Madison County. At the hearing on said motion, it was shown that the Supervisors of Madison County used no system whatever for jury selection. The proof offered on behalf of the state was to the effect that the Supervisors perused the registration books making subjective decisions as to who should serve and who should not serve on the jury without regard to race, creed or color. It was stipulated on the hearing that the 1960 census showed Madison County to be composed of 71.8 percent non-white and 28.2 percent white.

Appellant offered proof to show a compilation of master jury lists from 1968 through 1970 which reflected that each master list had at least 56.9 percent white and at no time did blacks comprise more than 37.5 percent of such master list. Further, that during the period in question, 1,489 people were shown on the master list. Of this number, 63 percent were identified as white and only 28 percent were identified as black. These figures represent the percentages of the entire list which the officials involved were able to identify according to race.

The United States Supreme Court in the case of Patton v. State of Mississippi, 332 U.S. 463, 68 S.Ct. 184, 92 L.Ed. 76 (1947) held that in order to refute the prima facie case of discrimination created by the long continuous absence of Negroes from jury service, the jury selection officials must present evidence of a substantial nature which is corroborated by public records. It is manifest from the record in this case that the jury selection officials did not present evidence of a substantial nature to rebut the prima facie case of discrimination created by the facts previously...

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2 cases
  • Simon v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • September 30, 1993
    ...90 L.Ed.2d at 80-81; Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 628-29, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 1224, 31 L.Ed.2d 536, 540-41 (1972); Chinn v. State, 248 So.2d 801, 801-02 (Miss.1971). Moreover, a defendant has a right guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United Sta......
  • Chinn v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • April 9, 1973
    ...F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Wayne Snuggs, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. SUGG, Justice: On the first appeal in Chinn v. State, 248 So.2d 801 (Miss.1971), the conviction of appellant for the crime of manslaughter was reversed because of discrimination in the selection of jurors s......

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