Christmas v. State

• Decision Date: 02 April 2009
• Docket Number: No. 2007-KA-01450-SCT.,2007-KA-01450-SCT.
• Citation: Christmas v. State, 10 So.3d 413 (Miss. 2009)
• Parties: Chancellor CHRISTMAS v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

10 So.3d 413

Chancellor CHRISTMAS v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2007-KA-01450-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 2, 2009.

Rehearing Denied June 18, 2009.

Donald W. Boykin, Jackson, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by La Donna C. Holland, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

KITCHENS, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Chancellor Christmas and three others were indicted for one count of armed robbery pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 97-3-79 (Rev.2006) and one count of house burglary pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 97-17-23 (Rev.2006). The State also sought an enhanced penalty pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-19-351 (Rev.2007), as the victim, Margie Sellers, was over the age of sixty-five years at the time the offenses occurred. Christmas was tried alone, and the jury found him guilty on both counts and also found that he deserved an enhanced penalty on both convictions. Christmas was sentenced to serve ninety years for the armed robbery, to be served consecutively to the fifty-year sentence he received for house burglary. He now appeals these convictions. Finding no error, we affirm.

Issues

¶ 2. Christmas appeals the following issues: (1) whether the court erred by allowing identification testimony following a constitutionally impermissible photographic lineup; (2) whether the court erred by limiting cross-examination of a State witness; (3) whether the court erred by allowing the State to conduct an improper redirect examination; (4) whether the jury should have been instructed as to constructive breaking; (5) whether there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict; (6) whether the trial court erred by denying the defendant's peremptory instructions; and (7) whether the trial court erred by denying a juror challenge for cause.

Facts

¶ 3. Raymond Echols, one of Christmas's co-defendants, testified that on the morning of July 25, 2006, he, Joseph Harris, Travis Thurman, and Christmas were driving a stolen black Avalanche in and around Edwards, Mississippi.¹ Echols stated that Christmas was driving but was not present when the vehicle was stolen. Echols testified these young men observed "an old white woman at her mailbox," and Christmas initiated a plan to break into this woman's house. According to Echols, Christmas exited the vehicle, approached the house, and knocked on the door.

¶ 4. Margie Sellers testified that she answered the door to a clean-cut, young, African-American man who asked whether he could go fishing in the pond near her home. She told him it was not her pond and he would have to ask the owner's permission. She stated that the man at her door came from a black truck, with the windows tinted, and she could see "the forms of two others in the truck."

¶ 5. The men then left, drove a short distance up the road, and returned to Ms. Sellers's house. Echols testified the men had no intention of going fishing, but planned to rob Sellers. When they returned to her house, Echols testified that only Christmas and Harris went to the door. However, Ms. Sellers testified that when she opened her door a second time, there were three men. Ms. Sellers stated she saw each of their faces, "but as far as taking a good look ... I did not." According to Sellers, one of the men told her that the owners of the home with the pond were not at home, so she stepped outside her door onto the porch to point the men to another home. Ms. Sellers testified that when she turned to go back inside her home, one of the men grabbed me from behind, put a gun to my head and shoved me on in the house, and he was pushing me. And he said, "where's the money? where's the money? I'll kill you." And the other came running through and went down to one end of the trailer while he was pushing me toward the other end. I told him — I said, "what money I have is in my purse on the couch. And just take it and leave."

¶ 6. Ms. Sellers testified she was then shoved by the man onto the floor in a closet. She stated that he told her to stay there and then ran out of the room. Once the men left, Ms. Sellers called 911.

¶ 7. According to Echols, Christmas was the person who grabbed Ms. Sellers and put the gun to her head. Echols said that Christmas pushed the victim into the house, and Harris followed. Echols testified that when Christmas and Harris came out of the house, Harris was carrying a white purse.

¶ 8. Meanwhile, the Hinds County Sheriff's Department was tracking the stolen black Avalanche through the vehicle's global positioning system. Deputy Sheriff Andrew McKinley testified that while he was on patrol, he received a call about the location of the stolen car. McKinley testified that around the same the time he first observed the Avalanche, he learned that there had been a house burglary in Edwards and that another unit was responding to that burglary.

¶ 9. McKinley testified that he and "other units" made contact with the Avalanche, and a chase ensued for "maybe a mile, a mile and half." He stated that after the stolen vehicle almost crashed into a parked car, it stopped and four males exited the vehicle. According to McKinley, two of the males ran to the right and two ran to the left. Echols testified that he and Christmas were the two men who ran to the left, and that Harris and Thurman ran to the right. McKinley pursued the men running to the left, but did not apprehend either.

¶ 10. McKinley returned to the vehicle, where other officers were stationed. A man who lived in the neighborhood approached the officers, claiming that someone had crawled into a space under his house. The officers went to the house and found Harris hiding in the crawl space.

¶ 11. Terrell White was also arrested at the scene. White fit the description of one of the males who had fled the car, and when the deputies approached him, White ran. However, according to Deputy Sheriff McKinley, White ran because he was carrying narcotics, not because he was involved in the robbery of Ms. Sellers.

¶ 12. Hinds County Sheriff's Deputy Mac James testified that he was called to the location of the Avalanche to process the vehicle for fingerprints. James testified that he found Ms. Sellers's coin purse, as well as her insurance card, in the passenger-side floorboard of the Avalanche. James further testified that he found two Nike tennis shoes near the vehicle, although the two shoes were not found together. One shoe was found near the front of a house, and the other shoe was found in the back yard. James opined they were in separate locations because "somebody was possibly running — running out of their shoes."

¶ 13. The jury also heard testimony from Quincy Ross. Ross shared a home with his mother and stepfather, his siblings, and Christmas. Ross testified that Christmas came home the morning of July 25, 2006, without his shoes and that Christmas told him he had lost his shoes in a chase with police. Ross stated that Christmas told him he had robbed an old white woman in Edwards, and that Christmas had put a gun to the woman's head, forced her into a closet, and asked her where her money was. However, Ross later denied that Christmas said he was the one who held the gun and forced the woman into the closet. Ross further testified that he had known Christmas to carry a "little thirty-eight special" and that Christmas was carrying a gun the day of this incident. Ross stated that Christmas said he disposed of the gun after the incident. No gun was ever recovered by the authorities. A few weeks after the robbery, Ross and his mother called the police to relay the information Ross had received from Christmas.

¶ 14. After Christmas was taken into custody, Wesley Reeves, an investigator with the Hinds County Sheriff's Office, took a statement from him. Reeves testified that Christmas admitted being present during the robbery and that he accurately described the color of the purse, the color and model of the car, the victim's house, and the victim's car. Reeves also stated that Christmas described the victim as "an old white lady," and that the gun was a "thirty-two or thirty-eight caliber" revolver.

¶ 15. Investigator Reeves was also present when Ms. Sellers gave a statement to the deputy sheriffs the day after the robbery. Ms. Sellers was shown a photographic lineup, during which she identified Terrell White "as being the person who attacked and grabbed me." Ms. Sellers testified that she was confused because on the evening of the incident, she saw White's photograph on the news. Reeves testified there were distinct similarities between the pictures of White and Christmas.

¶ 16. In her statement, Ms. Sellers stated that the person who came to her door was "tall, probably my height or maybe not, you know, not much taller." She then testified that the person who came to her door the first time was "very young" and "smaller in height" than the other defendants. Also during her testimony, Sellers said that she was not sure which person actually grabbed her and did not know whether her attacker was taller than she. The evidence at trial revealed that Echols was the youngest and the smallest of the defendants and that Christmas was the tallest.

¶ 17. After the prosecution rested, Christmas moved for a directed verdict, without success. The defendant elected not to testify, and called no witnesses. The crux of the defense was that Christmas was present at the time of the robbery, but stayed in the truck and did not participate. His counsel argued that the testimonial inconsistency about the number of people who approached Sellers and their heights supported this defense. Christmas also contended that there was insufficient evidence to prove there was an actual breaking to gain entry to Sellers's home that would meet the requisite standard for house burglary as given in the jury instructions.

¶ 18. After deliberation, the jury found Christmas guilty of armed robbery and house burglary with penalty enhancement on account...