Culberson v. State, 49897
| Decision Date | 10 August 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 49897,49897 |
| Parties | Alvin CULBERSON v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Roger Dean Harris, Biloxi, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Catherine W. Underwood, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before ROBERTSON, SUGG and BROOM, JJ.
BROOM, Justice, for the Court:
Death sentence resulted from trial of Culberson (appellant) in the Harrison County Circuit Court, Second Judicial District, upon a capital murder indictment. Appellant's assignments of error and brief relate to (1) constitutionality of the Mississippi death penalty statute as it existed prior to Jackson v. State, 337 So.2d 1242 (Miss.1976), handed down subsequent to Culberson's trial, and (2) the weight of the evidence. We would affirm except, as conceded by the state, retrial must be ordered under United States Supreme Court decisions adhered to by Jackson requiring bifurcated trials in death penalty cases.
The state's evidence shows that on January 31, 1975, appellant shot and killed Grady V. Evans, a route salesman, while Evans was stopped at a business establishment near Gulfport, Mississippi. Evans had accepted an order for merchandise from an employee of the establishment, and went outside to his truck to fill the order. While Evans was outside, appellant struck him with a stick back of the neck. Apparently appellant intended to rob Evans and, after striking him with the stick, shot him with a pistol. The jury accepted the state's evidence and rejected appellant's defense based upon an alibi.
Pursuant to Jackson, supra the case must be retried with bifurcated aspects as to the separate phases of guilt-finding and sentence-determination. Caldwell v. State, 347 So.2d 1389, decided by this Court on July 20, 1977; Jones v. State, 342 So.2d 735 (Miss.1977); Henderson v. State, 342 So.2d 744 (Miss.1977); Ivey v. State, 341 So.2d 918 (Miss.1977).
There is no merit to the proposition argued by appellant that the conviction is contrary to the weight of the evidence. Testimony of co-defendant Alvarese Pittman (who turned state's evidence) was sufficient to establish the murder, and his testimony was supported by testimony of other nearby witnesses and by the physical facts. Pittman described how the appellant first struck Evans with a stick and then shot him. According to Pittman, he and Culberson then fled. Nearby witnesses heard the shot and saw the two defendants fleeing and were able to describe their appearance and...
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Culberson v. State
...Judicial District of Harrison County. A similar verdict and sentence on the same charge were reversed and remanded in Culberson v. State, 348 So.2d 1025 (Miss.1977). We there directed a new trial with bifurcation pursuant to our The evidence adduced at Culberson's second trial sufficed to c......
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Culberson v. State
...remand this case for such a hearing. PRATHER and SULLIVAN, JJ., join this opinion. 1 Harris was attorney for Culberson.1 Culberson v. State, 348 So.2d 1025 (Miss.1977).2 Culberson v. State, 379 So.2d 499 (Miss.1980). Three justices entered a strong dissent on grounds that the sentence was d......
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Jordan v. State
...354 So.2d 1095 (Miss.1978); Davis v. State, 349 So.2d 509 (Miss.1977); Spencer v. State, 348 So.2d 1030 (Miss.1977); Culberson v. State, 348 So.2d 1025 (Miss.1977); Caldwell v. State, 347 So.2d 1389 (Miss.1977); Pickle v. State, 345 So.2d 623 (Miss.1977); Moore v. State, 344 So.2d 731 (Miss......
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Culberson v. State, 03-DP-0009
...Culberson of capital murder and sentenced him to death, only to have this Court reverse and remand for a new trial. Culberson v. State, 348 So.2d 1025 (Miss.1977). In late 1977, Culberson stood trial again, and, largely on the testimony of accomplice Pittman, he was again found guilty of ca......