Davis v. State
| Decision Date | 19 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 51613,51613 |
| Citation | 377 So.2d 1076 |
| Parties | John L. DAVIS and Prentiss Brooks v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Travis T. Vance, Jr., H. Gerald Hosemann, Vicksburg, for appellants.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Susan L. Runnels, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, C. J., and SUGG and COFER, JJ.
John L. Davis and Prentiss Brooks appeal convictions for armed robbery and sentences of life imprisonment without parole obtained in the Circuit Court of Warren County. Their assignments of error raise essentially two questions: (1) Did the evidence, which included in-court and out-of-court identifications of the appellants, sufficiently support the jury's verdict, and (2) did the trial court err in admitting during the state's case in chief evidence of prior convictions pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-83 (Supp. 1978), the habitual criminal statute? We affirm.
The state's case is based upon the testimony of Paula Mitchell, age twenty-one, clerk of a Pack-n-Pay, Inc. convenience store in Vicksburg. She testified that at about 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, 1978, two strange black males entered the store, purchased two beers, asked if her boss was in, loitered briefly and left, returning at about 8:45 p.m. When they returned, one of them walked behind the counter and seized her around the chest, putting a knife to her throat and saying to the other, "Get the money man." One of them commanded, "Don't holler or I'll hurt you." After rifling the register, one grabbed her by the arm while the other put the knife away and said, "You have to go with us."
They forced her to a car outside, pushed her into the front seat between them, held her head down out of view, and threatened to "blow her brains out" if she screamed. They then drove outside of town beside the river, pulled her out of the front seat, and pushed her into the back seat. One of the robbers then raped her, after which the other committed an offensive sexual contact with the victim. The two then divided the money, gave Mitchell $2 "for cab fare," and departed the scene in the car, leaving their barefoot victim. Walking to a nearby highway, Mitchell hitched a ride to Ryan's Coal Yard, a liquor store, where the proprietor called the police.
Mitchell's unequivocal identifications, both in-court and out-of-court, of Prentiss Brooks and John L. Davis appear to have been untainted by any manner of police impropriety. She first identified Brooks as one of her assailants on the day of the crime when, without the aid of any suggestive clues, she picked his picture out of a mug shot book. She later identified Brooks once more in a nonsuggestive pre-indictment lineup, basing her identification essentially upon facial features. When identifying Brooks in the lineup, she asked that Brooks's mouth be opened. He opened his mouth, and as she suspected he had teeth missing, a feature which enhanced the certainty of her identification. 1 She denied that that the police in any way suggested that Brooks had teeth missing or had otherwise directed her attention to him. She testified that while the two robbers were in the Pack-n-Pay she observed them with little interruption. She stressed that they wore nothing to obstruct their faces, noted that one was taller than the other, and recalled the general appearance of their clothing.
On the Monday following the Saturday on which the crime was committed, Mitchell came back to the police station to give a statement. At that time, she looked through a mug shot book not presented to her on the night she identified Prentiss Brooks. In it she found, again without suggestive clues, the picture of John L. Davis, who she identified as her other assailant. A lineup then took place, and Mitchell once more identified Davis, based solely upon her independent recollection of her harrowing May 20 experience, according to her testimony.
Mitchell's in-court identification of Davis and Brooks exhibited not the slightest hint of wavering despite exhaustive attempts to impeach her testimony. She said she had looked them "square in the face" at the time of the crime and was "very positive" of their identities, having "no doubt in her mind." Her out-of-court identifications, each made promptly following the offense, appear no less certain.
Mitchell also testified to numerous physical details which corroborated her identification: She stated that on the glove compartment of the car in which she was abducted she noticed the word "Impala." She observed the knob on the gearshift was missing, and this detail was verified by the car owner. Outside the car, she saw a "Go Gators" bumper sticker. She further identified the car by color. On direct examination, she identified a photograph depicting a car, linked in later testimony to the ownership of Davis's mother-in-law. She testified the car, a light blue Impala with a missing gearshift knob and a "Go Gators" bumper sticker, had been used to abduct her from the scene of the robbery. A forensic serologist further corroborated Mitchell's testimony by establishing compatibility of carpet pilings found on Mitchell's clothing and hair from her head with similar pilings and hair recovered from the blue Impala.
The defense proceeded on the theory of alibi. Elise Harper, Davis's mother-in-law, testified that on May 20, 1978, she loaned her car to John L. Davis. She stated that Davis returned home between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., and gave the keys to his sister-in-law. She stated the car did not leave the driveway for the rest of the night and that Davis and her daughter went to the Turf Cafe at about 8:00 p.m. However, in a signed statement taken by Police Officer Phil Solomon, Mrs. Harper indicated she did not know what time Davis got home on Saturday, May 20, 1978.
Shirley Wallace, Davis's sister-in-law, testified that Davis left in the Impala on the afternoon of May 20, 1978, and returned no later than 7:30 p.m., leaving without the car shortly thereafter to go out with his wife. She stated that no one drove the car between 7:30 p.m. Saturday night and the following morning.
Davis's wife testified similarly, stating that when her husband came home around 7:00 p.m. that Saturday, he got ready to go out and left with her at about a quarter of eight to go to the Turf Cafe where they remained together continuously until about 6:30 a.m. the following morning. She added that she did not see Prentiss Brooks at the Turf Cafe. Jimmy Foote, Jr. seconded the testimony of Mary Davis, testifying that on the night of May 20, 1978, he arrived at the Turf Cafe at about 7:30 and remained until 9:00 a.m. the following morning. Foote stated that John L. Davis and his wife Mary arrived at the cafe at about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. and did not leave until the following morning.
John L. Davis testified consistently with his wife and Jimmy Foote with respect to his presence at the Turf Cafe between 8:00 p.m. on the Saturday the crime was committed and about 6:30 a.m. the following morning. However, on cross-examination, Davis did admit that he spent time with Prentiss Brooks "shooting dice" on that Saturday at the "Tick Tock" business establishment between about 6:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.
Prentiss Brooks also proffered an alibi defense. Jessie McGloster Carpenter testified that on May 20, 1978, he gambled with Prentiss Brooks at the "Tick Tock" beginning at about 3:00 p.m. and ending at about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. He stated that John L. Davis also appeared at the dice game but that Davis left separately before Brooks. James Bell also testified that he saw Brooks and Davis at the "Tick Tock" shortly before dark on the day of the crime, adding that Brooks had tried to borrow money from him that evening. Essex McLendon stated that he saw Brooks at the "Tick Tock" at about 8:45 or 8:50 p.m., the very time the robbery took place according to the victim, Paula Mitchell. McLendon indicated, however, that he did not see Prentiss Brooks after about 8:45 p.m. and that he did...
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