Gray v. State, 52196
| Decision Date | 12 November 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 52196,52196 |
| Citation | 389 So.2d 1384 |
| Parties | Jack GRAY v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Harry L. Kelley, Jackson, for appellant.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Frankie Walton White, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before ROBERTSON, P. J., and WALKER and BROOM, JJ.
WALKER, Justice, for the Court:
Jack Gray was convicted in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County of aggravated assault, and received a sentence of ten years in the penitentiary, five years suspended on supervised probation.
Taking as true the testimony most favorable to the State's case, there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict. The victim of the assault, Deb Lee Riley, Jr., testified that he was sitting at a table at a local bar, the Recovery Room, when Gray walked towards his table with a pistol in his belt. Immediately prior to this, Gray had exchanged some unpleasant words with the four men at the table. As Gray approached the table, one of the four men stood up and grabbed his T-shirt. Gray stepped back and pulled out the pistol, firing two shots in the general direction of the men at the table. The victim's three friends immediately dove for cover, and were fortunate to escape without any injuries. Riley, however, approached Gray and asked him to give up the gun. After a short conversation Gray struck Riley on the head with the pistol, knocking Riley to the floor. Riley testified that when he looked up he saw Gray standing over him with the pistol aimed directly at his stomach, and that he heard the pistol click.
Although Gray denied that he pointed the pistol at Riley, and other witnesses testified they did not see Gray standing over Riley with the pistol, Riley's testimony presented a question for the jury to resolve. It should be noted here also that Riley sustained no serious bodily injury, but only a small cut behind the ear which required no medical attention.
Of the errors assigned, only one merits comment. Gray complaints about the granting of the following instruction:
The Court instructs the Jury that if you believe from the evidence in this case, beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant, Jack Gray, on April 5, 1979, did attempt to cause or purposely, recklessly or knowingly caused serious bodily injury to Deb Lee Riley, Jr., a human being, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, then Jack Gray is guilty of Aggravated Assault....
This instruction tracks the language of the statute on aggravated assault, Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-7 (Supp.1979), which reads, in part, as follows:
A person is guilty of...
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