Gray v. State
| Decision Date | 26 September 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 51227,51227 |
| Citation | 375 So.2d 994 |
| Parties | Jimmy Lee GRAY v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Fielding L. Wright, James H. Heidelberg, Pascagoula, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Billy L. Gore, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
EN BANC:
From his conviction of capital murder in the Circuit Court of Jackson County and the imposition of the sentence of death, Jimmy Lee Gray has appealed here. The indictment upon which Gray was tried charged him with the capital murder of one Deressa Jean Scales, in that the victim, a three-year old girl, had been kidnapped by Gray and killed by him in the course of the kidnapping. Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19(2)(e) (1972). The trial which resulted in the present appeal was conducted in two stages, in conformity with Jackson v. State, 337 So.2d 1242 (Miss.1976), Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) and Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972).
This is the second appearance of this case in this Court, Gray's first conviction having been reversed and the case remanded for retrial for reasons stated in this Court's opinion, reported as Gray v. State, 351 So.2d 1342 (Miss.1977).
Following a verdict of guilty in the most recent or second trial, a hearing was had as to the punishment to be imposed upon Gray, at which evidence touching aggravating and mitigating circumstances was submitted to the jury under instructions of the On the guilt phase, the evidence supporting the jury's verdict may be summarized as follows:
court. The jury returned a unanimous verdict finding that the mitigating circumstances were outweighed by the aggravating circumstances and that the death penalty should be imposed.
The victim of the homicide was Deressa Jean Scales, three year old daughter of Richard and Deborah Scales. The father was a millwright, the mother a housewife. This family resided at Captain Grant Apartments in Pascagoula, where Gray, the appellant, also resided, occupying an apartment with his "girlfriend."
On June 25, 1976, the day began normally for the Scales family. Scales had gone to work as usual and Mrs. Scales was about her household duties. About 4:30 in the afternoon, Mrs. Scales sent Deressa out to play, with instructions to return in ten minutes. When Deressa failed to return, Mrs. Scales went out looking for her; however, Deressa could not be found and Mrs. Scales called the police. All of the apartments were checked with the exception of that of appellant Gray, Gray not having been there at the time. Gray returned later on and Deressa was looked for in his apartment, which was found to be empty, but in which a wet pair of blue jeans was observed in a corner of the bedroom. Deressa was still missing at 8:00 that evening. When Scales had asked Gray if he had seen Deressa, Gray replied that he had not. Deressa had been accustomed to playing with Gray's cats and Mrs. Scales thought that he might know something which would help in discovering her whereabouts. Deressa was not seen again by her mother or father until the morning of June 26th, when her body was identified.
The search for Deressa was continued throughout the night by the police and her parents. Gray was thought to have been the last person to have seen her before her disappearance. The police found him at the Colonel Dixie Hamburger place on Highway 90, where his "live-in" girlfriend worked. He was asked to accompany the officers to the complex for the purpose of pointing out to them where he had last seen Deressa. En route, it was decided that a statement should be taken from Gray and, after giving him the Miranda warnings, he was taken to the police station. While driving to the station, or when they arrived at the station, the exact moment being unclear, the police submitted information on Gray through the National Crime Information Center computer system and received a reply reflecting a "hit", indicating that Gray was wanted for some criminal offense. This information (which later turned out to be incorrect) was received at approximately 1:00 a. m. on the morning of June 26. A further statement of the Miranda warnings was given to Gray, but a brief preliminary interrogation provided to be unfruitful. However, as the officers and Gray were ascending in the elevator, Gray spontaneously said, "If I take you to her will you help me?" No offer of help was made to Gray but he offered to take the officers to where he had left Deressa. Needless to say, this offer was accepted and Gray and the officers entered an automobile to be directed by Gray to the place where he had left the child.
Following Gray's directions the men proceeded, not without some difficulty, until they reached a bridge over Black Creek on a remote and little-traveled road, some 25 or 30 miles from the apartment complex from which Gray had taken Deressa. At this point Gray said to the officers, pointing to the north rail of the bridge "Right here is where she went over." He told them that the child had slipped off the bridge while climbing on the rail. The officers immediately requested via radio that the sheriff's "flotilla" be dispatched to the scene. After some hour and a half a boat and diver (the water was approximately 20 feet deep), arrived. The body was discovered, however, by a bystander who had a powerful spotlight on his automobile at about 4:30 in the morning. The light had revealed the red clothing worn by the child whose body was about 30 yards south of the bridge.
After recovery of the body, Gray was returned to the police station. After he was again given the Miranda warnings Gray gave a statement, which he did not sign, to the effect that the child had been alive when she fell from the bridge. That afternoon, Gray gave a second statement. This statement was taped, transcribed and signed by Gray, after he had made certain corrections. There is no contention that this statement was the result or product of any kind of coercion or improper promises or inducements. The account now given by Gray was as follows:
B: Jimmy, if you would, tell me in your own words, what happened past date, which would have been the 25th day of June, 1976, Friday, in reference to you picking up this little girl, Deresa.
J. Sue and I arrived from New Orleans about 4:30 and Deresa was out there to greet us and followed us up to the apartment, where I told her that I had to take Sue to work and that I did not have time to play. She knocked on the door a while, while we were getting ready and we left and I told her I would be right back. She said Okay. So, I drove Sue to work and I stayed there for a little bit, I don't know how long. I drove back to the apartment and Deresa was out there. She came running up and said she wanted to play with the cats. I asked her which cat she would like and she said, "Jaws". Then, she decided she wanted Suki. She played with the cats on the lawn. She was playing with a golf ball. She got into throwing the golf ball into the water so these three black guys could dive in after it for her. I had to do some work on the car, so I took the cats back up stairs. She followed me around to the car. I had the door opened. I had to open the door to unlatch the hood. I left the door open and I opened the hood and I opened the trunk. Meanwhile, Deresa climbed into the car and she is playing with the steering wheel. I did not tell her to get out of the car. She wanted to ride. So, I thought we would go for a little ride after I got the car fixed. I was working on the car for a while. I left the door opened, I closed the trunk and I closed the hood, then I went upstairs, leaving Deresa in the car. I locked up the house. I returned to the car, I got in and drove towards Moss Point.
I crossed this big bridge there and was just looking at some of the country. Then, I got to thinking, I might should not have taken Deresa because I might get into some kind of trouble. Anyway, the more I drove, the more worried I got, the more sure I was that I was going to get into trouble. So, I couldn't figure out what to do. I made a few turns, going down some roads and ended up on ah ... there is a little side road that we followed a little ways, there is a little ditch there and we stopped the car. (Note: There is a brief pause) We stopped the car, and ah .. like, we had not gone out there .. I had not gone out there to molest her or do anything like that. I did not take her clothes off or anything. She stayed in the front seat and we just kind of talked a little bit.
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