Holloman v. State

• Decision Date: 11 May 1995
• Docket Number: No. 92-KA-00136-SCT,92-KA-00136-SCT
• Citation: 656 So.2d 1134
• Parties: Joey L. HOLLOMAN v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 1134

656 So.2d 1134

Joey L. HOLLOMAN v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 92-KA-00136-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 11, 1995.

Rogers J. Druhet, Meridian, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Jackson, Deirdre McCrory, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before PRATHER, P.J., and SULLIVAN and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr., JJ.

PRATHER, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

I. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Joey L. Holloman ("Holloman") was indicted by the Lauderdale County grand jury, in its July 1991 term, as an habitual offender pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 99-19-81 (1994), on one count of manslaughter in violation of Miss.Code Ann. Secs. 97-3-47, -25 (1994) and two counts of DUI (driving while intoxicated or under the influence of another substance) maiming in violation of Sec. 63-11-30(1), (4) (Supp.1994). Following a trial on the merits, Holloman was convicted on the manslaughter count and on one count of DUI maiming, but acquitted on the second count of DUI maiming. Holloman was sentenced as an habitual offender to 20 years on the manslaughter count and 10 years on the DUI maiming count, to run consecutively, without reduction or suspension nor eligibility for parole or probation. Holloman's motion for new trial or, in the alternative, for JNOV was overruled. Holloman thereafter perfected his appeal to this Court. He asks that the following issues be reviewed:

A. Whether the indictment, Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 63-11-30(4), application of this statute by way of jury instruction C-A-8, and conviction pursuant to this statute violated Holloman's rights as guaranteed under the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution;

B. Whether the trial court's grant of instruction S-6 deprived Holloman of his right to due process as guaranteed under the 5th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution; and

C. Whether the guilty verdicts are supported by the facts and the law.

None of the issues presented warrant reversal of this case; therefore, this Court affirms.

II. THE FACTS

The parties stipulated to the following facts:

One, the defendant Joey L. Holloman was legally intoxicated at the time of the collision of his 1977 Ford pick-up truck, which he was driving, and a 1987 Dodge six hundred passenger car driven by David Denham. This collision occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. on March the 24th, 1991, at the intersection of College Drive and Highway 19 North in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi. This means that he had a blood alcohol level of point one zero percent (.10%) or greater at the time of the crash.

Two, at 4:51 p.m. on March 24, 1991, the defendant, Joey L. Holloman, after being read the required warnings was tested on a Mississippi Crime Lab certified and approved breath analysis machine commonly called an intoxilyzer at the Meridian Police Department. The machine was properly calibrated and certified by Larry Muse of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, who is an agent of the Mississippi Crime Lab for these purposes, on the 1st day of March, 1991. Officer Dan Mahla, who is certified to administer tests on this machine and possesses a valid permit, gave the warnings and administered the test by the approved procedure of the Mississippi Crime Lab. Officer Mahla has been certified since September 21, 1987 and his permit at the time of this test--at the time this test was given was good from August 1, 1990, to August 1, 1991. The result of this test shows the defendant had a blood alcohol level content of point one eight one percent (.181%).

Three, it is further stipulated that the defendant consumed no alcohol and no other substance between the time of the collision and the time the test was given.

On March 24, 1991, David Denham was driving his nine year old daughter, Lorien, to her soccer game. When he approached Highway 19 from College Drive, at the posted 35 miles per hour speed, he began to slow down for the red light at the intersection. Before he reached the intersection, the light turned green and he drove into the intersection at about 20 or 25 miles per hour. While driving into the intersection, Denham looked to his left, then right, and back to his left again. On his second look left, he saw a truck approaching at a speed too fast to stop at the red light. Denham tried to avoid a collision by turning to the left, but it was too late. Denham remembered nothing after that point until he regained consciousness a few minutes later, to find a group of people in front of his car. Lorien was having trouble breathing and was bleeding from the right side of her head. Denham was unable to move to help his daughter.

After Lorien was removed from the car with the "jaws of life," she and Denham were taken to Rush Hospital. Denham's pelvis was fractured and he had various bumps, bruises, and minor cuts on his head. Denham remained hospitalized for seven days, then was unable to work for five weeks while recuperating. Denham next moved on to a wheelchair and a walker for several weeks, followed by a walking cane for several additional weeks. At the time of the trial, twenty months after the accident, Denham still suffered some pain and, occasionally, a slight limp. Denham testified that his injury was "probably" not permanent. Dr. William Nichols, the emergency room physician on duty the night of the accident, testified that Denham's injuries were serious and would have been life-threatening without medical treatment. Nichols also said there was a "very good possibility" Denham's injuries would give him trouble in the future.

Despite surgery, Lorien died at the hospital on March 29, 1991, without ever having regained consciousness. The cause of death was "a combination of brain trauma, contusion of the brain, [and] brain swelling" caused by a severe skull fracture.

John Osborn, one of Denham's co-workers, testified that he was driving into Meridian on Highway 19 at the time of the accident and saw Holloman's truck run the red light and hit Denham's car; the truck's brake lights never came on. Osborn saw Holloman get out of his truck, run over to look inside the Denham vehicle, then run toward the nearby Jitney Jungle.

Janice Murphy, a nurse, testified that she saw Denham drive under a green light, then saw Holloman's truck, without slowing down, hit Denham's car. As Murphy tried to help Denham and Lorien, she saw Holloman leave his truck and run behind the Jitney Jungle.

Officer Ricky Roberts apprehended Holloman sometime after 3:00 p.m. on the day of the accident, near the Jitney Jungle. Lieutenant Greg Lewis of the Meridian Police Department, a member of the advance accident investigation team, declined to interview Holloman when he was apprehended because he "was too intoxicated at that point to give a statement to us that would be relevant and binding in a court of law." Lewis declined to interview Houston Neal, who was a passenger in Holloman's truck, for the same reason. Lewis was able to determine that the traffic light at the intersection of College Drive and Highway 19 was functioning properly at the time of the collision. Officer Daniel P. Mahla, an advanced accident investigator, immediately smelled alcohol on Holloman's person and on his breath; with the use of field sobriety tests, Mahla determined Holloman was intoxicated.

Two or three days after the accident, Officer Lewis interviewed Holloman and learned he had been drinking beer the morning of the accident and was drinking a beer at the time of the accident. Holloman could not remember whether he had a red or green light at the intersection where the accident occurred. He was talking to Neal and drinking a beer at the time, but knew he was going to hit Denham's car before he actually did so. Holloman thought, but wasn't sure, that he had tried to hit his brakes but actually stomped the gas pedal instead. Holloman claimed he asked Denham if he was hurt, then walked to the Jitney Jungle to call the police. When he heard the sirens, he panicked, ran, and hid in the brush. Holloman, when asked if he wanted to add to his statement anything else regarding the accident, admitted that the accident was entirely his fault. Prior to this interview, Lewis advised Holloman of his Miranda ¹ rights, which Holloman waived, and consulted with Holloman's attending nurse to determine that Holloman's faculties were unimpaired by medication.

Houston Neal testified that he and Holloman had both been drinking on the morning of the accident, but did not remember anything about the collision because he was too intoxicated. Neal's sister, Florence Johnson, testified that at about 3:00 a.m. on the day of the accident, Holloman drove his truck into a pick-up truck parked in her yard while dropping Neal off at Johnson's house. When Holloman and Neal left her house at about 10:00 that morning, Johnson called the sheriff and asked them to stop Holloman's truck because they "had been out drinking all night" and she "felt like he [Holloman] was in condition he didn't need to be driving."

The jury acquitted Holloman on the DUI maiming of Houston Neal and convicted him on DUI maiming of Denham and DUI manslaughter of Lorien Denham.

III. THE LAW

A. Whether the indictment regarding count II ², Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 63-11-30(4), application of this statute by way of jury instruction C-A-8, and conviction pursuant to this statute and indictment violated Holloman's rights as guaranteed under the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution.

1. The Parties' Contentions

Holloman claims Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 63-11-30(4) (Supp.1994) violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution because it imposes cruel and unusual punishment for causing mere disfigurement as well as for causing death. Holloman further asserts that the indictment only put him on notice that the State would try to prove serious permanent injury, not disfigurement or mutilation. Consequently, according to Holloman,...