Holloway v. State
| Decision Date | 12 May 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 48283,48283 |
| Citation | 312 So.2d 700 |
| Parties | Lester HOLLOWAY v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
S. E. Allen, Jr., Hazlehurst, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Pete J. Cajoleas, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before RODGERS, SMITH and SUGG, JJ.
On February 18, 1964, the grand jury of Copiah County returned two indictments against Lester Holloway for assault and battery with intent to kill and murder. He was not arraigned until November 21, 1973. The cases grew out of the same incident and, by consent, they were tried together. The jury returned a verdict of guilty in each case, and two seven-year sentences were imposed, to run consecutively. It is from those convictions that Holloway has appealed here.
Holloway's defense was that he had been insane and incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong when the alleged offenses were committed on November 23, 1963.
It is undisputed that on May 26, 1962, Holloway had been diagnosed as suffering from a mental disorder, described as 'schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type,' and that he had been committed to Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield on June 29, 1962 by the chancery court. Following treatment, Holloway was released on August 18, 1962, but was readmitted on May 29, 1963. On July 29, 1963, during a period of remission, he was released from the hospital again. The alleged assaults, for which he was prosecuted, occurred during this period, on November 23, 1963, and Holloway was returned to the hospital three days thereafter, on November 26, 1963.
During the approximately ten years, which elapsed between November 26, 1963, the date on which he had been returned to the hospital following the incident here involved, and November 19, 1973, when he was released in what is described as a state of remission and capable of standing trial, Holloway has been confined in the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield. The facts of the assault are not in dispute. Holloway's defense was based upon a contention that he was insane when the acts constituting the assault and battery were committed, and had not been able to distinguish between right and wrong.
The jury rejected this defense in finding Holloway guilty, and the trial judge sentenced him to serve two consecutive terms of seven years.
The case is one of unusual difficulty. After reading and carefully considering the testimony in the record, we are forced to the conclusion that the verdict, which implicitly includes a finding that Holloway was sane at the time of the incident, is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and that a new trial should be ordered.
The record leaves no doubt that Holloway was insane as early as May 26, 1962 or that he was so adjudicated. Nor does it seem possible to imagine that the brief interludes involving his release from the hospital on August 18, 1962, and readmission on May 29, 1963, and his release on July 29, 1963, which lasted through November 23, 1963, the date of the...
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Groseclose v. State, 53894
...We have carefully reviewed these earlier cases, such as Gambrell v. State, 238 Miss. 892, 120 So.2d 758 (1960); and Holloway v. State, 312 So.2d 700 (Miss.1975) and have compared and contrasted those decisions with Smith v. State, 245 So.2d 583 (Miss.1971); and Lias v. State, 362 So.2d 198 ......
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Lias v. State, 50444
...a finding by the jury of sanity beyond a reasonable doubt, and have reversed the case where no such sufficiency existed. Holloway v. State, 312 So.2d 700 (Miss.1975); Gambrell v. State, 238 Miss. 892, 120 So.2d 758 The instant record presents a close question of fact with a psychiatrist tes......
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Sanders v. State
...jury could have concluded that Sanders was not legally insane at the time he shot Elma. ¶ 59. Sanders also relies upon Holloway v. State, 312 So.2d 700, 702 (Miss.1975). Lester Holloway's extended confinement, which was for ten years following the crime, was found to be a factor the supreme......
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Sanders v. State, No. 2008-KA-01445-COA (Miss. App. 3/9/2010)
...jury could have concluded that Sanders was not legally insane at the time he shot Elma. ¶ 59. Sanders also relies upon Holloway v. State, 312 So. 2d 700, 702 (Miss. 1975). Lester Holloway's extended confinement, which was for ten years following the crime, was found to be a factor the supre......