Jackson v. State
| Decision Date | 28 June 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 2003-KA-01203-COA.,2003-KA-01203-COA. |
| Citation | 924 So.2d 531 |
| Parties | Bildrick JACKSON, Appellant v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee. |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
Leland H. Jones, Greenwood, Lisa Mishune Ross, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.
Office of the Attorney General, by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.
Before BRIDGES, P.J., CHANDLER and ISHEE, JJ.
CHANDLER, J., for the Court.
¶ 1. Bildrick Jackson was convicted of murder in the Leflore County Circuit Court and was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. Jackson appeals, raising the following issues:
I. WHETHER THE COURT ERRED IN DENYING JACKSON THE RIGHT TO CROSS-EXAMINE LOVE ABOUT HIS MENTAL CONDITION
II. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT JUDGE ERRED WHEN HE QUASHED JACKSON'S SUBPOENA FOR TAVARES LOVE'S MENTAL EXAMINATION
III. WHETHER LOVE WAIVED HIS PRIVILEGE TO HIS MEDICAL RECORDS
IV. WHETHER THE PROSECUTOR ENGAGED IN PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT
V. WHETHER JACKSON WAS DENIED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL
VI. WHETHER JACKSON'S RIGHTS TO A SPEEDY TRIAL WERE VIOLATED
VII. WHETHER THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED WHEN HE FAILED TO CONDUCT A FRYE HEARING
VIII. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT JUDGE ERRED WHEN HE FAILED TO GRANT JACKSON'S REQUESTED INSTRUCTION THAT THE CORPUS DELICTI HAD NOT BEEN PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT
IX. WHETHER THERE WERE CUMULATIVE ERRORS RESULTING IN THE DENIAL OF A FAIR TRIAL
X. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT'S SENTENCING WAS SO HARSH THAT IT WAS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL
¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS
¶ 3. Bildrick Jackson and Natalia Little ("Tweety") met in Greenwood, Mississippi, when they were in the eighth grade. They dated for the next six years. On August 9, 1999, Tweety gave birth to a daughter, Jalen Artemiev Jamal Little. Tweety filed an application for Aid to Families with Dependent Children with the Mississippi Department of Human Services, naming Jackson as Jalen's father. Jackson requested a blood test, and the test results showed that Jackson was not Jalen's father.
¶ 4. Although the test results showed that Jackson was not Jalen's father, Jackson continued his relationship with Tweety. Jackson treated Jalen as if she were his own daughter and helped pay some of Tweety's bills.
¶ 5. In October or November of 2000, Tweety brought three life insurance proposals home, intending to name Jackson as the beneficiary of the policy. Also during this time period, Jackson called his friend Willie Cannon. Jackson told Cannon that he wanted Cannon's help to kill someone, for a $25,000 reward.
¶ 6. On December 4, 2000, Tweety completed an application for a five year term life insurance policy for $250,000. Tweety named Jackson as the primary beneficiary and Jalen as the secondary beneficiary of the policy. On January 4, 2001, Jackson asked Tavares Love if he would kill someone for $10,000. Love testified that he did not want to make money that way because it was blood money.
¶ 7. On January 8, 2001, Jackson and Tweety had lunch together. After lunch, the couple visited Cannon's apartment. When Jackson entered the apartment, he held the door shut to keep Tweety out. Tweety returned home at approximately 3:30 p.m., and she was upset because Jackson had taken her cell phone. Shortly after returning home, Tweety left "mad walking" between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.
¶ 8. Marcus Johnson, who was "friends and lovers" with Tweety, saw her on January 8, 2001, at a convenience store between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Tweety appeared as though something was bothering her. According to Johnson, Tweety told him that she wanted to tell him something, but she could not do so because she promised Jackson that she was not going to talk about it. Johnson said Tweety was concerned that she and Jackson could both go to jail if she told him what was bothering her.
¶ 9. Tweety watched Johnson play basketball. After the basketball game, Johnson took Tweety home. When Johnson took Tweety home, she did not want to get out of the truck. Johnson testified that she dropped Tweety off some time between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m.
¶ 10. During the evening of January 8, 2001, Jackson was at a dance at Mississippi Valley State University with Love. Love has been diagnosed with bipolar illness and schizophrenia. The dance ended at around midnight. After the dance, Jackson told Love to pick up Tweety so he could speak to her. Jackson told her to be outside and he would pick her up. Jackson and Love came to Tweety's apartment, and she got into the car with them.1
¶ 11. As Tweety, Jackson, and Love, were in the car, they drove across the railroad tracks. When Jackson asked if that location would be a good place to dump a body, Tweety said yes. They drove to the other side of a trailer park. When Jackson asked if that location would be a good place to dump a body, Tweety again said yes. Then they drove to a school. When Jackson asked if that location was a good place to dump a body, Tweety said no because there were cameras there.
¶ 12. Jackson, Love, and Tweety then turned on to a gravel road. Jackson told Love to pull over to the side of the road so that he could go to the bathroom. Jackson got out and walked away from the car. When he came back, he told Tweety to get out of the car and come with him.
¶ 13. Tweety got out of the car and walked away. Love was changing a tape in his tape player when he heard gunshots. He looked up and saw Jackson holding a fired gun. Jackson ran to the car and said, "Let's go." Love saw Tweety's body lying on the ground. They drove over a bridge, where Jackson threw his gun into the river. He told Love that he needed to get rid of it.
¶ 14. Love and Jackson then returned to their respective homes. At 4:00 a.m., Jackson knocked on Love's window and told Love they needed to move the body. When Love told Jackson that he did not want to touch the body, Jackson responded that he would not have to do so ¶ 15. Love and Jackson drove to the location of Tweety's body. Jackson got out of the car. Love drove away, and when he returned, Jackson was holding a garbage sack. Jackson said Tweety's clothes were inside the sack. They drove to a dumpster and put the sack inside the dumpster. Love did not see what, if anything, was in the bag.
¶ 16. After leaving the dumpster, Love and Jackson went back to the location where Love heard the shots, and Jackson placed what Love believed to be Tweety's body in garbage sacks. Love did not see Tweety's body in the garbage bags. They put the bags into the trunk of the car and drove to the Walthall Street bridge. Love and Jackson pulled the garbage bags from the trunk and threw them from the bridge into the river. Love and Jackson then went to a car wash, where Love washed his car out. They later went to a service station where Love vacuumed the wet carpet. Love and Jackson then returned to their respective homes.
¶ 17. During the afternoon of January 9, Jackson called Love asking Love to drive him to Memphis. Some time that evening, Love picked Jackson up and drove him to the apartment of Jackson's cousin, Frederica Jones, in Memphis to retrieve his ATM card. Jackson left all of his belongings at Jones' apartment except a small bag of clothes. Jackson was unable to find his ATM card. Jackson and Love then returned to Greenwood.
¶ 18. Isakina Little, Tweety's sister, talked to Jones. Isakina reported the information Jones gave her to the police. Law enforcement officers traveled to Memphis to interview Jones. Jones told authorities that Jackson arrived unexpectedly in her Memphis apartment at 10:00 p.m. on January 9, 2001. Jones told police officers Jackson was nervous and unkempt and kept going back and forward to her window. According to Jones, when Jackson left her apartment he was carrying a white envelope about a State Farm Insurance Company insurance policy with Tweety's name on it.
¶ 19. After interviewing Jones, law enforcement officials questioned Love for the first time about Tweety's whereabouts. Love initially denied knowing about Tweety's whereabouts.
¶ 20. On January 27, 2001, Love's mother forced Love to report to the police station. According to Love, after heavy interrogation from his mother, Love claimed Jackson killed Tweety. Love took the police authorities to a remote road to a place where he claimed Tweety's body had been. Ronald Cade, a detective with the Greenwood Police Department, testified that "there was a stain, what appeared to be a stain in the middle of this gravel road, there's a dark area." Cade testified that Love told him, "This is where the body was."
¶ 21. Jackson was arrested on January 29, 2001, pursuant to a warrant for murder issued on January 27, 2001, by the Leflore County Sheriff's Department. On June 4, 2001, Jackson requested a speedy trial. Also that month, the Leflore County Grand Jury returned an indictment for murder. The indictment was not recorded until December 7, 2001. On December 20, 2001, Jackson was arraigned. Jackson's trial commenced on August 13, 2002. The jury found Jackson guilty of murder. Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-19 (Rev.2000). The judge sentenced him to life imprisonment.
ANALYSIS
¶ 22. Jackson claims that the judge denied Jackson the right to cross-examine Love about his mental history. Jackson's attorney subpoenaed Love's medical records. The circuit court quashed the subpoena. At trial, Jackson's attorney renewed his efforts to submit Love's medical report into evidence and put information about Love's mental history...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
The People v. Alexander
...(Fla.Dist.Ct.App.2005) 900 So.2d 662, 663-664; Commonwealth v. Duguay (1999) 430 Mass. 397, 720 N.E.2d 458, 462-463; Jackson v. State (Miss.Ct.App.2005) 924 So.2d 531, 546; State v. Moseley (1994) 336 N.C. 710, 445 S.E.2d 906, State v. Carillo (1979) 122 R.I. 392, 407 A.2d 491, 494-495; Arr......
-
Hurt v. State Of Miss.
...of the statement is to create an unjust prejudice against the accused so as to result in a decision influenced by prejudice.” Jackson v. State, 924 So.2d 531, 542(¶ 36) (Miss.Ct.App.2005) Harvey v. State, 666 So.2d 798, 801 (Miss.1995)). “The prosecutor's remarks are viewed in light of the ......
-
Hurt v. State, No. 2008-KA-00424-COA (Miss. App. 9/15/2009)
...of the statement is to create an unjust prejudice against the accused so as to result in a decision influenced by prejudice." Jackson v. State, 924 So. 2d 531, 542 (¶36) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005) (citing Harvey v. State, 666 So. 2d 798, 801 (Miss. 1995)). "The prosecutor's remarks are viewed in......
-
Bryant v. State, 2015–KA–01667–COA
... ... 23. When "no objections were raised at trial, the defendant who fails to make a contemporaneous objection must rely on plain error to raise the assignment on appeal." Hurt v. State , 34 So.3d 1191, 1196 ( 12) (Miss. Ct. App. 2009) (quoting Jackson v. State , 924 So.2d 531, 542 ( 36) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005) ). "A review under the plain-error doctrine is necessary when a party's fundamental rights are affected, and the error results in a manifest miscarriage of justice." Id. at 1197 ( 17) (quoting McGee v. State , 953 So.2d 211, 215 ( 8) (Miss ... ...