Jones v. State, No. 2004-KA-01412-SCT.

Decision Date02 February 2006
Docket NumberNo. 2004-KA-01412-SCT.
Citation920 So.2d 465
PartiesAnthony JONES v. STATE of Mississippi.
CourtMississippi Supreme Court

Thomas Perry Setser, Vicksburg, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. On October 28, 2003, a Warren County grand jury indicted Anthony Jones on charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. Jones was also charged as a habitual offender pursuant to the provisions of Miss. Code Ann. Section 99-19-81. A subsequent trial resulted in the jury finding Jones guilty on all three counts of the indictment, and circuit court Judge Frank G. Vollor then sentenced Jones as a habitual offender to serve consecutive terms of twenty, thirty and three years, respectively, in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. After Judge Vollor denied his motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or, in the alternative, for a new trial, Jones perfected this appeal, alleging that multiple errors occurred at his trial. Finding Jones's assignments of error to be without merit, we affirm the final judgment of conviction and sentences imposed by the Circuit Court of Warren County.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT

¶ 2. Taquelia Thomas was employed as a transportation driver for the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) and her friend, Keisha Smith, was one of Thomas's regular passengers. On September 6, 2003, Smith requested that Thomas drive over to her apartment. Unbeknownst to Thomas, her ex-boyfriend, Anthony Jones, was also at Smith's apartment, and Jones had convinced Smith to invite Thomas to come to Smith's apartment. When Thomas arrived, Smith walked out to meet her on the street and engaged her in conversation through the van's driver side window. According to the testimony of both Smith and Thomas, before they knew what was happening, Jones rushed the van and began climbing his way through the open driver's side window. In an effort to escape Jones's aggression, Thomas placed the MDHS van in reverse, backed down the street, and drove over a curb almost striking a light pole.

¶ 3. Despite Thomas's efforts to get away, Jones was able to secure himself in the passenger seat of the van. Although the struggle inside the van continued from the time the van left Smith's residence until the time it returned, Thomas managed to drive the van back up the street and in front of Smith's house, where a group of onlookers had gathered. Testimony reveals that, upon their return, Jones had Thomas in a headlock and was trying to convince her to drive away. According to Smith, it was at this point that she intervened by reaching into the stopped van and taking the keys out of the ignition. Smith testified further that she ultimately talked Jones into letting Thomas go and leaving the neighborhood. While Jones admits to climbing into the van, he maintains that once he saw Thomas was frightened, he apologized to her and left.

¶ 4. On the following day, September 7, 2003, Thomas went to her mother's house at 2706 Washington Street. According to Thomas's testimony, she was leaving her mother's house when she was accosted by Jones who grabbed her, placed a gun to the left side of her head and threatened to shoot her if she screamed. Thomas maintains that Jones then snatched her keys, and physically forced her into her van against her will. Importantly, Thomas testified that she did not want to get into the van with Jones, but did so because Jones had a gun to her head and was holding her around the neck.

¶ 5. While making his escape, with Thomas in the passenger seat next to him, Jones hurriedly backed out of the driveway. As Jones reached the street and prepared to place the van into drive, Thomas escaped. This brief pause at the end of her mother's driveway had afforded Thomas the opportunity to jump from the passenger door and run from the van.

¶ 6. Eddie Butler was driving south on Washington Street that day when he saw Thomas's MDHS van backing out of her mother's driveway. According to Butler's account, he saw Thomas jump from the van and take off running in a direction that was parallel to the cars on the street, but not in traffic. Butler's testimony revealed that he then saw the van swing back around and head east so as to catch Thomas, and Butler further noted that it looked like the van driver was really trying to hurt somebody. On re-direct examination, Butler specifically stated that "the van swung back like a perfect hit, to catch the young lady with the hood...." Butler likewise testified that Jones hit Thomas with the van, delivering a blow that picked Thomas up on to the hood of the van and pinned her against the windshield. Butler also testified that Jones drove the van, with Thomas on the hood, into a brick and wrought iron fence.

¶ 7. After Butler exited his truck and ran over to assist Thomas, he found Thomas laying in between the brick support columns of the fence, covered in rubble. Butler thought she was dead. He noted that the truck ultimately careened into a parking lot in close proximity to the accident scene.

¶ 8. Johnny Thomas (no relation to the victim, Taquelia Thomas) was also traveling south on Washington Street at the time of the incident in question and had stopped to help. Thomas testified that when he came upon the scene, he saw a man standing over a woman with a gun. Recognizing the man to be the son of Billy Ray Warren, Mr. Thomas approached Jones and tapped him on the shoulder. He noted that when he did this Jones quickly fled the scene.

¶ 9. Taquelia Thomas was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she spent six to seven weeks recuperating from her injuries. It is without dispute that the injuries Thomas suffered were severe. Thomas had abrasions on her head just under her hairline and on her left arm. She sustained a clavicle fracture, a severe pelvic injury, a broken wrist, lacerated kidneys and lungs and had to have a piece of the wrought iron fence removed from her leg.

¶ 10. Anthony Jones's testimony was inconsistent with the events as recounted by the State's witnesses. Jones testified that Thomas entered the van voluntarily and jumped out. Importantly, Jones maintained that he never displayed a gun to Thomas and that he did not know that he had hit Thomas with the MDHS van until he got out of the wrecked van.

DISCUSSION
I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED BY DENYING JONES'S MOTION FOR A JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, FOR A NEW TRIAL

¶ 11. After the jury returned a verdict finding Jones guilty of aggravated assault, kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the trial judge imposed consecutive sentences of twenty, thirty and three years, respectively, all to be served without the benefit of parole, probation or early release, pursuant to the provisions of Miss.Code Ann. Section 99-19-81. Jones filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or in the alternative, for a new trial, which motion was subsequently denied by the trial court.

¶ 12. Jones appropriately combined his request for a j.n.o.v. and a new trial into one motion. However, while both the trial court and, ultimately, the appellate court, might be called upon to address a post-trial motion containing both a request for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and an alternative request for a new trial, we certainly recognize the altogether different legal standards applied to each. A motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict tests the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting the verdict while the motion for a new trial is admittedly "an altogether different animal." Jesco, Inc. v. Whitehead, 451 So.2d 706, 713-14 (Miss.1984) (Robertson, J., specially concurring). Recently, in Dilworth v. State, 909 So.2d 731 (Miss.2005), we reiterated the standard applied to a motion challenging a verdict based on the legal sufficiency of the evidence:

In Carr v. State, 208 So.2d 886, 889 (Miss.1968), we stated that in considering whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction in the face of a motion for directed verdict or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, the critical inquiry is whether the evidence shows `beyond a reasonable doubt that [the] accused committed the act charged, and that he did so under such circumstances that every element of the offense existed; and where the evidence fails to meet this test it is insufficient to support a conviction.' However, this inquiry does not require a court to

`ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.' Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (citations omitted) (emphasis in original). Should the facts and inferences considered in a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence `point in favor of the defendant on any element of the offense with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty,' the proper remedy is for the appellate court to reverse and render[, i.e. reverse and discharge]. Edwards v. State, 469 So.2d 68, 70 (Miss.1985) (citing May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984)); see also Dycus v. State, 875 So.2d 140, 164 (Miss.2004). However, if a review of the evidence reveals that it is of such quality and weight that, `having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions on every element of the offense,' the evidence...

To continue reading

Request your trial
94 cases
  • Clark v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • February 4, 2021
    ...given to relevance or reliability. See id. But magic words are not required under the Daubert standard or elsewhere. Jones v. State , 920 So. 2d 465, 476 (Miss. 2006) ("magic words" not necessary in the context of Rule 403). The trial judge clearly found the testimony admissible both by ack......
  • Batiste v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • May 16, 2013
    ...still be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of its resultant unfair prejudice.” Jones v. State, 920 So.2d 465, 475 (Miss.2006). “Rule 403 is an ultimate filter through which all otherwise admissible evidence must pass.” Id. (quoting Hoops v. State, 681......
  • Gillett v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • March 31, 2011
    ...value is the only requirement needed in order to support a trial judge's decision to admit photographs into evidence.” Jones v. State, 920 So.2d 465, 476–77 (quoting Jordan v. State, 728 So.2d 1088, 1094 (Miss.1998) ...); McIntosh v. State, 917 So.2d 78, 84 (Miss.2005). “So long as a photog......
  • Chamberlin v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • July 17, 2008
    ...(quoting Williams v. State, 544 So.2d 782, 785 (Miss.1987)). See also Bennett v. State, 933 So.2d 930, 946 (Miss.2006); Jones v. State, 920 So.2d 465, 476 (Miss. 2006); McIntosh v. State, 917 So.2d 78, 83-84 (Miss.2005); Dubose v. State, 919 So.2d 5, 11 (Miss.2005); Blake v. Clein, 903 So.2......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT