King v. State
| Decision Date | 27 October 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 53027,53027 |
| Parties | Mack Arthur KING v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Joe O. Sams, Jr., Thomas L. Kesler, Columbus, for appellant.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Carolyn B. Mills, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, John M. Montgomery, Dist. Atty., Starkville, for appellee.
En Banc.
SUGG, Presiding Justice, for the Court on Parts I and II.
About 10:30 a.m. on August 3, 1980 Mrs. Lelia Patterson was found dead in a bathtub in her home. An investigation revealed that the screen on a door had been cut, the telephone wires outside the house had been severed, articles were scattered throughout the house, and dresser drawers had been emptied on the floor. A fingerprint and palmprint were found on two file folders in a box located in the house. The prints matched known fingerprints and palmprints of appellant. Appellant's residence was searched two days later and several items which belonged to Mrs. Patterson were found. Appellant was arrested on August 6th and denied that he had been at Mrs. Patterson's house on August 3rd. The officers interviewed appellant's girlfriend, Barbara Jordan and on the basis of information received from her, appellant's residence was searched a second time and additional items from Mrs. Patterson's home were found.
Appellant was questioned after the second search and admitted that he entered the house of Mrs. Patterson on Saturday night, August 2nd, burglarized the house, saw Mrs. Patterson, but did not kill her. In his second statement he said he was accompanied by Willie Porter who remained outside while appellant burglarized the house, that Mrs. Patterson was alive when he left the house, and that Willie Porter entered the house as he was leaving. Appellant also said he saw Willie later in the morning of August 3rd and Willie told him that he, Willie, had taken some articles from Mrs. Patterson's house.
After signing the second statement, appellant agreed to another search of his premises and told the officers where to find additional items stolen from Mrs. Patterson which were hidden near his house.
According to Barbara Jordan, appellant showed her some of the articles he had stolen but did not tell her where they came from. She testified that appellant was wearing green pants on Saturday, August 2nd and Sunday, August 3rd which were confiscated by the police. On Tuesday appellant washed the pants after refusing to let the witness wash them as was customary. Human blood was found on the pants but not in a sufficient amount to ascertain the blood type.
The pathologist who performed the autoposy on Mrs. Patterson's body testified that she had multiple bruises about her neck, face, and arms, a laceration on the back of her head, and water in her lungs. In the opinion of the pathologist Mrs. Patterson had been manually strangled, struck on the back of the head with such force that it caused edema of the brain, and had been under water while she was either conscious or unconscious. He was unable to ascertain the order in which the events occurred, but stated if the manual strangulation took place first, then the victim could have regained consciousness, but if the trauma to the skull occurred first, she possibly never regained consciousness. Mrs. Patterson's death could be attributed to either strangulation, a blow to the head, or drowning. The findings of the pathologist show conclusively that Mrs. Patterson was brutally murdered.
Appellant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence in his four assigned errors. The first two assignments of error will be discussed together because the proof and argument pertaining to them are interrelated. The first two assignments of error are as follows:
The lower court erred when the juror Mary Castlebury Holley was separated from the rest of the jury panel and subsequently allowed to return to the jury room following voir dire by both the State's attorney and the attorney for the defendant.
The lower court erred in overruling the defendant's motion to excuse the juror Mary Castlebury Holley after voir dire examination revealed that she had failed to disclose certain facts to the defendant on voir dire examination. The failure of the juror to disclose this certain information and the trial court's overruling the motion to excuse the juror from the panel denied the defendant due process of law as he was not allowed to exercise his peremptory challenges by the process and manner dictated by law.
On the second day of the trial one of the court-appointed attorneys for appellant made a motion to excuse Mrs. Holley and replace her with an alternate juror because she was the former wife of Jimmy Covington, a deputy sheriff of Lowndes County and because the juror's father, Elton Castlebury, was a defendant in a lawsuit filed by G.B. Green, Sr. then pending in the Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi and that Green was represented by one of appellant's attorneys. However, a check of the docket shows that no case involving Castlebury and Green has been filed in this Court.
The State called Jimmy Covington who testified that he was the former husband of Mrs. Holley, two children were born to their marriage, and they had been divorced for After both sides rested trial judge permitted defense counsel to question Mrs. Holley. She first said that while she was married to Jimmy Covington he was not a member of the sheriff's mounted patrol but later admitted he may have been a member of the sheriff's posse. Additional testimony was elicited from the witness as follows:
five years. During his marriage to Mrs. Holley, Covington was a member of the sheriff's mounted patrol but was not a deputy sheriff. At the time of the trial, Covington was a deputy sheriff in charge of civil process and also acted as a bailiff for the courts. Covington was one of the bailiffs who took the jury to supper the night before. On cross-examination he stated that he was not a sworn deputy while a member of the mounted patrol, but the patrol would be called out when, "someone was lost or something." He testified that he knew G.B. Green, Sr. was a neighbor of his former wife's father, Elton Castlebury, and three weeks before appellant's trial he had been told by appellant's counsel of the lawsuit between Green and Castlebury, but he thought the lawsuit had been concluded
Do you recall the question yesterday about whether you were related by blood or marriage now or in the past to any member of law enforcement; did you understand that that could have included this particular individual?
A. No, I did not.
Q. You do acknowledge that you did not raise your hand at that time; you do acknowledge that you didn't raise your hand?
A. I don't recall the question that--
Q. You don't recall the question; All right, Mrs. Holley, who's your dad, I may have asked you?
A. Elton Castlebury.
Q. And, Mrs. Holley, do you know a one, G.B. Green, Sr.?
A. Yes.
Q. Is he a next door neighbor of your dad's?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there current litigation going on between them over a pond in the Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi?
A. Not that I know of.
MR. SAMS:
I've got no further questions of this witness.
QUESTIONING BY MR. HOWARD:
Q. Did you know that Joe Sams, Jr., the lawyer that just questioned you, represented Mr. Green at all against your father?
A. No, I didn't.
Q. And that would have been the reason you didn't respond when Mr. Sams asked you yesterday if any--if he represented anybody in lawsuits against you or any other members of the jury or their families?
A. Yes, sir. Can I say something?
Q. Sure.
A. I--the--the last that--the last time that Mr. Green sued my father I thought it was Mr. Burgin.
Q. You didn't know anything about Joe Sams being involved, did you?
....
Q. Then you don't even remember Mr. Sams even asking a question about being related to members of law enforcement, do you?
A. No.
Q. If--
A. I--I remember him asking if you were related to someone who is in law enforcement.
Q. But you are not related to anyone that's in law enforcement, is that correct?
A. No.
Q. Even if you were would that have influenced your verdict in this case?
A. No.
Q. Would you base your verdict solely on the evidence and the testimony that you've heard in the last two days?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you feel that you could be fair and impartial to the State of Mississippi and to Mack Arthur King in this case?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And base your verdict on the evidence?
A. Yes.
MR. HOWARD:
Nothing further, Judge.
QUESTIONING BY COURT:
Q. Mrs. Holley, apparently now it's come out that Mr. Sams does represent Mr. Green against your father, would that influence you in any way in the trial of this case, if that were true?
A. No, sir.
Q. And while you were married to Mr. Covington, as far as you know he was not involved in law enforcement?
A. He may have been a member of the sheriff's posse; other than that, no.
Q. Would that--even if he had been a member of the sheriff's posse, would that influence you in any way?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you have any particular feelings for Mr. Covington now that would influence you in any way?
A. No, sir.
....
All right, you may return to the jury room.
MR. SAMS:
Your Honor, we're going to specifically at this time object to the--the juror being allowed to return. Now, that she's been advised that I've got a lawsuit against her Dad because this is a capital murder case, and for her to return now, you know, fresh with the knowledge that I'm involved against her father I think would be extremely detrimental and harmful to the interest of the defendant.
I believe she's testified under oath that this would not affect her in any manner.
MR. SAMS:
Well, we think that--we think that--that though she speaks with complete candor and honesty, I'm sure, that the subconscious knowledge that I've got an ongoing litigation against her own father has got to have some effect,...
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