King v. State
| Decision Date | 27 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 50632,50632 |
| Citation | 363 So.2d 269 |
| Parties | Mary Joy KING v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Sullivan, Smith, Hunt & Vickery, Ralph E. Chapman, Charles L. Sullivan, Clarksdale, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Billy L. Gore, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, WALKER and BOWLING, JJ.
Mary Joy King appeals from a conviction of murder and sentence to life imprisonment by the Circuit Court of Clay County.
Mary Joy was the wife of Bruce King, Jr., and resided with him and their three children in the city of Oxford. On the night of November 30, 1976, Bruce King, Jr. was shot and killed in his residence. Mary Joy King, Bess Beane, Martha Sue Elmer, Richard Romanus and Frederick Williams were indicted for the murder. The appellant's trial was removed from Lafayette to Clay County on motion for a change of venue. By the time this trial began, Martha Sue Elmer had been convicted of the murder, Bess Beane had pled guilty to it, with sentence deferred in each case, and neither Richard Romanus nor Frederick Williams had been tried.
The evidence for the state informs of a conspiracy among the indictees to kill King. Some detail is necessary to the evaluation of the errors assigned.
Elmer testified that she had been acquainted with Mary Joy King for several years and visited with her daily for part of this time. Beginning about two years previously the appellant expressed dissatisfaction with her husband and asked her assistance in finding someone to kill him. In explanation, the appellant told her that she could not receive adequate financial settlement through a divorce to support herself and the children. Thereafter they frequently discussed the suggested crime.
Subsequently Elmer contacted Richard Romanus and accompanied him on an automobile trip to New York from which they returned with Frederick (Fritz) Williams. Later, November 1976, she met with the appellant and Romanus in Shirley Jolley's mobile home where the plans to kill King were discussed. When Romanus offered to commit the crime, the appellant devised a scheme whereby Romanus would call King, who operated a Firestone store, and tell him that his car battery had failed and when he came to the store to supply a new battery, Romanus would shoot him. Elmer provided Romanus with a gun for this purpose and he and Williams drove to Oxford on November 29 and called King in furtherance of their objective. The plan failed because King would not leave his residence to assist in obtaining a new battery.
The following day Elmer and Bess Beane, who were sisters, had lunch with the appellant and plotted for the slaying to be that night. The appellant proposed, according to Elmer, corroborated by Beane, and it was agreed that appellant would attend a ball game that evening with her children, but would make certain the garage door of her home was left unlocked. Frederick Williams would then enter the residence On cross-examination, Elmer testified concerning the possibility of her receiving a lighter sentence as suggested by her attorney, Mr. Pagels, of Memphis, Tennessee.
through the unlocked door where he would await his victim, who was also to attend the ball game but in another vehicle. The plan progressed as proposed, according to Elmer. Beane drove Williams to the King residence, departed and shortly returned for him, ultimately leaving Williams in a bus station in an adjacent city.
Q. I believe he is the one represented you in the trial at Oxford?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you discuss anything with him concerning what sentence might be imposed upon you in return for your testimony?
A. He, he suggested that the State might recommend a lesser sentence, maybe 20 years.
Q. Did he also tell you that was not binding on the Court?
A. Yes sir.
Elmer admitted she was lying in her previous testimony wherein she stated that Mrs. King had not met Romanus.
Romanus gave evidence for the state. He corroborated Elmer's testimony that they had gone to New York and returned with Frederick Williams. He knew Mary Joy King, having met her the second week in November in Shirley Jolley's trailer in Southaven, Mississippi. He responded to questions about their relationship as follows:
Q. What did she tell you?
A. She told me that she could trust me, she was under the understanding that she could trust me, and that she had a plan or layout to kill Mr. King, Bruce King, and that she gave me the whole planned layout as to what was to take place to make it look like a robbery.
Q. What did she give you, sir?
A. Well, on the back of a piece of paper she sketched out the garage that Mr. King owned and told me to go to Oxford and pose as a student, roughly around seven at night or 7:30 and call him and tell him that my battery had gone in my car, and that he would open the station up and he would drive a pick-up truck, to follow him through the office, through the garage area into a little office where there was a desk and into the battery room and that's where to shoot him.
And:
A. Fritz Williams and myself drove to Mrs. Shirley Jolley's trailer in Southaven and picked up a Chevy, I don't know whose car it was, a Chevy that was there with the gun under the seat and a note, and we drove to just outside Oxford, Mississippi, it was roughly around 7:00 o'clock, and called Mr. King, spoke with him, got back in the car, drove to another pay phone and called Mrs. Beane in Southaven, and told her that Mr. King wouldn't come out, and drove back to Memphis.
On cross-examination, Romanus acknowledged that he had testified in Elmer's trial but he did not make the statements appertaining to Mrs. King as in this trial. When asked about immunity, he responded:
Q. And in addition to that you have entered into some agreements or made some what we call deal as to what's going to happen to you, isn't that correct?
A. I have made no deal, sir.
Q. You have not had any understanding of any nature whatsoever as to what we may expect to be the ultimate to happen to you?
A. No, I haven't sir.
Q. That has not occurred?
A. No, it has not.
Q. Has it been discussed?
A. No, it has not.
Q. Has it been discussed to your knowledge by your attorney?
A. Possibly.
Q. Do you know what conclusions your attorney may have reached in your behalf?
A. No, I do not, just what he has told me.
By his testimony, Romanus participated in the murder conspiracy because the appellant told him he would be taken care of after she got the insurance money.
Bess Beane was offered as a state's witness. She acknowledged pleading guilty to the murder of Bruce King, Jr. but maintained she remained a friend of the appellant. She testified the appellant wanted her husband killed because she detested him and a divorce would not leave enough to support her and the children. She related the attempt of Romanus and Williams to kill Bruce King the night of November 29 and the plans discussed at lunch the following day. In the accomplishment of this she drove Frederick Williams to the King's residence on the night of November 30 and departed for some thirty minutes before returning. When she did so, Williams was waiting outside of the house with the weapon and a money bag. She then drove him to her home in Tupelo where the weapon was left and to the bus station where he departed with the money.
When asked whether the state might make a recommendation in her behalf for her testimony, she responded, "Well, my attorney said that it might be 20 years." On cross-examination, after testifying the state had not offered any recommendation for her, she elaborated as follows:
Q. And it's also a fact that you were lead (sic) to believe that a 20 year sentence may be imposed and that you would perhaps only have to serve three or four years and would get to go home on weekends, perhaps on leaves; isn't that a fact?
A. Well, my attorney said something to this effect; but the state has never.
Q. I understand that. You told Mr. Coleman the state never made you an agreement and this is still your testimony?
A. Yes sir.
Q. But Mr. Pagels lead (sic) you to believe if you cooperated as a matter of fact, more precisely, if you helped to make a case against Mrs. King you might be out in three and a half or four years?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was the figure three and a half or four years?
A. When Mr. Pagels said, he said I think you would be better off to cooperate with the state because you are going to be convicted anyway.
Q. But again, could we get back to you might be able to work it out on three and a half or four years?
A. He said maybe five years.
Q. And that you would probably get to go home on weekends or leaves?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, if you want to explain something to me; certainly you are free to do so.
A. Okay, if I have to down there and spend 100 years, my conscience will be clear; and this is what I have to live with.
The state rested its case after other testimony, but it is apparent these three witnesses were the prime source of evidence for the prosecution.
A pretrial motion for disclosure was filed on behalf of the appellant on May 4, 1977. It sought "all concessions, promises, statements, capitulations, allowances and/or proposals made by the State to any and all co-indictees of the Defendant in return for pleas of guilty by any and all such co-indictees, and/or in return for testimony in this case by any and all such co-indictees." This motion was called to the court's attention prior to trial after the case had been removed to Clay County. After argument, the motion was overruled without prejudice, the court stating, "It is the Court's opinion that the matters sought to be discovered by the Defendant's Motion would be useful for purposes of impeaching the credibility of a witness if there were, in fact, any promises or recommendations made." Another motion for production of all statements of Bess...
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