Langston v. State, 51401
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
| Writing for the Court | Before PATTERSON; PATTERSON |
| Citation | 373 So.2d 611 |
| Parties | Booker T. LANGSTON v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Docket Number | No. 51401,51401 |
| Decision Date | 25 July 1979 |
Page 611
v.
STATE of Mississippi.
Page 612
Edmund L. Baugh, Jr., Aberdeen, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Calvin Coolidge Williams, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, C. J., and SUGG and WALKER, JJ.
PATTERSON, Chief Justice, for the Court:
Booker T. Langston was convicted in the Circuit Court of Monroe County for grand larceny and sentenced to five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
There are two cardinal issues on appeal, the first being whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying the appellant severance and second, whether it committed error in admitting a statement of the codefendant into evidence.
On August 3, 1978, Billy Earnest, a Northeast Mississippi Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc. employee, parked his delivery truck in the alley behind Fred's Dollar Store in Amory, Mississippi. Earnest then absented himself from the truck to make a delivery to Wax's Seed Store. While returning to the truck, he noticed two individuals crossing the parking lot, one of whom was holding his hands in front of himself as though "toting something." Earnest became suspicious and when he observed the money bag he had left in the truck was gone, gave chase to the two individuals and called for assistance. An off-duty policeman joined in the pursuit and Langston was apprehended some short distance away.
At the scene of his capture Langston was asked the whereabouts of the money. After first denying any knowledge of it, he was asked again, and directed Earnest and the off-duty officer to the place where he had dropped the money bag. While they were retrieving it, appellant again fled the scene but was subsequently recaptured.
Sanderson, the arresting officer, testified that he had an occasion to talk with Emanuel Johnson, the coindictee and codefendant, on August 5, 1978, at the Aberdeen Police Station. Over objection of Langston, Sanderson was permitted to testify that Johnson told him he had brought Langston to Amory and left him in the vicinity of Wax's Seed Store on the day of the larceny. We note that counsel for the appellant had the opportunity to cross-examine Sanderson but elected not to do so.
Codefendant Johnson took the stand in his own behalf after the state had rested its case and was cross-examined by Langston's attorney.
I.
Did the trial court abuse its...
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Mitchell v. State, 55746
...was subject to cross-examination by the defendant,.... 340 So.2d at 721. This procedure was reiterated by the Court in Langston v. State, 373 So.2d 611, 613 Page 10 (Miss.1979). Suffice it to say that, if this procedure had been followed, the principal assignment of error of each defendant ......
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Walker v. State, 96-KA-00938-SCT.
...maker of the statement. Introduction of such evidence denied Walker his right to confront witnesses against him. See Langston v. State, 373 So.2d 611 ¶ 17. Although the trial judge was within his discretion in denying Walker's pre-trial motion for a severance, Walker's defense was nonethele......
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Jones v. State, 95-KA-01313-SCT
...the granting or denying of a severance when filed after arraignment is in the sound discretion of the trial court. Langston v. State, 373 So.2d 611, 612 (Miss.1979). The decision of the lower court to grant or deny a motion for severance is reversible only where it constitutes an abuse of d......
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Tillman v. State, s. 89-KA-1276
...(Miss.1988); Duckworth v. State, 477 So.2d 935, 937 (Miss.1985); Cardwell v. State, 461 So.2d 754, 758 (Miss.1984); Langston v. State, 373 So.2d 611, 612 (Miss.1979). In Duckworth the Court stated that the criteria used to determine whether a denial for a motion for severance is proper are ......