Mangum v. State

• Decision Date: 29 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-KA-00224-SCT.,98-KA-00224-SCT.
• Citation: 762 So.2d 337
• Parties: Ted MANGUM a/k/a Ted Mangum, III v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

762 So.2d 337

Ted MANGUM a/k/a Ted Mangum, III v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 98-KA-00224-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 29, 2000.

William F. Vick, Jackson, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, Attorneys for Appellee.

EN BANC.

WALLER, Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. Ted Mangum was tried and convicted of capital murder in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi. After he was sentenced on December 16, 1997, to serve a term of life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, he perfected a timely appeal. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 2. On or about May 23, 1996, John Turner, an operator of Sandy's Package Store, was shot and killed. The package store is located at the corner of South West and Gallatin Streets in the City of Jackson in the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi. The package store fronts South West Street and is physically connected to a Texaco service station which fronts Gallatin Street.

¶ 3. At approximately 8:30 p.m. on the date of the murder, Ralph Shows was driving in a southwesterly direction on South West Street toward Gallatin Street on his way home from work. As he approached Gallatin Street, he observed a black male running in a northeasterly direction on South West Street, carrying a pistol in his right hand, and attempting to stuff it down his pants. After passing the individual, Shows made a u-turn and observed the male get into the passenger side of a green Chevrolet pick-up truck which was parked and headed in a southwesterly direction on South West Street. Shows then observed the green truck make a u-turn to proceed in a northerly direction on South West Street and then make a left turn was made onto Julienne Street. Suspecting foul play, Shows went to the package store and found the storekeeper had been shot and was apparently dead. Shortly thereafter, Shows accompanied an investigator from the Jackson Police Department to Julienne Street where he identified the green Chevrolet truck which he saw the gunman enter. Shows could not identify either the gunman or the driver of the truck.

¶ 4. Willie Taylor, an attendant at the Texaco service station, recalled seeing a green Chevrolet truck occupied by three males repeatedly circling the service station and package store earlier on the date of the incident. Taylor also remembered one of the males coming into the service station the day before the shooting. At approximately 8:30 p.m. on the night of the incident, Taylor heard two gunshots ring out and observed a male running away from the package store. Taylor then walked to the package store and saw Turner leaning against the door over a pool of blood. Taylor could not identify the males he saw in the truck or the male he saw running from the package store.

¶ 5. Several officers arrived at the scene and began investigating and collecting evidence. Officer Charles Taylor found a fired projectile lying on the floor of the package store and recovered from the green truck a nine millimeter fired cartridge, a white mask and a red Nike cap. Taylor also recovered from a plastic bug shield located on the hood of the truck a partial palm print, which was later identified as belonging to Christopher Hobson, also charged with capital murder in this case.

¶ 6. Dr. Rodrigo Galvez, a board certified pathologist, performed an autopsy on Turner's body and found that a bullet had penetrated his lungs and pulmonary artery, causing Turner to bleed to death. Dr. Galvez testified that the bullet that struck Turner had been fired at a distance greater than 18 inches. Therefore, Dr. Galvez ruled out suicide as the cause of Turner's death.

¶ 7. Ricky Bracey and Christopher Hobson turned themselves in to the police within a few days of the murder, giving pre-trial statements about their involvement in the crime.

¶ 8. Bracey, who pled guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery in connection with this incident, testified as follows: Bracey, Hobson and Mangum planned the armed robbery. The three of them were playing basketball earlier on the date of the incident when they began to discuss robbing a liquor store. Mangum picked out Sandy's Package Store as the target. Mangum's role was to be the "getaway" driver. When Bracey and Hobson went into the package store, Bracey pulled a gun on Turner. Bracey and Turner began struggling for the gun, and it fired, striking Turner. Bracey and Hobson then ran from the store without taking any money. Bracey ran toward and got into the green truck Mangum was sitting in on South West Street. Hobson ran in the opposite direction. Mangum drove the truck to Julienne Street where they abandoned it.

¶ 9. Hobson, called by the defense, testified as follows: He recalled giving a statement to the police on May 27, 1996, stating that Bracey had initiated a conversation about robbing Sandy's Package Store. Hobson and Bracey were to go inside the package store, commit the robbery, and return to a nearby neighborhood where Mangum would be waiting for them. Hobson also gave a statement to the police on November 4, 1997, stating that they had prearranged for Mangum to drive the getaway car. Hobson, Bracey, and Mangum discussed how they were to commit the robbery, which store to rob, and how they were going to share the money. Hobson did not return to the green truck after running out of the package store, but instead went elsewhere. A friend had loaned him the truck.

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES

¶ 10. On appeal Mangum raises the following assignments of error:

I. WAS THE JURY'S VERDICT CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE?

II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN REFUSING TO GRANT INSTRUCTION D-9 ON ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT?

III. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN GRANTING INSTRUCTION S-1A ON AIDING AND ABETTING?

IV. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN REFUSING TO GRANT INSTRUCTION D-7, A TWO THEORY INSTRUCTION?

V. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN ADMITTING INTO EVIDENCE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE VICTIM AND CRIME SCENE?

VI. WAS MANGUM'S SENTENCE DISPROPORTIONATE AND THEREFORE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT UNDER THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION?

DISCUSSION

I. WAS THE JURY'S VERDICT CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE?

¶ 11. The State is required to prove every element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Heidel v. State, 587 So.2d 835, 843 (Miss.1991). This Court's stringent standard of appellate review for challenges to the legal sufficiency of the evidence was articulated in Garrett v. State, 549 So.2d 1325, 1331 (Miss.1989) (quoting McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 133-34 (Miss.1987)):

When on appeal one convicted of a criminal offense challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence, our authority to interfere with the jury's verdict is quite limited. We proceed by considering all of the evidence—not just that supporting the case for the prosecution—in the light most consistent with the verdict. We give the prosecution the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the accused with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, reversal and discharge are required. On the other hand, if there is in the record substantial evidence of such quality and weight that, having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable and fairminded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment might have reached different conclusions, the verdict of guilty is thus placed beyond our authority to disturb.

(citations omitted).

¶ 12. We further stated in Mason v. State, 429 So.2d 569, 572 (Miss.1983) (quoting Young v. State, 425 So.2d 1022, 1024 (Miss.1983)),

Only slight corroboration of an accomplice's testimony is require to sustain a conviction. Feranda v. State, 267 So.2d 305 (Miss.1972)

. The testimony of Harrison and Dorman was corroborated to some extent by Easterling and Patricia Thrasher. The credibility and reasonableness of the testimony of Harrison and Dorman was for the determination of the jury. Cochran v. State, 278 So.2d 451 (Miss.1973). It is within the province of the jury to accept parts of the testimony of any witness, and the jury may give consideration to all inferences flowing from the testimony. Grooms v. State, 357 So.2d 292 (Miss. 1978).

(emphasis added).

¶ 13. As to the weight of the evidence, this Court will order a new trial "[o]nly where the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it to stand would be to sanction an unconscionable injustice ...." Herring v. State, 691 So.2d 948, 957 (Miss. 1997).

¶ 14. Although there is uncontradicted testimony that Mangum did not enter the package store, Bracey testified that Mangum participated in planning the armed robbery. According to Bracey, it was Mangum who specifically picked Sandy's Package Store as the target. Bracey testified that Mangum was to drive the getaway car. Bracey further testified that it was indeed Mangum who drove him away from the scene of the crime. Hobson testified that all three of them discussed how they were to commit the robbery, which store to rob, and how they would share the money. Hobson further testified that he did not return to the truck, but instead went elsewhere. The testimony of the accomplices was corroborated to some extent by Shows and Taylor. Shows saw a black male carrying a pistol run toward and get in the passenger side of a green truck driven by another male. Taylor saw three males in a green truck constantly circling the package store on the day of the crime.

¶ 15. Although there exists some discrepancies between the accomplices' pretrial statements and their testimony, they consistently implicated Mangum in the planning of the crime. Moreover, the...