Morris v. State
| Decision Date | 16 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 2000-CT-00822-SCT.,2000-CT-00822-SCT. |
| Citation | 927 So.2d 744 |
| Parties | Christopher MORRIS v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Derek D. Hopson, Sr., Clarksdale, Howard Brown, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.
EN BANC.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
¶ 1. Christopher Morris was convicted of simple assault upon a law enforcement officer and sentenced to five years with one and one-half of those years suspended. Morris's appeal was assigned to the Court of Appeals, see M.R.A.P. 16(c), which reversed and remanded for a new trial. See Morris v. State, 927 So.2d 751, 2005 WL 2277614 (Miss.Ct.App., Sept.20, 2005). Having considered Morris's claims of prosecutorial misconduct, insufficient police investigation and insufficiency of the evidence, we affirm the circuit court's judgment.
¶ 2. Suspecting Morris of stealing a pair of shoes from a shoe store, Officer Chambers, a Clarksdale police officer, pursued Morris. According to Officer Chambers, Morris brandished a gun. In response, Officer Chambers fired his gun at Morris. After he was apprehended, Morris was charged with simple assault upon a law enforcement officer. Morris's defense at trial was that he did not have a gun in his possession and the police planted the gun in an attempt to cover up an unjustified use of force by police.
¶ 3. On the day Morris's trial was set to begin, defense counsel presented the State with a list of nineteen previously undisclosed defense witnesses. After the State made an ore tenus motion to exclude the defense witnesses, the circuit court held a hearing. The State argued the late disclosure prejudiced the State because it did not know what the proposed witnesses' testimony would be. Then defense counsel made a proffer of each of the proposed witnesses' testimony. Some witnesses were permitted to testify; some were excluded; and some were withdrawn by Morris.
¶ 4. Only two of the witnesses who were excluded are at issue on appeal. Tasha Leflore would have testified that Officer Chambers asked Morris if he had stolen the shoes; Morris responded that he had not; and then Morris walked away. She did not see Morris with a gun. Nathaniel Parish would have testified that he saw a white-handled pistol in Officer Chambers' back pocket — the same type of gun Morris allegedly pointed at Officer Chambers. The circuit judge excluded these two witnesses, finding that their testimony would prejudice the State.
¶ 5. Morris was subsequently convicted of simple assault upon a law enforcement officer. On appeal, Morris asserts as error: (1) discovery violations by the police department and district attorney's office warranting a reversal of the verdict or a new trial; and (2) insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. On the discovery issue, Morris alleges local police either knew of his potential witnesses and failed to disclose their identities to him or should have known of the witnesses but did not because of an inadequate investigation. Morris contends these actions or failures to act caused him to be late in designating these witnesses. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial, finding that the circuit judge abused his discretion in not allowing Morris's alibi witnesses to testify. We granted the State's petition for writ of certiorari. See M.R.A.P. 17.
¶ 6. The Court of Appeals held that it was error for the circuit court to exclude the testimony of Tasha Leflore and Nathaniel Parish. The State asserts that (1) because Morris did not raise this issue on appeal, the Court of Appeals should not have addressed it; (2) the actual issue raised by Morris was whether discovery violations by the police and district attorney's office warranted a reversal of the circuit court's verdict or a new trial; and (3) it was inappropriate for the Court of Appeals to address this issue because issues not raised in an appellate brief should not be considered on appeal. See Sanders v. State, 678 So.2d 663, 666-70 (Miss.1996); Boykin v. Boykin, 565 So.2d 1109, 1112 (Miss.1990); Palmer v. Biloxi Regional Medical Center, Inc., 564 So.2d 1346, 1360 (Miss.1990).
¶ 7. The Court of Appeals held that, although Morris framed his argument as one concerning discovery violations by the State, the real issue centered around the circuit court's exclusion of defense witnesses. "The crux of the issue is whether Morris was prejudiced by the trial court's excluding and/or limiting the testimony of certain defense witnesses...." Morris, 927 So.2d at 753, 2005 WL 2277614, at *2. We find the Court of Appeals properly addressed the issue because it implicates a basic constitutional right-the Sixth Amendment's Compulsory Process Clause.1 See, e.g., Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 108 S.Ct. 646, 98 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988).
¶ 8. In criminal cases which have issues pertaining to the exclusion of evidence or witnesses due to discovery violations, we look to Mississippi Rule of Uniform Circuit and County Court Practice 9.04(I), which provides that, if, prior to trial, the circuit court is made aware of one party's failure to comply with an applicable discovery rule, it has the discretion to allow such evidence to be presented at trial, to grant a continuance, or to enter such an order as it deems just under the circumstances. If the circuit court determines that the defendant's newly-discovered evidence or witnesses are prejudicial to the State, the State must ask for a continuance so that it may review the evidence or interview the witnesses and thus become prepared to counter the same. Even if the State does not ask for a continuance, the circuit court cannot exclude the evidence. Carraway v. State, 562 So.2d 1199, 1203 (Miss. 1990). To do so would be to violate the Compulsory Process Clause.
¶ 9. There is an exemption to this procedure, however: if the circuit court determines that the "defendant's discovery violation is `willful and motivated by a desire to obtain a tactical advantage,'" the newly-discovered evidence or witnesses may be excluded. Id. at 1203 (quoting Darby v. State, 538 So.2d 1168, 1176 (Miss.1989)); see also Taylor, 484 U.S. at 415, 108 S.Ct. 646. We find Morris's discovery violation was willful and motivated by a desire to obtain a tactical advantage, and therefore the circuit court, even though it did not use the proper procedure, properly excluded the evidence. The only reason proffered by Morris for failure to designate these witnesses sooner was the police department's failure to find these witnesses and give the names to Morris through discovery. The record shows that, while defense counsel had two hearings in federal court the week prior to Morris's trial, defense counsel had represented Morris since the arraignment which was held approximately six weeks prior to the trial. Morris violated the discovery rule by failing to give the State the defense's witness list when the State provided its list to defense counsel. Defense counsel waited until the weekend prior to the trial, which began on a Monday, to find defense witnesses. Finally, and most importantly, instead of giving the list of defense witnesses to the State one or two days prior to trial, defense counsel waited until the morning the trial began. To blame the prosecution or the police department for his own failure to investigate and failure to abide by the discovery rules is disingenuous at best. This issue is without merit.
¶ 10. Morris contends that the State committed serious discovery violations by failing to provide the names of witnesses potentially helpful to Morris's case in a timely fashion. He argues that the State's delay in the production of those names forced him to produce a list of witnesses he intended to call at the last minute before trial. However, the record is devoid of any evidence of discovery violations or undue delay by the State in producing the identities of potential witnesses, and Morris failed to present any evidence or testimony that...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Myers v. State
...that Myers had committed a discovery violation by failing to disclose Branch to the prosecution in a timely manner. See Morris v. State, 927 So.2d 744, 747 (Miss.2006) (affirming trial court's exclusion of defense witness testimony where the record supported the finding of a willful discove......
-
Williams v. State
... ... ¶48. Williams argues that the trial judge's ruling violated his Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process. Morris v. State, 927 So.2d 744, 747 (¶7) (Miss. 2006). The State asserts that the trial judge acted within her discretion in controlling the mode and ... ...
-
Sandefer v. State
...Supreme Court, even if the procedure set out in Rule 9.04 is followed, "the circuit court cannot exclude the evidence." Morris v. State, 927 So.2d 744, 747(¶ 8) (Miss.2006) (citing Carraway v. State, 562 So.2d 1199, 1203 (Miss.1990)). According to our jurisprudence, Allen's testimony could ......
-
Schlegel v. State
...for a continuance so that it may review the evidence or interview the witnesses and thus become prepared to counter the same." Morris v. State , 927 So. 2d 744, 747 (¶8) (Miss. 2006).5 The supreme court cautioned that "[e]ven if the State does not ask for a continuance, the circuit court ca......
-
The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Non-Matches as Evidence of Innocence
...State v. Herring, 762 N.E.2d 940, 957–58 (Ohio 2002) (similar). 389. See, e.g. , Morris v. State, 2000-CT-0822-SCT (¶13) (Miss. 2006); 927 So. 2d 744, 748 (“[T]he sufficiency or insufficiency of a police investigation simply goes to the weight of the evidence, and it is for a jury to decide......