Parker v. State

• Citation: 606 So.2d 1132
• Decision Date: 31 August 1992
• Docket Number: No. 89-KA-1273,89-KA-1273
• Parties: Michael PARKER v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi

Page 1132

606 So.2d 1132

Michael PARKER v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 89-KA-1273.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 31, 1992.

Merrida Coxwell, Stanfield Carmody & Coxwell, Jackson, Fenton DeWeese, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., John R. Henry, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.

SULLIVAN, Justice, for the Court:

The body of Rachael Morgan was found on the railroad tracks adjacent to the Neshoba County Gin on January 26, 1988. Ms. Morgan had been raped and strangled. Her body was found in a pool of thick, brown, syrupy substance that had come from the nearby mill. Her clothes were covered with the substance as well.

Billy Joe Seales testified that he closed his store a little after 11:00 P.M. on January 25, 1988, the night Ms. Morgan was murdered. While at the intersection of Davis and Carver on his way home, Seales saw Michael Parker walking south on Carver and Rachael Morgan walking west on Davis Street, but did not see them together and did not see them speak to each other.

Mark Davis saw Parker at The Hill on the morning of January 26. The topic of conversation among the people there was that a body had been found on the railroad tracks. At about 8:30 A.M. Parker asked Davis for a ride home from the wash house. Parker went inside his house, then returned and asked Davis to take him back to The Hill, to pick up a package of marijuana he had stashed in a ditch. When Davis and Parker arrived back at The Hill, Parker got out of the car to look for his package and Davis saw a police car and a city truck around the corner and told Parker to get back in the car. Davis then dropped Parker off at The Hill.

Richard Hill testified that he saw Parker at The Hill at about 10:00 a.m., on the morning of January 26, after he knew that a body had been found on the railroad tracks. In jest he asked Parker why he had killed that woman. Parker turned around and walked away.

Ethel Harris, who lived across the street from Parker, testified that she saw him at her house at about 10:45 P.M., on January 25. He stayed for ten or fifteen minutes and told her he was going to go see a woman and "get him some," and then left.

Jimmy Lee Shannon, owner/operator of a wash house in Philadelphia, testified that Michael Parker and another man were visiting down the road and wanted to get in when he opened up at 6:45 or 7:00 o'clock a.m. on the morning of January 26. Parker had some frozen clothes with him.

Doreen McAfee testified that she saw Parker and a man named Michael Harris walking along Northwest street at about twenty minutes to seven (6:40 a.m.) on the morning of January 26. This was not unusual as she had seen Parker walking there before in the four years her job had taken her on this daily route. People commonly followed the path Parker and Harris were taking that morning to get to a trail that led to County Market. McAfee waved to Parker and he waved back. She did not notice any brown syrupy substance on him that morning.

Don Huddleston testified that he was walking to work on the railroad tracks on the morning of January 26 and saw Parker walking up the street on the west side of the tracks at about 6:40 or 6:45 a.m. Parker called him over and they talked briefly, then Huddleston continued to walk the railroad tracks to work although Parker suggested that he walk on the road so that he might get a ride. Huddleston noticed no brown, syrupy substance on Parker's clothes.

Ms. Margie Clemons testified that she lived right near the Neshoba County Gin on the date of the murder and did not hear anything on the night of January 25. She had been at home from 7:30 p.m. on and did not go to bed until 12:30. Her daughter, Donna Clemons, testified that she saw Rachael Morgan walking by herself on Railroad Avenue near the Neshoba County Gin sometime between 11:00 and 11:30 P.M. when she was on her way home on the evening of January 25. She also saw "one of them twins" in the same area, although not with Ms. Morgan. She did not see Michael Parker that night.

Magdalene McCarty, a life-long friend of Ms. Morgan's, testified that she was with Ms. Morgan on the night of her death. They were at Ms. McCarty's home with Edward Campbell and Ms. Morgan left at about 10:00 p.m.

Outside the presence of the jury, Ms. McCarty testified that Ms. Morgan, while still in Ms. McCarty's home, frequently looked outside for "Mike." Ms. McCarty took this to mean Ms. Morgan's boyfriend, Michael McDougal. According to Ms. McCarty, Ms. Morgan said she was looking out for Mike because she was afraid he was going to beat her up for being with another man. In a statement given to police on January 6, 1989, Ms. McCarty said that Ms. Morgan was looking for Michael McDougal and that he was going to beat her up because she had been with another man.

Still outside the presence of the jury, Edward Campbell testified that he was watching a movie on television when Ms. Morgan was at Ms. McCarty's house on the night of the 25th. All he heard Ms. Morgan say about Mike or Michael was when she asked whether Mike had been by. He also said that he would not say he heard every word said by the two women because "womens are going to whisper. If men are in the house with them, they are going to whisper." None of this evidence was heard by the jury.

Juanita Parker, Michael Parker's sister, testified that he came home at about 11:45 p.m. on the night of January 25. He went to the kitchen and then to the bathroom, where he threw up. Juanita noticed no stains on his clothing when he came in, but testified that he threw up on them and their mother made him put them out on the line although they were not washed first. Juanita also stated that Michael did not leave the house again until the following morning. Juanita testified that Michael Parker got up the next morning at about 6:30 and went to wash his clothes.

Joe Andrews, a forensic scientist at the Mississippi Crime Lab, testified that he examined hair, shoes, and clothing in this case. He did not find any stains on the clothing of Michael Parker that could have been caused by the brown syrupy substance. However, had the clothes been washed, the substance might have been removed. The towel and washcloth recovered from Michael Parker's home likewise tested negative for the brown syrupy substance. Mr. Andrews was also asked to compare a red thread to the clothing of Michael Parker to see if it matched threads in the shirt he wore on the night of the murder. It did not. The red thread was recovered from the crime scene on the morning of January 27, after the police tape had been removed for seventeen or eighteen hours. Analysis of the tennis shoes worn by Parker on the night of the murder revealed none of the brown syrupy substance in which Ms. Morgan's body was found. Head hairs found in the baseball cap which was recovered from the crime scene did not match either Ms. Morgan's nor Mr. Parker's head hairs.

Bobby Anderson, an investigator for the Philadelphia Police Department, testified that he questioned Parker on January 26, 1988, at about 4:00 P.M. regarding Ms. Morgan's death. The police department "sent word to him" that they wanted him to come by and he voluntarily went to the police department. At that time, Parker had a bruise on his lip, a scratch on his nose, and two or three scratches on his hand and arm. Additionally, Parker had a couple of scratches on his back. Parker recounted his whereabouts on the night of the twenty-fifth as follows: he had been up on The Hill riding around with Antonio Herrington and Junior Burton, drinking gin. He got sick and threw up in Burton's car, so they took him home and dropped him off. He said he went back up to The Hill sometime before midnight and that Billy Joe Seales had seen him. He stated that he had not seen Rachael Morgan that night. The following day, upon further questioning, Parker changed his statement. He said Burton dropped him off at home that night where he got sick and he did not leave home again that night except to visit shortly with Ms. Harris. He still said he did not see Ms. Morgan that night. After questioning, Parker was arrested and held in custody.

Parker's house was searched twice in the same day by police officers, which is when the clothing he had worn the night of the murder was obtained. Also recovered were a towel and washcloth. The clothes recovered had already been washed.

A rape kit was taken from Michael Parker by Dr. Jerry Moore. Blood was taken from Parker again in June, 1988, also by Dr. Moore.

Dr. James Neill, who conducted the autopsy on Ms. Morgan's body, testified that there were various injuries to the body. Additionally, there were facial abrasions, the eyes were swollen and one eyelid revealed an abrasion. The external and internal injuries were believed to have been sustained at a time near her death. Various internal injuries were consistent with having been beaten with a fist or some other blunt trauma. A sexual assault kit was also taken from the body of Ms. Morgan. No fingernail scrapings were taken on Ms. Morgan. No exact time of death was fixed, but it was estimated to have been sometime between 11:05 P.M. and 9:00 A.M.

Deborah Haller, of the Mississippi Crime Lab, testified that she examined and tested the rape kits of Parker and Morgan. Parker was determined to be a non-secretor. The seminal fluid on the vaginal swab taken from Ms. Morgan's sexual assault kit was also indicative of a non-secretor. However, Ms. Haller said she could not eliminate the possibility that there was semen there from a secretor. She did say that it was her opinion that the last person to have sex with Ms. Morgan was a non-secretor. Ms. Morgan was also determined to be a non-secretor. About twenty percent (20%) of the population is in the non-secretor category. At the request of the defense, Michael McDougal was also tested. McDougal's...