Robinson v. State Of Miss.
| Decision Date | 13 May 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 2007-CT-02202-SCT.,2007-CT-02202-SCT. |
| Citation | 35 So.3d 501 |
| Parties | Floyd ROBINSONv.STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
[35 So.3d 501 502]
Office of Indigent Appeals by Leslie S. Lee, Justin Taylor Cook, Glenn S. Swartzfager, Latisha Nicole Clinkscales, attorneys for appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by Laura Hogan Tedder, attorney for appellee.
EN BANC.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
¶ 1. Floyd Robinson was indicted for the murder of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Bridget Moore. Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, Robinson was found guilty as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (“MDOC”). Following denial of his “Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict,” Robinson filed notice of appeal. The Mississippi Court of Appeals, in a five-four split, affirmed.1 See Robinson v. State, 35 So.3d 524, 525-26 (Miss.Ct.App.2009). This Court granted Robinson's “Petition for Writ of Certiorari.”
¶ 2. On the afternoon of November 30, 2005, Moore's body was discovered inside her home. Moore had a gunshot wound, a bruise on her head, a bruise and minor scratches on her right arm, scrape marks on the backs of her calves, and a scratch and dried grass on her right knee. Officers from the Starkville Police Department found inter alia, an unused .25 caliber shell casing in Moore's front yard. On the right side of Moore's front steps, the officers found two of Moore's broken fingernails.
¶ 3. That same evening, Robinson was arrested at his home in Columbus, Mississippi, and taken to the interview room at the Columbus Police Department. A subsequent four-and-one-half-hour interrogation spanned into the early morning hours of December 1, 2005, and parts were videorecorded. The interrogation included prior domestic-violence allegations against Robinson by Moore and another former
[35 So.3d 501 503]
girlfriend, Marilyn McKinney. For example: 2
Detective 1: ... Let me read this one to you....
I, Officer Williams, took a report from [McKinney].... It said ... her boyfriend, [Robinson] constantly keeps threatening her about killing her. He's always ... taking her in the middle of nowhere putting a gun to her head and throat and telling her what he would do to her. On the last evening 5-24-03 at approximately 16:30 to 17:00 hours, he took her to his house and started washing dishes. And when she told him that she was going home, he went ballistic, and started to push, kick and pull out her hair. He pulled a gun on her then, and once he settled down he just told her to leave.
(Emphasis added.)
¶ 4. During the interrogation, Robinson signed a statement, which he subsequently supplemented. On December 2, 2005, Robinson signed a second statement. These statements provided that, after an argument at Moore's home, Moore had pulled a gun on Robinson and, in the ensuing struggle, they had fallen to the ground, the gun had discharged, and the bullet had struck Moore.
¶ 5. On January 18, 2006, Robinson was indicted for “unlawfully, wilfully, and feloniously, with deliberate design to effect death, kill[ing] and murder[ing] ... [Moore], without authority of law and not in necessary self defense, in violation of [Mississippi Code] § 97-3-19....” Trial commenced on January 29, 2007.
¶ 6. During the State's case-in-chief, a DVD recording of Robinson's November 30, 2005, interrogation was tendered as an exhibit.3 Counsel for Robinson objected and moved to suppress the DVD recording. According to counsel for Robinson, outside the jury's presence, “[t]here is inadmissible information concerning a possible criminal background of [Robinson].[[4] I don't know if we can redact those portions.” The circuit court overruled Robinson's objection and motion to suppress, stating that The DVD recording was received into evidence and played before the jury in its entirety.
¶ 7. After the State rested and Robinson's motion for directed verdict was overruled, Robinson took the witness stand. On direct examination, Robinson acknowledged
[35 So.3d 501 504]
that he had a prior physical confrontation with Moore in 2004 when “she stuck her fingernail in my eye....” Despite that altercation, Robinson continued to live with Moore until July 2005, when she “called the police on me to come and get my clothes out of her house.” During this incident, Robinson admitted to pushing Moore. Thereafter, Robinson moved back to his home in Columbus, although he continued to stay at Moore's home “[t]wo or three times out of a week....” On the evening of November 29, 2005, Robinson testified that the same McKinney brought food to his home and stayed for a few minutes when “[t]he phone rang, and it was [Moore] calling.” Robinson went over to Moore's home. According to Robinson, while in bed, watching television with Moore:
I said [referring to a television character] that's an ugly lady there, and she said probably like your [bitch] look like.... And I said, oh Lord, here we go. I said, well, we ain't fixing to start all this. She said no, that's where you were. That's why you really didn't want to come over here because you just want to be with her. In my mind I said, yeah, I did, but ... we just kept on talking. I said, well, I don't know.
After an argument ensued, Robinson claimed that he got up to leave, and Moore struck him in the back. As Robinson proceeded to leave, he realized he had forgotten his keys, and as he turned around, he saw “she had the gun.” According to Robinson:
she got up close to me. That's when I grabbed her hand, and we started wrestling with the gun. And we fell outside the house[,] ... and that's when the gun went off.... I thought I was shot, and she said she thought she was shot.... I walked her back up to the steps. And she told me, ... she was kind of tired.... I said, I'm fixing to go. I seen the gun. I grabbed the gun. I said I'm fixing to go. You know, the police come around here. I'm already on probation.[5] ... And I said I'll call you back.[6]
In claiming that Moore's death was the result of an accident arising out of his act of self-defense, Robinson maintained that he loved Moore and had no reason to harm her.
¶ 8. On cross-examination, the prosecutor was warned by the circuit court for the following argumentative questions, ” (Emphasis added.)
¶ 9. The jury found Robinson guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the circuit court. Following denial of his “Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict,” Robinson filed notice of appeal.
¶ 10. The Court of Appeals affirmed Robinson's conviction. See
[35 So.3d 501 505]
Robinson, 35 So.3d at 530. Regarding the Court of Appeals found that:
the challenged portion of the DVD at issue was that Robinson had previously been violent with [McKinney], rather than [Moore]. That evidence does not tend to demonstrate a continuing or escalating pattern of violence against [Moore]. Instead, it tends to persuade the jury that, because Robinson was violent with [McKinney] on May 24, 2003, he was more likely to have been violent with [Moore] on November 30, 2005, and-by extension-he was more likely to have been guilty of the allegations against him. Accordingly, we find that the circuit court erred when it allowed the prosecution to submit that evidence to the jury.
Id. at 528 (emphasis added). However, based upon Robinson's testimony, the Court of Appeals held that this error was harmless. Specifically:
Robinson said he ... told [Moore] that he was going to leave because he was on probation. Robinson's own attorney then asked Robinson to elaborate on his prior convictions that led to his being on probation. Robinson responded and testified that he had prior domestic violence convictions for abusing [Moore] and [McKinney]. Because Robinson testified as to his prior conviction for domestic violence against [McKinney], and used that prior conviction as his justification for leaving [Moore's] house after [she] was shot,[7] we find that Robinson did not experience any prejudice based on the revelation during the interrogation that he had a prior conviction for domestic assault against [McKinney].
Id. at 528 (emphasis added).
¶ 11. The Court of Appeals' dissent countered:
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