Smith v. State, 42222
| Decision Date | 09 April 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 42222,42222 |
| Parties | William SMITH, Jr. v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Jack M. Greaves, Canton, for appellant.
Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by G. Garland Lyell, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
William Smith, Jr., was indicted, tried and convicted of the crime of rape. The death penalty was imposed.
At about midnight on July 29, 1961, a seventeen year old boy and a fourteen year old girl were parked on a gravel road north of Canton. Appellant was riding in an automobile driven by James Matlock. When they got near the car where the young people were parked, appellant told Matlock that he was going to get some money and divide it with Matlock. Matlock stopped the car and appellant got out. When appellant did not return in about five minutes, Matlock left. Appellant went to the automobile where the young people were parked and reached in the car and placed a knife across the throat of the young man. He robbed the young man, then forced him and the young lady into a cornfield where at the point of a knife he forceably raped the young lady.
Appellant was arrested some three or four hours after the commission of the crime and placed in jail at Canton, and after a few hours was removed to the Highway Patrol office near Jackson where he confessed. There can be no doubt whatsoever about appellant's guilt. The proof was overwhelming and appellant's confession was corroborated in many respects.
The only question raised is whether the confession was voluntary. The proof showed that appellant was arrested about four o'clock A.M., on Sunday, July 30, 1961, and he confessed about twelve hours later. There were five officers present when he confessed and each one of them testified that appellant was not mistreated in any way whatsoever, and that appellant was advised he had a right to have a lawyer present and any statement he might make would be used against him in court. The appellant took the stand in the absence of the jury on the preliminary hearing to determine the admissibility of the confession and testified he signed the confession because the officers threatened to bring him back to Canton and put him in the county jail and have a mob get him. He also said that he had taken a lie test on the machine (meaning polygraph), and the officer told him he was lying. He said the confession was not of his own free will but was made through fright and fear of being mobbed....
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Smith v. State, 42222
...(called petitioner or appellant), was convicted of rape, sentenced to death, and his conviction was affirmed by this Court. Smith v. State, 139 So.2d 857 (Miss.1962); see also 145 So.2d 688. After having granted his petition for writ of certiorari, the United States Supreme Court dismissed ......
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Smith v. Breazeale, GC6440.
...the court. Efforts toward post-conviction relief began with a direct appeal, upon which the conviction was affirmed. Smith v. State, Miss., 139 So.2d 857 (1962). After the withdrawal of court appointed counsel, present counsel obtained a writ of certiorari, but that writ was later discharge......
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Smith v. State, 42238
...203 Miss. 344, 34 So.2d 723; Stokes v. State, 240 Miss. 453, 128 So.2d 341; Simmons v. State, 241 Miss. 481, 130 So.2d 860; Smith v. State, 139 So.2d 857 (Miss.). Appellant assigns as error remarks of a special prosecutor in his argument to the jury on failure of appellant to testify as sho......
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Smith v. State, s. 42222
...to suffer death for the forcible rape of a fourteen year old girl about midnight July 29, 1961. On appeal, this Court affirmed. 139 So.2d 857 (April 9, 1962). A suggestion of error was overruled and the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari, December 17, 1962. 371 U.S. 939, ......