Smith v. State, 2001-KA-00282-SCT.

• Decision Date: 03 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2001-KA-00282-SCT.,2001-KA-00282-SCT.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: William A.C. SMITH a/k/a William Christopher Smith v. STATE of Mississippi.

835 So.2d 927

William A.C. SMITH a/k/a William Christopher Smith v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2001-KA-00282-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October 3, 2002.

Rehearing Denied January 30, 2003.

Wanda Turner-Lee Abioto, Jack Jones, Southaven, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, attorneys for appellee.

Before McRAE, P.J., EASLEY and GRAVES, JJ.

EASLEY, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. In 1998, the grand jury of DeSoto County, Mississippi, indicted William A.C. Smith, a/k/a William C. Smith a/k/a Mustapha Amin (Smith) for the murder of Georgette Theragood (Theragood) on or about January 28, 1998, in DeSoto County, Mississippi.

¶ 2. After a trial, a DeSoto County Circuit Court jury returned a guilty verdict against Smith, and the trial court sentenced Smith to life imprisonment without the possibility of probation or parole as a habitual offender in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

¶ 3. The trial court denied Smith's motion for J.N.O.V. or alternatively, new trial, and Smith now appeals to this Court.

FACTS

¶ 4. On March 28, 1998, Lucky Faulkner (Faulkner), a Hernando police officer, received a call from two males regarding a body they had found. The two men showed Faulkner a body on Christopher Lane in DeSoto County, Mississippi. The body was found in a ditch covered with leaves and dirt and was taken to Jackson, Mississippi, for an autopsy by Dr. Steven Hayne's (Dr. Hayne) office.

¶ 5. Dr. Hayne, pathologist for the State, received a request from Coroner Billy Baldwin from DeSoto County to perform an autopsy on a Jane Doe. Based on the body decomposition the decedent was dead for a period of time. There were two gunshot wound in the back of the head above the right ear. A bullet, copper jacket and lead core from the bullet was recovered from the head. She died from the two gunshot wounds to the head. The condition of the body would be consistent of a body being there for two months. Dr. Gary Stuhlmiller performed a DNA test of George Theragood (George) and Lyndell Lucero (Lyndell), parents of Theragood, the suspected deceased. The doctor compared the parent's DNA to the jawbone purported to be Theragood. Based on the test, there was a 99.68% probability of paternity.

¶ 6. On January 25, 1998, Lyndell had her last contact with her daughter. Lyndell lived in New Mexico. She did not perceive any problems when Theragood left to go to Texas. Lyndell's understanding on the 25th was that Theragood was going to Texas and that she was with Smith. Smith was going to take Theragood to Texas to see Larz Batiste (Larz), the father of Theragood's daughter, Shayna.

¶ 7. Lillian Sandoval (Sandoval), Theragood's grandmother, last spoke to Theragood by telephone on January 26. However, on February 6, 1998, Sandoval gave a missing person's report to the New Mexico police. George, who also lived in New Mexico, last spoke to Theragood on January 25, 1998.

¶ 8. On January 28, 1998, Randy Wallace (Wallace), a friend of Smith, met Smith at a car wash in Memphis, Tennessee. A young woman and baby was with Smith. The young woman and baby stayed at Wallace's house with his wife, while he and Smith went to see Smith's half-brother, Terry Smith (Terry) at his home. Wallace testified that they were at Terry's house approximately 30-35 minutes. When Smith left, Wallace thought that Smith, the woman and the child were going back to Texas.

¶ 9. Thelma Smith (Thelma), the stepmother of Smith, and Terry testified that Smith visited them on January 28, 1998. Smith came to the house sometime in the late evening with a male friend. They stayed a while and then left. Smith left in a black vehicle. According to Thelma and Terry, Smith called the next day and asked if they would baby-sit Theragood's daughter for him.

¶ 10. On the morning of January 29, 1998, Nauri Bakshi (Bakshi) was the general manager of the Days Inn of Memphis where a man named A.C. Smith checked into the hotel. He stayed for three nights. Smith had a little girl with him. Bakshi never saw a woman with Smith. Arlindo Bennett (Bennett), the front office manager at Days Inn, actually checked Smith into his room on January 29, 1998, in mid-morning. Only a small child was with him. Bennett also saw Smith check out on February 1, 1998. She thought the child was in daycare. Bennett heard Smith tell the housekeeper that the child's mother was an entertainer and was on tour for two months. He drove a black Mountaineer. Bennett identified Smith and the child as the two at the hotel.

¶ 11. On January 30, 1998, a man, identified as Smith, came into the Hampton Inn on Sycamore View in Memphis at approximately one to two o'clock p.m. Valerie Dodson (Dodson) was the employee at the hotel. The man stated that he wanted to make reservations for some of his employees. He asked if he could leave some luggage because they would not be arriving until about midnight. He left the luggage and after three days the hotel employees looked through the bags and found a prescription for baby ointment. Dodson identified Smith as the man that came to the hotel and left the luggage. She also identified items left at the hotel. An FBI agent was called to pick up the items of luggage at the hotel.

¶ 12. On or about January 30 or 31, 1998, Smith called Marcie Ford (Ford), a child care professional, to inquire about her child care services. Ford identified Smith as the person who came to her house and left Shayna with her for the night. Smith told Ford that Shayna's mother was in jail. He also left a baby bag with Ford.

¶ 13. On Sunday, February 1, 1998, Luke Batiste (Luke), brother of Larz, was at his mother's home. Luke received a telephone call from a man named Mustapha, who stated that he was an attorney from Las Vegas. The man gave Luke the telephone number of Ford where Shayna was staying. Luke called Larz and gave him the information.

¶ 14. Larz is a policeman in Houston, Texas. The last time Larz spoke to Theragood, she was going to return to Texas to reconcile. When Luke gave Larz the information concerning the telephone call about Shayna, he called Ford to inquire about his daughter. Ford thought that Smith was Shayna's father, and she called the police after speaking with Larz. Following the conversation with Ford, Larz called George to tell him the situation. When George received the phone call from Larz, he went to Memphis to get Shayna.

¶ 15. Prior to being picked-up by her grandfather, Shayna was brought to the juvenile court in Memphis on February 2, 1998. Betty Smith found twelve .38 special bullets in Shayna's baby bag. Ronnie Clark (Clark), manager of the Shelby County Juvenile Court, had the bullets which were turned over for protective custody. Clark turned the bullets over to FBI agent Bill Rasmussen. The baby bag was subsequently released to the grandparents the next day.

¶ 16. On February 6, 1998, John Feltman (Feltman), deputy sheriff with Broward County, Florida, was working at the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. An alarm went off by a magnimeter, which detects metal, like an x-ray machine. Upon inspection, Feltman saw a firearm in the bag. The gun was in a potato chip bag wrapped in a white towel. The weapon in the bag was a .38 caliber revolver, manufactured by Rohn Manufacturing.

¶ 17. Later that day, a man came to claim the bag. Feltman identified Smith as the man that spoke to him. Smith told Feltman that his name was Mustapha Amin. The FBI arrived while Feltman was interviewing Smith. Smith told Feltman that the bag belonged to a sect member who Smith sponsored in his religious group. Smith claimed the property belonged to the sect not the individual. FBI Agent Clint Fraley (Fraley) took some prints from Amin (a.k.a. Smith). Fraley also identified Smith. Once an investigation started, Fraley received information concerning Smith and his ties to New Mexico and Memphis, Tennessee.

¶ 18. Terry Amburgey (Amburgey), an FBI fingerprint specialist, tested fingerprints from the items from Florida. Amburgey testified that two of the four sets of fingerprints on the potato chip bag belonged to Smith. Smith's fingerprints were also found on a bottle, black soap dish, fingernail clipper and numerous other documents. None of Smith's fingerprints were found on the battery, antiseptic bottle, brush, comb or swabs.

¶ 19. James Cadigan, an FBI firearms identifier, compares the bullets and cartridge cases with firearms to determine if ammunition was fired from a particular firearm. He performed a comparison of the firearm retrieved by Miami FBI in 1998, a Rohn .38 caliber revolver. This gun had 8 grooves. Cadigan also received hydroshock bullets from the FBI in Memphis, Tennessee. He also received the bullet fragments from Jackson, Mississippi, and he was asked to compare them. He determined that the bullet fragments could have been fired from the gun, but he did not positively identify it.

¶ 20. On February 26, 1998, Earl Heator (Heator), a Nashville police officer, received a call to go to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Heator does technical investigative work including evidence collection and processing of stolen vehicles. The hotel had not been able to find the owner of a parked vehicle. A bicycle patrolman ran the tag number, and the vehicle was recorded on the NCIC (National Crime Information Computer) as being stolen and under other investigation by the FBI. The FBI came to the Crown Plaza in Nashville to get prints from the outside and inside of the vehicle. There were dried blood stains in the car. Heator identified the vehicle he found. Using luminal, a chemical agent, the police were able to see that blood had been wiped off the back seat of the car and the side of the front passenger seat. The vehicle was processed at Nashville headquarters on February 27, 1998.

¶ 21. A fingerprint analysis was performed by the Nashville police. There was a match of known...