State v. Clements, 51757

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Writing for the Court: LEE; PATTERSON
• Citation: 383 So.2d 818
• Parties: STATE of Mississippi v. George CLEMENTS, Jr.
• Docket Number: No. 51757,51757
• Decision Date: 14 May 1980

Page 818

383 So.2d 818 STATE of Mississippi
v.
George CLEMENTS, Jr. No. 51757. Supreme Court of Mississippi. May 14, 1980.

John A. Gregory, Asst. Dist. Atty., Okolona, for appellant.

Ottis B. Crocker, Jr., Bruce, for appellee.

Before ROBERTSON, P. J., and LEE and BOWLING, JJ.

LEE, Justice, for the Court:

George Clements, Jr. was indicted in the Circuit Court of Calhoun County on a charge of aggravated assault. He filed a motion to quash the indictment on the grounds that the charge was prohibited by constitutional provisions against double jeopardy and on the doctrine of collateral

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estoppel. The trial court, Honorable J. O. Sams, Sr., presiding as special judge, sustained the motion, quashed the indictment, and the State of Mississippi has appealed.

The sole question presented to this Court is whether or not the trial judge erred in quashing the indictment.

On October 8, 1977, appellee, accompanied by three (3) other male individuals, left his place of employment, went to a nearby tavern, and drank beer and shot pool for a lengthy period of time. On the way back to the plant, after leaving the tavern, evidence indicates that appellee, being drunk, grabbed the steering wheel of the car. Subsequently, appellee and two of the individuals got into a pickup truck with one Bryant driving same, and were proceeding to Calhoun City. All three had been drinking intoxicating liquor. According to the State's evidence, appellee grabbed the steering wheel of the truck, caused it to veer into the opposite line of travel, and collide with a vehicle there, resulting in the deaths of two (2) women and injuries to a 12-year-old child, Lori Parker. Appellee denied that he grabbed the steering wheel, saying, "I couldn't have, I was too drunk."

Appellee was first indicted in the Circuit Court of Calhoun County for manslaughter of Alice Parker by culpable negligence in the operation of the pickup truck. He was tried and acquitted on the charge. Then appellee was indicted for aggravated assault of Lori Parker. A motion to quash the indictment was filed on the grounds of former jeopardy and collateral estoppel, and, as stated, it was sustained by the trial judge.

The case of Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970) applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel (and double jeopardy) as enunciated by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The rule was approved and expanded in Turner v. Arkansas, 407 U.S. 366, 92 S.Ct. 2096, 32 L.Ed.2d 798 (1972).

In State v. Smith, 278 So.2d 411 (Miss.1973), Smith was indicted and tried on a murder charge and was acquitted. Subsequently, he was indicted for robbery on the same facts, a plea in bar and motion to quash were filed, and were sustained by the trial court. In affirming the judgment, this Court discussed the facts and principles of Ashe, supra, and said:

"The defendant in this Plea contends the Fifth Amendment principle, double jeopardy applying to the State through the Fourteenth Amendment prevents his trial on the robbery indictment because the State is collaterally estopped from relitigating those issues already determined in his favor at the murder trial, determinations which make his conviction on the robbery charge a logical impossibility. In the recent United States Supreme Court case of Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), the Court set out certain principles. This is a summary of that case and the decision of the Court. Six men were engaged in a poker game and were robbed by three or four masked gunmen....