Swinford v. State, 91-KA-00845-SCT

• Decision Date: 16 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 91-KA-00845-SCT,91-KA-00845-SCT
• Citation: 653 So.2d 912
• Parties: Darla Jo SWINFORD v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 912

653 So.2d 912

Darla Jo SWINFORD v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 91-KA-00845-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 16, 1995.

Rehearing Denied April 20, 1995.

Paul R. Scott, Smith Phillips Mitchell Scott & Rutherford, Hernando, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Charles W. Maris, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

En Banc.

McRAE, Justice, for the Court:

This appeal arises from the August 20, 1991 DeSoto County Circuit Court judgment wherein Darla Jo Swinford was convicted of murder. Swinford was sentenced to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and assessed with all court costs. Swinford raises the following assignments of error on appeal:

I. The evidence was insufficient to sustain the guilty verdict and the verdict was contrary to the law and principles of justice.

II. The trial court erred in allowing exhibits into evidence in violation of Rule 4.06 of the Mississippi Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice.

III. The trial court erred in not considering alternative sentences under the Mississippi Youth Court Act.

We find no merit to any of the assignments of error and, accordingly, affirm the lower court's decision.

On December 28, 1990, Jamie Medlin, a Horn Lake, Mississippi teenager, was killed by a shotgun blast to the mouth and face. On December 30, 1990, Darla Jo Swinford, George Johnson, Jr. and Richard Lee Branum were arrested in Escambia County, Florida and returned to DeSoto County where they were charged with the murder.

Darla Swinford began dating George Johnson, Jr. when she was but twelve years old. In December, 1990, George Johnson, Jr. traveled to Florida with his buddy Richard Branum. While her boyfriend was away, Swinford, now fourteen, began dating Jamie Medlin. Upon Johnson's return home to DeSoto County, he immediately became informed Through Branum's connections, Johnson borrowed a gun from one Chris Caldwell. Johnson then told Swinford that he wanted to meet and talk with Jamie Medlin. Swinford informed Jamie Medlin of Johnson's wishes and then arranged for them to meet behind a Malone & Hyde factory in DeSoto County. When Johnson and Branum arrived at the designated spot, Swinford and Medlin were already present. Johnson got out of Branum's vehicle with the borrowed gun in tow while Branum parked on another street behind some bushes. Johnson and Medlin stood outside the vehicle and talked for approximately thirty minutes while Swinford remained inside Medlin's vehicle. Branum then returned and continuously urged Johnson to "hurry up." At this time, Johnson blew Jamie Medlin's face away with a close-range blast from the borrowed shotgun. Johnson and Branum dragged the body to some nearby woods. Along with Swinford, the two proceeded to Florida with Branum driving his vehicle and Johnson and Swinford driving Medlin's vehicle. Swinford knew of the plan to go to Florida and had packed some two weeks' worth of clothing. The trio was arrested in Escambia County, Florida two days later.

about Swinford's two-timing. Being of the jealous type, Johnson decided to take action against Jamie Medlin. In this effort, he was aided by his friend Richard Branum and defendant Swinford.

On March 14, 1991, Darla Jo Swinford was indicted by the DeSoto County Grand Jury on one count of capital murder and on one count of conspiracy to commit capital murder. On June 14, 1991, with all parties agreeing, Circuit Court Judge George C. Carlson, Jr. ordered that Swinford's count of capital murder be reduced to that of murder. At trial, Swinford was convicted of the murder charge but found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Swinford perfected this appeal from said verdict and subsequent sentence of life.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In Benson v. State, 551 So.2d 188 (Miss.1989), this Court repeated its well-known standard of review when a party challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial:

When on appeal one convicted of a criminal offense challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence, our authority to interfere with jury's verdict is quite limited. We proceed by considering all of the evidence--not just that supporting the case for the prosecution--in the light most consistent with the verdict. We give the prosecution the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the accused with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, reversal and discharge are required. On the other hand, if there is in the record substantial evidence of such quality and weight that, having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable and fairminded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment might have reached different conclusions, the verdict of guilty is thus placed beyond our authority to disturb. See e.g., Gavin v. State, 473 So.2d 952, 956 (Miss.1985); May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984).

Benson, 551 So.2d at 192-93 (quoting McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 133-34 (Miss.1987)).

DISCUSSION OF LAW

I. Was the evidence insufficient to sustain the guilty verdict and was the verdict contrary to the law and principles of justice?

As the verdict indicates, Swinford was found not guilty of conspiring to commit murder. Swinford argues that since the State failed to prove that she entered into a conspiracy to murder Jamie Medlin, it was necessary that the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she assisted Johnson in murdering Medlin by an overt act of assistance or by an oral expression of encouragement. Swinford contends that the jury necessarily rejected the State's theory that she knowingly participated in a plan with Johnson and Branum to kill Medlin and concludes that the evidence of her involvement in the murder on the theory of aiding and abetting is, therefore, insufficient. In so arguing Swinford, however, assigned no error to the trial court.

To the contrary, "[a]ny person who is present at the commission of a criminal offense and aids, counsels, or encourages another in the commission of that offense is an 'aider and abettor' and is equally guilty with the principal offender. "Sayles v. State, 552 So.2d 1383, 1389 (Miss.1989). See Bullock v. State, 391 So.2d 601, 606 (Miss.1980), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 931, 101 S.Ct. 3068, 69 L.Ed.2d 432 (1981). In Walters v. State, 218 Miss. 166, 65 So.2d 465, 467 (1953), this Court provided:

[I]n the case of Wynn v. State, 63 Miss. 260 [ (1885) ], the Court said: "Aiding and abetting is defined to be 'the offense committed by those persons who, although not the direct perpetrators of a crime, are yet present at its commission, doing some act to render aid to the actual perpetrator.' ... And such aiding and abetting may be manifested by acts, words, signs, motions, or any conduct which unmistakably evinces a design to encourage, incite or approve of the crime, or even by being present, with the intention of giving assistance, if necessary, though such assistance may not be called into requisition."

There is no dispute that George Johnson killed Jamie Medlin. Nor is there any dispute that defendant Swinford was present at the time of the killing and also arranged for Jamie Medlin to be at the place where the killing took place. Swinford testified that she suspected trouble when she saw Johnson arrive with a gun. She readily admitted that she did nothing, knowing that Johnson stood armed talking with Medlin for approximately thirty minutes. She neither tried to stop the discussion or leave for help. There is also no dispute that she subsequently traveled with Johnson and Branum to Florida with packed bags.

Swinford testified that she only thought that Johnson wanted to talk to Medlin on the day of the murder and that she traveled to Florida with the boys out of fear. However, this testimony does not support the verdict and is in fact refuted by Branum's testimony that Swinford knew of the plan to kill Medlin. There exists ample evidence in support of Swinford's murder conviction. Swinford's actions met the requirements for aiding and abetting, and therefore her conviction for murder stands affirmed.

II. Did the trial court err in allowing exhibits into evidence in violation of Rule 4.06 of the Mississippi Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice?

Swinford contends that the prosecution violated Rule 4.06 of the Mississippi Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice when it failed to timely disclose three letters written by Swinford to Johnson while both were incarcerated. The trial court allowed these three letters to be received into evidence. Rule 4.06 provides:

Upon written request by the defendant, the prosecution shall disclose to each defendant or to his or her attorney, and permit him or her to inspect, copy, test, and photograph, without the necessity of court order, the following which is in the possession, custody, or control of the State, or the existence of which is known, or by the exercise of due diligence may become known, to the prosecution:

(1) Names and addresses of all witnesses in chief proposed to be offered by the prosecution at trial, together with a copy of the contents of any statement, written, recorded or otherwise preserved, of each such witness and the substance of any oral statement made by any such witness;

(2) Copy of any written or recorded statement of defendant and the substance of any oral statement made by the defendant....

Miss.Unif.Crim.R.Cir.Ct.Prac. 4.06.

The record reveals that a preliminary hearing was held on February 1, 1991 for all three criminal defendants, Swinford, Johnson and Branum. At the preliminary hearing, counsel for Swinford joined a motion for 4.06 discovery:

BY MR. SCOTT [COUNSEL FOR SWINFORD]: Your Honor, I would join in that [motion for a 4.06 discovery], but I would suggest that I move on...