Thompson v. State, 46941
| Decision Date | 27 November 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 46941,46941 |
| Citation | 269 So.2d 641 |
| Parties | A. B. THOMPSON, Jr., et al. v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
James M. Abram, Jackson, for appellants.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by John M. Kinard, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Appellants, A. B. Thompson, Jr., Leon Thompson and Davis Stewart, were indicted, tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Amite County of participating in a riot in the Town of Gloster, Mississippi. Each defendant was sentenced to three years in the State Penitentiary.
About 10:00 p.m., Sunday night, October 3, 1971, the defendants were part of a crowd variously estimated at from 25 to 60 people congregated on and milling about on a main business street in the small town of Gloster, Mississippi. Officer Lewell Toney, a 40-year old policeman, testified that he heard a lot of noise, a lot of loud and vulgar talk, and some glass breaking down the street from the police station. He left the station and approached the crowd. He asked them to disperse, and to hold the noise down. They would not disperse and each time he would attempt to leave they would start yelling and cursing again. Finally Officer Toney advised the crowd that if they wouldn't move on and hold the noise down that he was going to have to just lock them up. As to defendant A. B. Thompson, Jr.'s conduct, Toney testified:
Toney recognized Leon Thompson and Davis Stewart, and described what they were doing:
Officer Toney withdrew from the crowd and picked up Arthur Caston, a 60-year old black policeman who had been on the force since 1966, and notified Leroy Smith, a 50-year old white policeman, to join them.
Caston testified that when he asked the crowd what was going on nobody would answer, but that the second time he asked Davis Stewart what was going on that Stewart cursed him, denied that there was any disturbance and stated that they were 'trying to run over us because we are black.' Caston testified that A. B. Thompson, Jr. then joined in and uttered a vile obscenity toward them, and said: '(W)e going to get you, he said, somebody going to pay for it tonight.'
Caston further stated that Officer Toney then told Thompson that he was under arrest but that when Toney came around and put his hand on Thompson that Thompson 'lunged at him, and he went for him.' Toney attempted to use his nightstick to protect himself, but Leon Thompson grabbed the stick and took it away from Toney. As Toney was going down he managed to pull his pistol from the holster and shot A. B. Thompson in the leg. Caston testified about the crowd:
Toney hollered for help as he was pushed down by the side of the car by A. B. Thompson, Jr. and Policeman Smith grabbed the nightstick away from Leon Thompson as he brandished it over Toney and struck A. B. Thompson, Jr. with it to get him off of Officer Toney. Both Caston and Smith testified that Stewart, during this time, was cursing and using vile and vulgar language and riling up the crowd.
Leon Thompson took his brother, A. B. Thompson, Jr. to the hospital. The crowd grew larger and larger and was in a very ugly mood. Officer Toney, who had injured his back when knocked or pushed down by A. B. Thompson, Jr., was helped into the patrol car and immediately called for additional help to deal with the crowd. The mayor of Gloster and the sheriff and his deputy from Centreville arrived on the scene, and after the mayor talked to the crowd for some time the crowd was persuaded to disperse and move on.
Mrs. Lizzie N. Jackson, a black business woman, testified that she heard loud noises coming from in front of her business establishment; that she investigated and found that it was a group of boys cursing the policemen; and the policemen were doing nothing, just listening to the crowd; that the crowd was very angry and she was frightened.
Joe Jackson, a 60-year old black man, testified that he was just back from California, that he had never seen such a situation in Gloster in all of his life; that it was a big riot but 'just didn't get started good.' The trial court was correct in refusing to direct a verdict for the defendants. It was a question for the jury to decide and there was ample evidence to support the jury verdict against all three defendants.
Appellants contend that the riot statutes were void because of vagueness and the overbroad language of the statute.
Section 2361.5-01, subd. A, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1972), defines 'riot';
Section 2361.5-02, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1972), sets forth the penalty:
'Any person participating in a riot as herein defined shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, such person shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or confined in the penitentiary for not more than five (5) years or both.'
The Federal Riot Control Statute, Section 2102, Title 18, United States Code Annotated, is very similar to Mississippi's statutes. It provides:
'(a) As used in this chapter, the term 'riot' means a public disturbance involving (1) an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act or acts shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual or (2) a threat or threats of the commission of an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons having, individually or collectively, the ability of immediate execution of such threat or threats, where the performance of the threatened act or acts of violence would constitute a clear and present danger of, or would result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual.'
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Thompson v. Mississippi
...to 'quell a riot that had been instigated and encouraged by this appellant's cursing and obscence language to excite the crowd.' Miss., 269 So.2d 641. Since appellants challenge the facial constitutionality of a statute which, according to the Mississippi Supreme Court, defines the congrega......