Walters v. State, 96-KA-00400-SCT

• Citation: 720 So.2d 856
• Decision Date: 20 August 1998
• Docket Number: No. 96-KA-00400-SCT,96-KA-00400-SCT
• Parties: Leonard WALTERS, a/k/a Leonard James Walters v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi

Page 856

720 So.2d 856

Leonard WALTERS, a/k/a Leonard James Walters v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 96-KA-00400-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 20, 1998.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 29, 1998.

Sally J. O'Flynn, Hattiesburg, for Appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Attorney General, Deidre McCrory, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., for Appellee.

En Banc.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

¶1 This case comes to this Court on appeal of Leonard Walters from the Circuit Court of Forrest County. Walters was indicted as an habitual offender pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 99-19-81 for the crime of murder with malice aforethought. Walters was tried by jury on November 30, 1992 and a verdict was returned finding Walters guilty of murder. The trial court sentenced Walters as an habitual offender to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole or probation. Walters timely filed a Motion for New Trial or in the Alternative Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict on December 30, 1992, but the motion was never ruled on by the trial court. On March 21, 1996, Walters was appointed additional counsel to represent him at a hearing on his Motion for a New Trial. On April 3, 1996, after conducting the hearing on the motion, the trial court entered an order denying said motion. Aggrieved by the trial court's decision, Walters appeals to this Court and raises the following issues:

I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE INTRODUCTION INTO EVIDENCE OF A VIDEOTAPE OF THE BODY OF THE DECEASED AT THE CRIME SCENE.

II. WHETHER PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT VIOLATED WALTERS' RIGHTS UNDER THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 3, SECTION 26 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890.

III. WHETHER THE PROSECUTOR USED ITS PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES IN A DISCRIMINATORY MANNER AS TO VIOLATE WALTER'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

IV. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR BY DENYING WALTERS' MOTION FOR A DIRECTED VERDICT AND WHETHER THE VERDICT OF THE JURY WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

V. WHETHER WALTERS WAS DENIED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL IN VIOLATION OF THE SIXTH AMENDMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

FACTS

¶2 Flora Stine Brown McCoy's body was found in a wooded area behind the Frances ¶3 Dr. Stephen Hayne, the forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on McCoy, determined the cause of death to be a "cerebral trauma secondary to blunt force trauma to the back of her head." He stated that the injury was more consistent with inflicted trauma than with a fall backwards. He further testified that the injury could have been caused by an object such as the piece of blood-stained concrete found at the scene.

Street Apartments in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on September 27, 1991. Her body had been dragged some twenty to twenty-five feet from an area where a struggle had taken place, placed in a ditch and covered with leaves and tree limbs. Her blouse, which was tied at the waist, and denim mini-skirt were pulled up, revealing her bare breasts and genital area. A bag containing ladies' underpants and man's shirt, both stained with feces and blood, was found with the body.

¶4 Dr. Hayne identified some twenty stab wounds and four slash wounds, primarily on the front of the body around her neck and chest. None of the wounds were lethal; only a stab wound that penetrated the abdominal cavity was potentially life-threatening. There were also multiple abrasions and superficial scrapes on her face, chest and arms. He further found that the decedent had sexual intercourse within the last day or two before her death and that she had a blood alcohol level between .33 and .39.

¶5 Investigators learned that McCoy had been seen arguing with Walters at the Bon Ton Club (a/k/a the S & B Lounge) on September 26th, the night of her death, as well as at Sonny Boy's the previous night. Walters was described as acting wild and being angry or in a rage. There were varying stories as to whether they left the Bon Ton Club together or whether McCoy left with another man and Walters left shortly thereafter. The only eyewitness called to testify, Sabrina Ratliff, a good friend of McCoy's, stated that she had seen her earlier in the evening, drunk and arguing with her twin sister at a club called Rippy D's. She saw her leave, walking in the direction of the S & B Lounge.

¶6 The police found Walters watching cartoons at the home of his sister, Catherine Walters, on Rosa Avenue, near the crime scene. He was taken to the police station and arrested as a material witness on September 27th. Officer Charles DeJarnette went back to Walters' house and obtained her verbal consent to search the house. In a bathroom, she and DeJarnette found some blood-stained shorts and a shirt soaking in a five-gallon bucket.

¶7 Upon initial questioning, Walters told police that he had not been around McCoy and that "he loved her, and wouldn't do anybody like that." He further denied being with her or arguing with her. Hours later, after he was advised by police that they had learned from his sister that he was seeing McCoy, Walters admitted that he had been with her but denied that he had hurt her.

¶8 On September 29th, Walters asked to see Captain Sonny Lindley, for whose father he had done yard work. He told Lindley that he had had a sleepless night and needed to get something off his conscience. Since Lindley was not assigned to the case, he summoned Detective Richard Cox to take Walter's statement wherein he stated that he had sex with McCoy and stabbed her after she swung at him when he refused to buy a rock of cocaine for her. Five hours later, he also made a confession to Officer Darrell Wallace, who had not had an opportunity to review the statement given earlier to Detective Cox. Consistent with the first statement, Walters stated, in relevant part:

I told her I would try to get her a rock (cocaine) if she would have sex with me. After we had sex, she called me a liar for not getting her a rock. She swung at me with her fist. She was very mad, and I feared for my life. So I took my knife out of my pocket and started cutting and stabbing her. When she quit moving, I panicked and drug her to a ditch in the woods behind the complex. I threw her in it, then covered her up and ran home.

¶9 Bite mark analysis performed by forensic odontologist Dr. Michael West provided a positive match between bite marks found on McCoy's shoulder, wrist and forearm

and a cast made of Walter's teeth. Further, bruises and abrasions on McCoy's back and cheek corresponded with a large gold ring Walters was wearing at the time of his arrest.

DISCUSSION OF THE LAW

I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE INTRODUCTION INTO EVIDENCE OF A VIDEOTAPE OF THE BODY OF THE DECEASED AT THE CRIME SCENE.

¶10 Walters asserts that the circuit court judge erred in allowing the State to introduce into evidence a videotape of the crime scene despite the judge's acknowledgment that it depicted a "pretty grotesque scene" and his concern that allowing the jury to view the video over and over would be prejudicial. Walters contends that the videotape is highly prejudicial and that such prejudicial effect outweighs any probative value of the videotape. The videotape contained: (1) a view of the area where the struggle took place; (2) a view of the path from the area where the struggle took place to where McCoy's body was found; and (3) a view of McCoy's body and the surrounding area.

¶11 The State contends that the circuit court judge did not err by allowing the introduction into evidence of the videotape because the probative value outweighed the prejudicial effect since the videotape was the only depiction of the crime scene due to the overexposure of photographs taken at the scene. The State asserts that the videotape was necessary to negate Walters' claim of self defense by showing a full view of the body and the condition in which McCoy's body was found.

¶12 This Court has held that the same standards used in determining the admissibility of photographs are applicable to the admission of videotapes. Underwood v. State, 708 So.2d 18, 33 (Miss.1998); Blue v. State, 674 So.2d 1184, 1210 (Miss.1996); Holland v. State, 587 So.2d 848, 864 (Miss.1991). "[T]he admissibility of photographs rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge, whose discretion will be upheld absent abuse of that discretion." McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 134 (Miss.1987) (citing Watson v. State, 483 So.2d 1326, 1328 (Miss.1986); Kelly v. State, 463 So.2d 1070, 1074 (Miss.1985); Stevens v. State, 458 So.2d 726, 729 (Miss.1984); Sharp v. State, 446 So.2d 1008, 1009 (Miss.1984)). "The 'discretion of the trial judge runs toward almost unlimited admissibility regardless of the gruesomeness, repetitiveness, and the extenuation of probative value.' " Brown v. State, 682 So.2d 340, 353 (Miss.1996) (quoting Hart v. State, 637 So.2d 1329, 1335 (Miss.1994)). "Yet, photographs which are gruesome or inflammatory and lack an evidentiary purpose are always inadmissible as evidence." McFee, 511 So.2d at 134 (citing Cabello v. State, 471 So.2d 332, 341 (Miss.1985); Billiot v. State, 454 So.2d 445, 459-60 (Miss.1984)). Furthermore, this Court has stated:

Keeping in mind the considerations delineated in McFee when determining admissibility and the provisions of Rule 403 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence, ¹ a court must also consider (1) whether the proof is absolute or in doubt as to identity of the guilty party, and (2) whether the photographs are necessary evidence or simply a ploy on the part of the prosecutor to arouse the passion and prejudice of the jury.

Blue, 674 So.2d at 1210 (citing McNeal v. State, 551 So.2d 151-159 (Miss.1989)). "A photograph, even if gruesome, grisly, unpleasant, or even inflammatory, may still be admissible if it has probative value and its introduction into evidence serves a meaningful evidentiary purpose." Noe v. State, 616 So.2d 298, 303 (Miss.1993...