Warn v. State, No. 49852

CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
Writing for the CourtPATTERSON
Citation349 So.2d 1055
Decision Date21 September 1977
Docket NumberNo. 49852
PartiesWillie Edward WARN v. STATE of Mississippi.

Page 1055

349 So.2d 1055
Willie Edward WARN
v.
STATE of Mississippi.
No. 49852.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Sept. 21, 1977.

Sims & Sims, C. Darrell Reeves, Jr., Richard E. Burdine, Columbus, for appellant.

A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Wayne Snuggs, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before SMITH, P. J., BROOM and LEE, JJ., and SULLIVAN, Commissioner.

MICHAEL SULLIVAN, Commissioner for the Court: 1

Rape was the offense for which appellant, Willie Edward Warn, was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, Mississippi. He appeals from a judgment requiring him to serve thirty years imprisonment. We affirm.

No purpose would be served by setting out the facts in this case. Suffice it to say that the appellant's sole contention is that the trial court's denial of peremptory instruction to return a verdict of not guilty was error. The basis of appellant's argument is that the prosecutrix did not resist with reasonable force.

Peremptory instructions should be refused if there is enough evidence to support a verdict. There was.

The law regarding peremptory instructions in Mississippi is stated in Cochran v. State, 278 So.2d 451, 453 (Miss.1973):

Page 1056

The rule in regard to a peremptory instruction is the same in criminal and civil cases, the rule being that when all the evidence on behalf of the state is taken as true, together with all sound or reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom if there is enough to support a verdict of conviction, the peremptory instruction must be denied.

See Newton v. State, 321 So.2d 298 (Miss.1975); Daniels v. State, 312 So.2d 706 (Miss.1975); Norman v. State, 302 So.2d 254 (Miss.1974), cert. den. 421 U.S. 966, 95 S.Ct. 1956, 44 L.Ed.2d 453 (1975); Fields v. State, 293 So.2d 430 (Miss.1974).

The basic rule was recently restated in Rich v. State, 322 So.2d 468, 469 (Miss.1975), where this Court quoted the following passage from Roberson v. State, 257 So.2d 505 (Miss.1972):

We have repeatedly pointed out that the trial judge in passing upon a motion for a directed verdict or peremptory instruction must assume that all evidence for the State is true, and must assume that all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence by the jury of reasonable men, is true, and if from all the testimony, there is enough in the record to support a verdict, the motion for a peremptory instruction should be overruled. Redwine v. State, 149 Miss. 741, 115 So. 889 (1928). (257...

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69 practice notes
  • Johnson v. State, 55937
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • September 25, 1985
    ...rule for considering motions for directed verdicts and requests for peremptory instructions in criminal cases is stated in Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 Peremptory instructions should be refused if there is enough evidence to support a verdict.... The law regarding peremptory instructions i......
  • Cumbest v. State, 53799
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • May 16, 1984
    ...and will not be disturbed, if that evidence and those inferences support the guilty verdict. (Citations omitted). See also Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 The appellant contends that the indictment is vague, indefinite, and uncertain in that it fails to set forth the essential elements of the......
  • Harper v. State, 55672
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • October 16, 1985
    ...State, 407 So.2d 95, 97 (Miss.1981). The credible evidence which is consistent with the verdict must be accepted as true. Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055, 1056 (Miss.1977); Spikes v. State, 302 So.2d 250, 251 (Miss.1974); Cochran v. State, 278 So.2d 451, 453 (Miss.1973). The State must be giv......
  • Bullock v. State, 51937
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • August 6, 1980
    ...a guilty verdict, the request for peremptory instruction must be denied, as well as the motion for directed verdict. Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 (Miss.1977); Toliver v. State, 337 So.2d 1274 In the case sub judice, appellant argues that there was no evidence of intent to rob Dickson and t......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
69 cases
  • Johnson v. State, No. 55937
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • September 25, 1985
    ...rule for considering motions for directed verdicts and requests for peremptory instructions in criminal cases is stated in Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 Peremptory instructions should be refused if there is enough evidence to support a verdict.... The law regarding peremptory instructions i......
  • Cumbest v. State, No. 53799
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • May 16, 1984
    ...and will not be disturbed, if that evidence and those inferences support the guilty verdict. (Citations omitted). See also Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 The appellant contends that the indictment is vague, indefinite, and uncertain in that it fails to set forth the essential elements of the......
  • Harper v. State, No. 55672
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • October 16, 1985
    ...State, 407 So.2d 95, 97 (Miss.1981). The credible evidence which is consistent with the verdict must be accepted as true. Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055, 1056 (Miss.1977); Spikes v. State, 302 So.2d 250, 251 (Miss.1974); Cochran v. State, 278 So.2d 451, 453 (Miss.1973). The State must be giv......
  • Bullock v. State, No. 51937
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
    • August 6, 1980
    ...a guilty verdict, the request for peremptory instruction must be denied, as well as the motion for directed verdict. Warn v. State, 349 So.2d 1055 (Miss.1977); Toliver v. State, 337 So.2d 1274 In the case sub judice, appellant argues that there was no evidence of intent to rob Dickson and t......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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