Washington v. State
| Docket Number | 2021-KA-01384-COA |
| Decision Date | 29 August 2023 |
| Parties | JAMIEN WASHINGTON A/K/A JAMAIEN WASHINGTON APPELLANT v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY ALEXANDRA LEBRON
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: SHAMECA SHANTE' COLLINS
BEFORE BARNES, C.J., LAWRENCE AND EMFINGER, JJ.
¶1. A jury convicted Jamien Washington of the first-degree murder of Lewis Jackson III, the aggravated assaults of Alisha Mason and Joshua Beamer by shooting, and the drive-by shooting of Jackson. The trial court sentenced Washington to the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for first-degree murder by deliberate design, twenty years for each count of aggravated assault, and thirty years for the drive-by shooting, with the sentences to be served concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The trial court imposed mandatory five-year firearm enhancements to each of the aggravated assault and drive-by shooting sentences, which were set to run consecutively.
¶2. On appeal, Washington claims the trial court erred in denying his Batson[1] challenge during jury selection and improperly allowing the State's peremptory challenges, which allegedly resulted in a racially imbalanced jury and an unconstitutional trial. We find no error and affirm.
¶3. During the early morning hours of September 22, 2018, in Natchez, Mississippi, Washington was "hanging out" with Darnell Stevenson and Darryl Hurts,[2] who recently had been released from prison.[3] Washington was taking Xanax and drinking liquor. The codefendants rode around town in Washington's gold SUV, ultimately heading to the Holiday Apartments. Law enforcement testified that there was an ongoing and often violent conflict between individuals in the Holiday Apartments and the adjacent Maryland Heights neighborhood. In fact, the week before, Stevenson had been shot at while in Maryland Heights, and that shooting resulted in the death of another individual. Law enforcement suspected that the shooter was Jamari Lucas, a.k.a. "Jay Luc," who lived in the Holiday Apartments. At approximately 2:00 a.m., the co-defendants made a couple of loops around the apartments in Washington's SUV looking for "Jay Luc."
¶4. During the second loop, they started firing at a person near a white pick-up truck after Washington exclaimed, "There he go!" The person was not "Jay Luc" but, instead, Jackson. Two firearms were used in the shooting-a .40-caliber handgun and military-style assault rifle. The white truck became riddled with bullet holes. Jackson sustained a serious wound to his back. The assault rifle bullets penetrated the apartment walls into Beamer and Mason's bedroom. Numerous bullets perforated their apartment's doors and furniture. Beamer sustained a deep gunshot wound to his shoulder, and Mason suffered a gunshot wound to her buttocks. Jackson, Beamer, and Mason were taken to the hospital by ambulance, where Jackson died from the gunshot wound to his back.
¶5. A Natchez law enforcement investigator witnessed the shooting. Commander Scott Frye responded to a call about a gold SUV possibly involved in another shooting at the Holiday Apartments. Commander Frye located a gold SUV, later identified as belonging to Washington, and followed it to the Holiday Apartments when the shooting began. He testified to seeing flashes of light from the driver's side window and recognizing the sound of a military, "AR-type" rifle. Commander Frye believed they were shooting at him, not the pick-up. He retreated in his vehicle and drove to a side street until backup arrived. When other officers arrived, Jackson was found lying on the ground. Commander Frye could not identify the shooters. Numerous assault rifle shell casings and four .40-caliber shell casings were recovered from the ground.
¶6. Testimony conflicted on whether Washington or Hurts was driving the SUV and who was shooting. Hurts testified that he, Washington, and Stevenson went to the Holiday Apartments to shoot "Jay Luc" in retribution for the shooting in Stevenson's neighborhood a week earlier. Hurts testified that Stevenson said he wanted "to see something drop," meaning "somebody need to get shot." Hurts testified that Washington was driving the SUV. During the second loop, Washington exclaimed, "There he go!" According to Hurts, Stevenson let down the back window and started firing the assault rifle while Washington fired the handgun from the driver's window. Shots were returned from an unknown source. Hurts testified that he did no shooting but sat on the front passenger side, ducking.
¶7. In contrast, Washington testified that he never held or fired a gun during the shooting. When he picked up Hurts and Stevenson that evening, Hurts had the assault rifle, and Stevenson had the .40-caliber handgun. Washington testified that they had no plans. Later in the evening, Hurts started driving the SUV because earlier Washington had fallen out of his vehicle at a convenience store due to taking Xanax and drinking liquor.
¶8. Washington testified that during the shooting, he was passed out in the passenger seat and did not know where he was; he awoke to gunshots and bullets entering his SUV. Washington testified that Hurts was shooting the assault rifle from the driver's seat, and Stevenson was shooting the handgun from the rear seat. Washington claimed that he did not know whom they were shooting at or why. During cross-examination, Washington admitted that he gave several different versions of the shooting to police during his numerous interviews (which were heard by the jury), and they all differed from his account at trial. Washington testified that he lied because he was scared; he had no criminal record and had fallen in with the "wrong crowd," namely Hurts and Stevenson.
¶9. The Adams County venire consisted of thirty-six individuals-twenty-two were white and fourteen were black. The trial court deemed this ratio to be a "fair mix of the community."
¶10. During voir dire, the prosecutor gave a hypothetical to the venire of accomplice liability.[4] The prosecutor also informed the venire that co-defendant Hurts, who had already pleaded guilty, would testify against Washington. Potential Juror 2 Mr. Thomas, a black male, was questioned by the prosecutor about Thomas's following the law on accomplice liability and Hurts's testimony.
¶11. The discussion began with the prosecutor's explaining accomplice liability to the venire:
[Hurts] is going to testify against Mr. Washington because they were all indicted, and they are considered accomplices. In Mississippi the law is if you take part in any crime, any part of a crime, you are responsible for the whole crime. Let me give you an example. If me and Barbara decide to go and steal some liquor from the liquor store, Barbara is going to drive the getaway car. I'm going to go in and stick the liquor in my jacket and run off . . . that's what she and I agreed on. So I run to the store, I grab a fifth of gin, stick it in my jacket. The shopkeeper says, hey, what are you doing. I pull out a pistol and shoot the shopkeeper. Now it's murder, and I run out and get in the car and Barbara says what was that gunshot. You were just supposed to go steal a bottle of liquor. The law in Mississippi is if you agree to commit any crime, you are responsible for any crime that results as a result of that crime.
The prosecutor asked, "Do you all agree to follow that law even if you don't agree with it?" The prosecutor then continued discussing co-defendant Hurts's testifying for the State:
¶12. Next, the prosecutor spoke with potential Juror 2 (Thomas), and the following discussion ensued:
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