Williamson v. State
| Decision Date | 04 April 2023 |
| Docket Number | 2021-KA-00830-COA |
| Parties | GENORIS WILLIAMSON A/K/A GENO A/K/A GENORIS R. WILLIAMSON APPELLANT v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY LAUREN GABRIELLE CANTRELL
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: JOHN K. BRAMLETT JR.
BEFORE WILSON, P.J., McDONALD AND LAWRENCE, JJ.
¶1. Genoris Williamson was indicted for his role in two burglaries of a deer camp in Madison County. Following a jury trial, he was convicted of burglary of a dwelling, burglary of a shed, and trafficking stolen firearms. On appeal, Williamson challenges the sufficiency and weight of the evidence related to his conviction for trafficking stolen firearms. Williamson also argues that the trial judge erred by admitting evidence of other crimes, by denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained in a search of his residence, by denying his motion to recuse, by denying his motion for a continuance, and by not halting the trial during a power outage. For the reasons discussed below, we find no error and affirm.
¶2. On October 29, 2019, Ed McCraw's deer camp in the unincorporated community of Camden in northern Madison County was burglarized twice. The first burglary occurred in the early afternoon, and the second occurred at night.
¶3. Around noon, Williamson, Quintavious Davis, and Greg Johnson drove to McCraw's deer camp to case the property because Williamson wanted to burglarize it. Around 3:15 p.m Williamson and two accomplices[1] returned to the deer camp and burglarized the home and the shed on the property. They stole one or more guns, ammunition, a 60-round drum magazine, trail cameras, and a side-by-side ATV. Williamson loaded the side-by-side with the other stolen property and drove it to a wooded area off Sulphur Springs Road.
¶4. Latavius Leach testified that sometime after the first burglary, Davis sent him a text message asking if he needed ammunition. Davis told Leach to meet him at the wooded area off Sulphur Springs Road. When Leach arrived, Williamson, Davis, and Travon Carmichael were shooting guns, and they had a side-by-side loaded with numerous cases of ammunition, trail cameras, and other items. Leach testified that the men were shooting three or four guns, including pistols and an assault rifle. Leach asked them where they had obtained "all this stuff," and Davis said, "This dude's house." Leach asked if there was "some more stuff over there." Davis answered, Leach agreed. Leach then drove his car back to his house, and Davis followed him on the side-by-side. Williamson did not go with them to Leach's house.
¶5. Leach testified that he and Davis drove the side-by-side to a house on Pat Luckett Road where Kendravious Jobe, DeAngelo Carter, and LaKeith Smith lived. Later that night, Davis, Leach, Carmichael, Jobe, Carter, and Smith returned to the deer camp on the stolen side-by-side. The men then stole a gun safe, more guns, four or five ATVs, two trailers, and other items. They returned to the house on Pat Luckett Road with the stolen property. According to Leach, Williamson was not present during the nighttime burglary.
¶6. Davis also testified at trial, and certain details of his testimony differed from Leach's testimony. Davis claimed that although he went with Williamson and Johnson to case the deer camp, he did not participate in the first burglary. Davis testified that he went home before the first burglary, and Williamson called him afterward. Williamson told Davis to meet him at the wooded area off Sulphur Springs Road. Davis testified that when he arrived at the wooded area, Williamson, Carmichael, Leach, Johnson, and Jay Nash were already there. Williamson told Davis about the first burglary, described the layout of the deer camp, and told Davis there were more guns, ATVs, and a gun safe at the camp. Williamson also told Davis where he could find keys to reenter the house at the deer camp.
¶7. Davis testified that he, Carmichael, Leach, and Nash left the wooded area and went to the house on Pat Luckett Road. Later that night, Davis, Carmichael, Leach, Nash, Jobe, Carter, and Smith all returned to the deer camp to burglarize it a second time. They rode on the stolen side-by-side, which Williamson had left with them. They stole the remaining ATVs, additional guns, and the gun safe, which contained antique guns. Then they returned to the house on Pat Luckett Road and divvied up the stolen goods.
¶8. A few days later, Davis went to Williamson's house, and Williamson had "a new gun." When Davis asked Williamson where he had obtained the gun, Williamson said "it wasn't none of [Davis's] business." But Davis knew that the gun was one of the guns in the gun safe he had helped steal from the deer camp. Leach had taken the gun with him following the second burglary, and Davis later learned that Williamson had obtained the gun from Leach. At trial, Davis identified the gun as State's Exhibit 10, a 9mm Ruger Carbine rifle. McCraw also identified the same gun as one of the guns stolen from his camp.
¶9. McCraw went to his deer camp the day after the burglaries. His barn door was open, and six ATVs, two trailers, trail cameras, and other tools and equipment were missing. In addition, one of the windows of the house on the property was broken. McCraw discovered that his gun safe, numerous cases of ammunition, and numerous guns were missing from the house. He later determined that a total of thirty-two guns had been stolen.
¶10. McCraw provided the Madison County Sheriff's Department ("MCSD") with VIN numbers and serial numbers for the stolen ATVs and guns. McCraw also provided MCSD with photographs of the burglars from trail cameras on the property. The photos indicated that the first burglary occurred between 3:15 p.m. and 4:10 p.m., and the second burglary occurred between 8:58 p.m. and 12:05 a.m.
¶11. MCSD later obtained a search warrant for the home on Pat Luckett Road, and officers recovered the stolen ATVs and some of the stolen guns. While that search was in progress, four of the burglars-Leach, Jobe, Carter, and Smith-turned themselves in. All four men identified Williamson as one of their accomplices.
¶12. MCSD then obtained an arrest warrant for Williamson and arrested him at his residence. During the arrest, officers noticed ATVs, a trail camera, and a crossbow-all items that had been reported as stolen from McCraw's deer camp or in other recent burglaries of deer camps in the area. MCSD then obtained a search warrant for Williamson's residence and recovered items stolen from McCraw's camp, including the 9mm Ruger Carbine rifle.
¶13. Investigator Russell Kirby interviewed Williamson after his arrest. In a voluntary written statement, Williamson admitted that he "walked on to private property [and] drove a side by side away" to the wooded area on Sulphur Springs Road. Williamson also stated that he "heard [Davis] talking on the phone with [Leach] saying that he wanted to go back over" to the deer camp later. Williamson stated that he overheard Davis and others say that they had stolen guns, trail cameras, a gun safe, and ATVs from the deer camp. Williamson stated that he bought the Ruger Carbine rifle and some trail cameras from Leach for $300. However, Williamson claimed that he did not know that the gun and cameras were stolen. He said that Leach and the others "always had guns so [he] didn't think that the guns [he] bought [were] stolen." During the interview, Williamson identified himself in still photos from McCraw's trail cameras. Williamson also consented to a search of his cell phone. Text messages recovered from Williamson's phone further implicated him in the first burglary.
¶14. A Madison County grand jury indicted Williamson, Davis, and Carmichael for burglary of a dwelling (Count I), grand larceny for the theft of six ATVs (Count II), grand larceny for the theft of two trailers (Count III), burglary of a shed (Count IV), trafficking stolen firearms (Count V), felony malicious mischief (Count VI),[2] and conspiracy to commit burglary of a dwelling (Count VII).
¶15. Williamson's case proceeded to a jury trial. At trial, Williamson claimed that he did not participate in either burglary of McCraw's deer camp. Williamson testified that he met Davis, Leach, Carmichael, and Johnson at the wooded area off Sulphur Springs Road on the afternoon of October 29. They had a side-by-side with "a lot of bullets," and Williamson asked Davis if he could have some of the bullets. After Davis gave Williamson some bullets, Davis said they "had hit a lick," i.e., had stolen the side-by-side and bullets. Williamson testified that he never drove the side-by-side and never went to the deer camp. He testified that he bought the stolen Ruger Carbine rifle and trail cameras from Leach a few days later. Williamson claimed that he did not know that the guns and cameras were stolen. Williamson testified that he confessed to Investigator Kirby and identified himself in photos of the burglars only because Kirby told him he could "call [his] mother and go home" if he confessed and identified himself.
¶16. The jury found Williamson guilty of counts I, IV, and V and not guilty of all remaining counts. The court sentenced Williamson to serve consecutive terms of fifteen years for Count I, three years for Count IV, and twenty years for Count V. Prior to sentencing, Williamson filed a motion to dismiss his conviction for trafficking in stolen firearms, arguing that the State failed to prove that he possessed two...
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