I was out of the office all day yesterday for a deposition in Gulfport (photographic evidence, infra), so I am late posting yesterday’s decisions. There were two opinions from the Mississippi Court of Appeals yesterday. One is a direct criminal appeal of a guilty verdict that was reached after the original verdict was reversed and remanded for retrial. The other is a civil expungement case with some interesting procedural history.
Beasley v. State, 2021-KA-00948-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of one count of capital murder and two counts of second-degree murder, holding that the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence, that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and that the Weathersby rule did not apply so trial counsel was not deficient for failing to request an instruction or directed verdict on that basis.
(9-1-0: McCarty concurred in part and in the result without separate written opinion.)
NOTE – This was the defendant’s second trial and the jury reached the same result: guilty of one count of capital murder and two counts of second-degree murder. The judgment on the first verdict was reversed because the Court of Appeals held that the trial court committed reversible error when it denied the defendant’s request for a circumstantial evidence jury instruction.
Tran v. State, 2022-CP-00094-COA (Civil – Other)
Affirming denial of petition for expungement, holding that the trial court correctly ruled that the petitioner was not eligible for expungement because five years had not elapsed since the petitioner completed the terms and conditions of his sentence.
(7-3: Wilson, Lawrence, and Emfinger concurred in result only without separate written opinion.)
NOTE – The second footnote in this opinion caught my eye. The petitioner filed a PCR motion in 2010 which was dismissed because he was no longer incarcerated. The COA affirmed that dismissal. The Mississippi Supreme Court overruled later overruled that decision of the COA. In yesterday’s opinion, the COA had this to say about it:
Other Order
Pitts v. State, 2021-KA-00740-COA (denying rehearing)
Mississippi Appeals Blog 