I was out of town last Tuesday, so I am circling back to last week’s decisions from the Mississippi Court of Appeals. The Court handed down three opinions on Tuesday. Two are direct criminal appeals and the other one is a child custody case.
Goode v. State, 2021-KA-01310-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of murder and denial of post trial motions, holding that the trial court did not err in admitting photographs of the victim and his injuries or in denying the motion for directed verdict where there was testimony from three eyewitnesses and a medical examiner, that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and that the trial court did not err in refusing five of the defendant’s proposed jury instructions.
(8-2-0: Wilson and Emfinger concurred in part and in the result sub silentio)
NOTE – The first refused instructions was a peremptory instruction. The second was a definition of “reasonable doubt.” The third was a lesser-included instruction of heat-of-passion manslaughter which the trial court deemed forfeited when the defendant took the stand and denied shooting the victim. The fourth and fifth refused instructions were on eyewitness identifications which were properly refused because there were multiple eyewitnesses.
Urban v. Urban, 2022-CP-00195-COA (Civil – Custody)
Affirming judgment denying petition for modification of custody leaving the mother with full legal and physical custody, holding that the father received sufficient service for the Rule 59(e) motion which did not require a Rule 81 summons, that the chancellor did not err in finding that the mother showed a need to correct a clear legal error which the chancellor properly did, that claims of fraud by the mother and bias of the chancellor were procedurally barred, that there was no basis for the father’s claim that the chancellor admitted hearsay, that the equitable estoppel argument was procedurally barred, and that the issue of whether the chancellor should have adopted the GAL’s recommendations could not be addressed because the GAL report was not in the record on appeal.
(9-1: Barnes concurred in the result only sub silentio)
Kilcrease v. City of Tupelo, 2022-KM-00194-COA (Criminal – Misdemeanor)
Affirming the dismissal of an appeal from municipal court for lack of jurisdiction, holding that it lacked jurisdiction where the appellant failed to timely file an appearance bond to perfect her appeal to the county court.
(5-5: McDonald dissented, joined by Carlton, Greenlee, Westbrooks, and McCarty)
NOTE – The dissent first took issue with questions about whether the municipal court violated statutory and constitutional rights:
![](https://mississippiappeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/image-3.png?w=574)
![](https://mississippiappeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/image-4.png?w=572)
The dissent’s discussion of the timeliness of the appeal was interesting:
![](https://mississippiappeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/image-6.png?w=576)
Other Orders
In the Matter of the Last Will and Testament of Mamie Elizabeth Pearson Bray, 2022-CA-00011-COA (denying rehearing)
Parker v. Canton Manor, 2022-WC-00206-COA (denying rehearing)
Applewhite v. State, 2022-KA-00290-COA (denying rehearing)