Tag: Partition

Mississippi Court of Appeals Decisions of August 20, 2024

The Mississippi Court of Appeals handed down nine opinions today. There are several direct criminal appeals, a personal injury case, and two real property cases.

Allen v. State, 2023-KA-00264-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of armed robbery, kidnapping, and aggravated assault with firearm enhancement, holding that there were no issues warranting reversal after reviewing counsel’s Lindsey brief and the record.
(9-0)

Aldridge v. South Tippah County School District, 2023-CA-00418-COA (Civil – Personal Injury)
Affirming summary judgment in favor of a high school in a personal injury case, holding that there was no evidence that the school breached any duty that proximately caused student’s injuries sustained in a locker room fight.
(6-3: McDonald concurred in part and dissented in part without writing; Carlton dissented, joined by Westbrooks, and joined in part by McDonald)

Galang v. State, 2023-KA-00006-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of sexual battery, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding videos from past sexual activity between the defendant and the victim or and that excluding a defense witness’s testimony for which no proffer was made was at most harmless error.
(9-0)

Connor v. State, 2022-KA-01288-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of first-degree murder, holding that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
(9-0)

Howell v. State, 2023-KM-00265-COA (Criminal – Misdemeanor) consolidated with 2023-KM-00270 (Criminal – Misdemeanor)
Affirming convictions of speeding and driving without a tag, holding that the evidence was sufficient and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in not accepting the defendant’s father as an expert in the field of radar technology.
(8-1-0: Westbrooks concurred in result only without separate written opinion)

Note – Here is the trial court’s voir dire of the defendant’s father:

Trevino v. State, 2022-KA-01292-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of aggravated assault and felon in possession of a weapon but reversing conviction of theft of a motor vehicle with a value of more than $5,000 and $25,000, holding that the State failed to offer any evidence of the stolen truck’s value (an error the State confessed) and rendering since the State did not argue for remand and resentencing for any lesser-included offense.
(9-0)

Brown v. State, 2023-KA-00299-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon, holding that section 97-37-5 does not violate the Second Amendment since the Mississippi Supreme Court has already said so.
(9-0)

Wiggs v. Boykin, 2023-CA-00496-COA (Civil – Real Property)
Affirming order of partition and award of an equitable adjustment resulting from the partition, holding that the defendant waived his argument that the petitioner failed to provide sufficient deraignments by not filing a Rule 12(e) motion for a more definite statement, that the chancellor’s determination of the amount of owelty was supported by substantial credible evidence, and that the chancellor did not abuse his discretion in denying the motion for new trial.
(9-0)

Richardson v. Estate of Richardson, 2023-CA-00650-COA (Civil – Real Property)
Affirming the chancellor’s grant of summary judgment for the Estate in a petition to confirm title and expunging liens from the county’s records, holding that the court of appeals’ prior mandate did not create a debtor-creditor relationship between the decedent and the petitioner and that there is no evidence of an enrolled money judgment that would provide the basis for the liens on the decedent’s property.
(9-0)

Other Orders

  • Collins v. Collins, 2022-CA-00903-COA (denying rehearing)
  • McLellan v. McLellan, 2022-CA-01006-COA (denying rehearing)
  • Lee v. City of Pascagoula, 2022-CA-01190-COA (denying rehearing)
  • Suarez v. State, 2023-KA-00526-COA (denying rehearing)

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Mississippi Court of Appeals Decisions of July 16, 2024

The annual July hiatus is over and the Mississippi Court of Appeals is back today with nine opinions. There are four direct criminal appeals, including one reversal of a murder conviction. There are three real property cases, one involving a partition, one an administrative condemnation decision, and the other a landowner’s right to keep horses on her property within city limits. There is also a custody modification decision and a PCR decision. (If you notice a missing tenth judge on these cases, Judge Greenlee’s retirement from the court was effective July 1, 2024.)

JDB Rentals, LLC v. City of Verona, 2023-CA-00431-COA (Civil – Real Property)
Reversing the circuit court’s decision affirming the board of aldermen decision administratively condemning three of rental properties, holding that the exclusionary rule prohibited consideration of evidence the code-enforcement officer obtained incident to an unconstitutional search of property.
(8-1-0: Carlton concurred in result only without writing)

Davis v. State, 2023-KA-00636-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of first-degree murder and shooting into a motor vehicle, holding that the trial court did not err by not striking four potential jurors because none of the four was seated on the jury.
(8-1-0: McDonald concurred in the result only without writing)

Shanks v. State, 2023-CP-00271-COA (Civil – PCR)
Affirming denial of PCR motion seeking relief from a 2003 guilty plea, holding that the claims were not subject to any exception and did not involved the parole board.
(9-0)

Wade v. Simmons Erosion Control, Inc., 2023-CA-00733-COA (Civil – Real Property)
Affirming the chancery court’s decision dividing a large tract of land between two landowners, holding that the chancellor did not commit manifest error by accepting and approving a special master’s report and choosing one of the partition options presented by the special master.
(9-0)

Sinquefield v. The City of Ridgeland, 2022-CA-01276-COA (Civil – Real Property)
Reversing the circuit court’s decision that affirmed the City’s unanimous (no nays) decision that a landowner lacked the requisite acreage to maintain two horses on her property, holding that the City had to be reined in because its interpretation of the ordinance was not based on substantial evidence and was arbitrary and capricious where the owner had ponied up and acquired possessory interest in adjacent tracts.
(6-1-0: McCarty concurred in part and in the result without trotting out a written opinion; Barnes and Emfinger did not participate)

Herrington v. State, 2022-KA-00691-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of aggravated assault, holding that after reviewing counsel’s Lindsey brief and the record that there were no issues that warranted reversal.
(8-0: Lawrence did not participate)

Littleton v. State, 2023-KA-00239-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Reversing the conviction of first-degree murder, holding that the circuit court erred in admitting a recorded statement of a witness where the witness was not called giving the defendant no opportunity to cross-examine the witness in violation of the Confrontation Clause, that the admission of the statement was not harmless error, and that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to give the proposed defense instruction stating the jury’s duty to acquit should it find that the defendant acted in necessary self-defense.
(6-3-0: Lawrence and Emfinger concurred in part and in the result without writing; Wilson concurred in result only without writing)

NOTE – Here is a summary of the court’s holding that the admission of the statement was error from paragraph 42 of the opinion:

Wells v. State, 2022-KA-00707-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder, holding that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
(9-0)

May v. Brown, 2023-CA-00624-COA (Civil – Custody)
Affirming the chancery court’s child-custody modification order, holding that substantial evidence supported the modification giving the father primary care, control, and custody of the minor.
(8-1: Westbrooks concurred in result only without writing)

Other Orders

  • Estate of Green v. Michini, 2022-CA-00365-COA (denying motions for rehearing)
  • Rambo v. Kelly Natural Gas Pipelines, LLC, 2023-WC-00402-COA (denying rehearing)

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