Gray v. State

328 So.3d 194

Connell GRAY a/k/a Connell Gray, Jr. a/k/a Cornell Gray, Jr., Appellant

v.STATE of Mississippi, Appellee

NO. 2020-KA-00116-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 25, 2021

Rehearing Denied August 24, 2021

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER BY: GEORGE T. HOLMES, Jackson

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: ALLISON KAY HARTMAN

BEFORE BARNES, C.J., WESTBROOKS AND SMITH, JJ.

WESTBROOKS, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. Connell Gray was convicted of first-degree murder in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19(1)(a) (Rev. 2014) and sentenced to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Gray filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial. The Coahoma County Circuit Court denied Gray's motion. Gray appeals, challenging the sufficiency and the weight of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶2. The events leading up to the murder of Myrtle Messenger on March 14, 2015, involve two distinct groups of friends. Michael Messenger Jr.,¹ James "Scoop" Bryant, Roger Grace, Cornelius Magee, and Britney King (Scoop's girlfriend) had been riding around together on the day Myrtle was shot. A separate group consisting of Gray, Dantrail "Pole" Jackson, and Jamaal Stafford had been hanging out together before Myrtle was shot. Two separate altercations involving members of each group occurred on the day of Myrtle's death. The second altercation stemmed from the first one.

¶3. The day Myrtle was killed, Michael, Scoop, Grace, and Magee were drinking and riding around in Clarksdale when they pulled over so Michael could talk to a girl. Pole appeared on the scene and threatened to shoot and kill Michael because Michael was talking to his girlfriend. Gray was not present at that time.

¶4. Michael and his friends drove away and continued riding around. They eventually ended up at the Benny Gooden Estates apartments where there was another altercation with Pole. It became physical when Pole pushed Michael, who left the apartments with Shun Sykes and had no other interaction with anyone from either of the two groups that evening. Scoop then left King waiting in the parking lot with Grace and went back into the apartment with Pole. Upon his return to the parking lot, Scoop told King that he knocked Pole out and took his gun. King testified that all of the men then came out to the parking lot. She said she saw Gray get out of a car before Scoop's cousin hit him in the face. King left, dropped Scoop off a gas station, and went to Grace's house. Later that night, King agreed to drive Grace to see his girlfriend in Jonestown, Mississippi. While they were on the way, sometime between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. they passed Gray and Pole in a vehicle.

¶5. Gray did not testify, but the jury heard a taped interview of him at the Clarksdale Police Department. Gray admitted to officers that he was at the apartment, but he stated that he was not involved in the fight and did not get hit. He said that someone told him about Pole's fight with Scoop and that he heard Scoop say he had taken Pole's gun. Gray said he knew about the altercation between Michael and Pole earlier in the day and he knew Pole was angry, but he did not know what the fight was about.

¶6. After the altercation at the apartments, Pole acquired another gun. Gray denied knowledge of Pole's gun, but Gray admitted that he also obtained a gun sometime that day. Gray said that he and Pole walked to Myrtle and Michael's house between 10 and 11 p.m. Gray stated that he had no idea that Pole planned to kill anyone. Gray claimed that he stood on the street while Pole knocked on the door. According to Gray, Pole shot Myrtle when she opened the door. Gray admitted fleeing the scene, running through an alley, and throwing his gun in the brush after hearing the shot. Gray also admitted meeting up with Pole again after the shooting, but he said that Pole got in a car and left by himself.

¶7. After the murder, Deputy Stephen James of the Coahoma County Sheriff's Department encountered four men in the alley near Myrtle and Michael's house. They were detained and released after a call to dispatch to see if there were outstanding warrants. Gray was not one of these four men, although Pole was. Officers also recovered two guns in the same alley. Gray told officers that the semiautomatic pistol was his, but King testified that she had seen him with a revolver earlier in the day. A ballistics expert determined that the revolver was the murder weapon. Two shots had been fired from the revolver and none from the semiautomatic pistol.

¶8. On December 9, 2015, Gray was indicted and charged with one count of first-degree murder with an added firearm enhancement. After a jury trial in December 2019, Gray was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in the custody of the MDOC. The circuit court denied Gray's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial, and he now appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶9. "In reviewing a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and accept all evidence supporting the verdict as true." Dampeer v. State , 989 So. 2d 462, 464 (¶7) (Miss. Ct. App. 2008). We will not disturb a conviction based upon circumstantial evidence "unless it is opposed by a decided preponderance of the evidence." Leflore v. State , 535 So. 2d 68, 70 (Miss. 1988). "When reviewing a denial of a motion for a new trial based on an objection to the weight of the evidence, we will only disturb a verdict when it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it to stand would sanction an unconscionable injustice." Anderson v. State , 62 So. 3d 927, 944 (¶60) (Miss. 2011).

DISCUSSION

I. Whether there was sufficient evidence to find Gray guilty of first-degree murder.

¶10. Gray argues that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he committed any act in furtherance of the murder. He submits that there is no evidence to show that he had prior knowledge of Pole's criminal intent, that he participated in the crime in any way, or that he committed the homicide. Gray asserts that he was merely present near the scene.

¶11. Gray was convicted pursuant to section 97-3-19(1)(a). "To prove first-degree murder, the State must show that a person was killed ‘without the authority of law’ and that the killing was ‘done with the deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed[.]’ "

Adams v. State , 291 So. 3d 405, 409 (¶11) (Miss. Ct. App. 2020) (quoting section 97-3-19(1)(a) ). Gray did not have to pull the trigger to be found guilty. "When two people act in concert or when one person aids another in committing ... a crime, both are equally guilty as principals in the eyes of the law." Lipsey v. State , 756 So. 2d 823, 825 (¶4) (Miss. Ct. App. 2000) ; see also Malone v. State , 486 So. 2d 360, 364 (Miss. 1986) (holding that "an accessory before the fact or one who aids and abets ... participates in the design of the felony").

¶12. Gray argues that the State produced no evidence sufficient to sustain his conviction. Indeed, there is no direct evidence linking Gray to the crime for which he was convicted. But "direct evidence is unnecessary to support a conviction so long as sufficient circumstantial evidence exists to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Campbell v. State , 798 So. 2d 524, 528 (¶12) (Miss. 2001) (quoting Underwood v. State , 708 So. 2d 18, 35 (¶49) (Miss. 1998) ). "[C]ircumstantial evidence is evidence which, without going directly to prove the existence of a fact, gives rise to a logical inference that such fact does exist." Keys v. State , 478 So. 2d 266, 268 (Miss. 1985). We note that a jury may also infer participation based on one's presence, companionship, and conduct before and after the offense. Hubbard v. State , 187 So. 2d 885, 886 (Miss. 1966).

¶13. In support of his argument Gray cites Steele v. State , 544 So. 2d 802, 809 (Miss. 1989), where the Supreme Court reversed a conviction based solely upon circumstantial evidence. Steele was caring for a small child who died from massive head injuries. The State's theory was that Steele physically abused the child, causing his death; Steele's theory was that the injuries were caused when the child fell out of the bed. Physical evidence did not support either theory. Testimony from physicians regarding the cause of death was inconsistent. The Supreme Court held that the State proved only that the child's injuries were probably not caused by a fall from a bed, and that the State failed to prove Steele's guilt because it did not exclude the possibility that the injuries were caused by a fall. The Supreme Court in Steele held that "the State's proof of criminal agency was so deficient that no reasonable hypothetical juror could have found, beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence, that Steele killed [the victim]." Id. (emphasis added).

¶14. Gray's situation differs somewhat from that in Steele . The issue is whether Gray intended to commit a crime instead of whether he fired the shot that killed Myrtle. Prior Supreme Court rulings are instructive regarding "intent" in the context of circumstantial evidence and first-degree murder. In Holliman , the Supreme Court held that despite Holliman's statement that the shooting was accidental, there were sufficient facts based on circumstantial evidence (including that his wife had asked for a divorce the morning of her death and that Holliman moved the body and reported the death as a suicide) to uphold the jury's finding that he intended to kill his wife and was guilty of first-degree murder. Holliman v. State , 178 So. 3d 689, 699-700 (¶23) (Miss. 2015). In its ruling the Supreme Court stated: "This Court has held that unless one expresses his intent, the...