Brown v. State
Brown v. State
Opinion
¶ 1. Marzell Orlando Brown was convicted in the Circuit Court of Hinds County on charges of aggravated assault and murder. The circuit court sentenced Brown to serve concurrent terms of twenty years on the aggravated assault conviction and life on the murder conviction in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Brown appeals his convictions and sentences raising the following issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in not granting the defendant's motion to suppress his pre-trial statement and (2) whether the trial court erred in granting state jury instructions S-2, S-3, and S-4?
¶ 3. When they arrived, Brown expressed concern about a young woman watching from the balcony of an apartment. Brown waited until the woman entered her apartment and then walked to a nearby dumpster to get the marijuana. Brown returned to the car empty handed and again expressed concern about the woman watching from an apartment window. He asked the two to take a look up at the balcony to see for themselves. As Owen turned to look, he heard two gunshots and realized that Brown had shot Robinson. Owen turned the car around and quickly exited the scene as additional shots were fired.
¶ 4. After traveling a short distance, Owen saw police and stopped the car. *Page 927 Owen told police that he and Robinson had become lost in that area of town and someone shot them. The police took the two men to the hospital where Robinson later died. Owen was treated for a wound to his wrist and leg. Later, Owen admitted to police that he and Robinson had been there to buy marijuana, but fled when Brown fired into their car. Brown acknowledged the shooting, but claimed to have fired in self-defense at someone seated in the back of Owen's car. Owen testified there was no one in the backseat of the car.
¶ 5. Brown argues that his confession to the shooting was not voluntarily given. Brown claims that the detectives failed to honor his refusal to talk and coerced his custodial statement, in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to counsel. Brown claims to have asserted his right to counsel by his refusal to execute that waiver of rights form identified as exhibit 1 during the suppression hearing. The State contends that Brown, received his Miranda warnings, and never asserted his right to counsel but merely asked to speak with his father before making a statement. It is the State's position that, after speaking with his father, Brown initiated contact with the officers and voluntarily made a statement.
¶ 6. The circuit court judge sits as the fact finder in determining whether a confession was freely and voluntarily given. McCarty v. State,
¶ 7. To be admissible, confessions must be given voluntarily and must not be the product of inducements, threats or promises. Morgan v. State,
¶ 8. Once a statement has been found admissible in a preliminary hearing pursuant to the correct legal standard, its admission into evidence will be upheld on appeal unless the appellate court finds that the trial court manifestly erred or that the trial court's decision to admit the statement was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Hunt v. State,
¶ 9. The trial court conducted a hearing on the motion to suppress Brown's confession. *Page 928
During that hearing, Brown testified that Detective Amundson read him his rights. He admitted signing the waiver of rights form identified as exhibit 2 during the suppression hearing, as well as giving Detective Amundson a statement which was reduced to writing and read back to him before he signed it. While having acknowledged signing these forms, Brown claims to have been beaten by a police officer upon arrival at the police station. Brown claims to have informed some unidentified officer of this beating. However, he does not claim that his statement was given as a result of this alleged beating. According to Brown, Detective Amundson coerced and pressured him into making a statement. Both Detective Amundson and Sergeant Youngblood, one of the officers questioning Brown, testified that Brown was not beaten and was not coerced or pressured into making a statement. In Abram v. State,
¶ 10. The State made a prima facie case of voluntariness. Brown, even with his claims of violence and coercion, was unable to rebut the prima facie case of voluntariness by evidence of threats, violence, coercion, undue influence, or hope of reward. The trial judge's finding is factually supported by the evidence and properly applies the law. Accordingly, this Court finds no error in the denial of the motion to suppress.
¶ 12. The State correctly argues that Brown failed to object to jury instructions S-2 and S-4 on deliberate design and manslaughter, respectively. "If no objection is made to an instruction at trial, then a party is procedurally barred from review on appeal." Edwards v. State,
¶ 13. Jury instruction S-3 instructed the jury on depraved heart murder as it appears in Miss. Code Ann. §
¶ 14. The supreme court has consistently held that depraved heart murder subsumes "deliberate design/premeditated murder." Therefore, the depraved heart murder instruction did not constructively amend the indictment. This assignment of error is without merit.
¶ 15. THE JUDGMENT OF THE HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT OF CONVICTIONON AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A WEAPON AND SENTENCE TO SERVE A TERM OFTWENTY YEARS AND CONVICTION OF MURDER AND SENTENCE TO SERVE A TERM OFLIFE IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS TO RUNCONCURRENTLY WITH SENTENCE IN COUNT I ARE AFFIRMED. ALL COSTS OF THISAPPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO HINDS COUNTY. McMILLIN, C.J., SOUTHWICK, P.J., PAYNE, BRIDGES, THOMAS, LEE, IRVING,MYERS AND CHANDLER, JJ., CONCUR.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marzell Orlando Brown v. State of Mississippi
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published