Flowers v. State
Flowers v. State
Opinion of the Court
¶ 1. Marcus O’Neal Flowers was convicted of murder for fatally shooting Charles Wash. He claims that the jury’s verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and asks for a new trial. He believes he is entitled to such relief because there were conflicts between the State’s evidence and his evidence, and the credibility of the State’s main witness was called into question. Flowers’s arguments are without merit. Evidentiary conflicts and credibility issues are questions for the
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2. Charles Wash was shot and killed on April 7, 2008, in an area of Little 1-20 Road in Newton County, Mississippi, containing five trailer homes. Deputy Jeremy Pinson was the first officer on the scene and discovered Wash’s body in the driver seat of a truck that had crashed into a tree near the trailers. Wash had been shot multiple times' in the chest and face and was dead when Deputy Pinson arrived. Soon after Deputy Pinson arrived, David Hilton came out of one of the trailers. Hilton told Deputy Pinson that Wash was dropping him off at his mother-in-law’s trailer when a man in dark clothing and a ski mask came out of the woods and began firing at Wash. Hilton said he did not see the shooter’s face but could identify the shooter as Marcus Flowers based on the shooter’s voice. Hilton later admitted to police that he had agreed several weeks earlier to help Flowers kill Wash but insisted that he had nothing to do with the shooting on April 7, 2008. The day after the shooting, the police recovered a white sock, an Air Jordan tennis shoe, and a white tank-top shirt from the crime scene. DNA evidence was not obtained from the shoe or the sock, but Flowers was determined to be the majority DNA contributor to the white tank-top shirt. The police also recovered Flowers’s cell phone from the scene. Finally, the police obtained conflicting statements from several people regarding Flowers’s whereabouts the night of the shooting.
¶ 8. Based on this evidence, Flowers was charged with Wash’s murder. At trial, the State put on thirteen witnesses and entered thirteen exhibits. The most incriminating testimony was provided by David Hilton; Mary Cooper; Santana Griffin, and Cedric Walker; Randy Patrick and Mark Spence; Dr. Bo Scales; and J.C. Wash (“J.C.”).
¶ 4. The defense responded by discrediting Hilton and establishing an alibi for Flowers. Specifically, the defense focused on testimony that Hilton previously had agreed to help Flowers kill Wash and questioned the plausibility of Hilton’s story based on the location of Wash’s gunshot wounds. With regard to Flowers’s alibi, his girlfriend and sister testified that he was home all night and his neighbor claimed to have seen him in his driveway around the time of the shooting. The jury returned a guilty verdict, and Flowers filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or in the alternative for a new trial. The trial court denied Flowers’s motion, and he appealed.
LAW AND ANALYSIS
¶ 5. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erroneously denied
¶ 6. As delineated above, the evidence against Flowers consisted of eyewitness testimony from Hilton, testimony from several corroborating witnesses, including Flowers’s friends and law-enforcement officers, and DNA evidence. Convictions have been affirmed based on similar evi-dentiary support. In Jenkins, Orlando Jenkins was indicted for the murder of Andre Barnes.
CONCLUSION
¶ 7. Substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict convicting Flowers of murder for killing Wash. The only witness to the crime identified Flowers as the shooter. Flowers’s cell phone and a shirt containing his DNA were found near the crime scene. Two of Flowers’s friends testified that Flowers had shown up at their apartment shortly after the shooting without a shirt or his cell phone. A police officer testified that Flowers’s car was not at his home shortly after the shooting. And while Flowers did present evidence that contradicted the State’s theory of the case, that does not entitle him to a new
¶ 8. CONVICTION OF MURDER AND SENTENCE OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AFFIRMED. SENTENCE TO RUN CONSECUTIVELY TO THE SENTENCE IMPOSED IN CAUSE NO. 08-CR-066-NW-G.
. J.C. Wash is not related to the victim, Charles Wash.
. Weatherspoon v. State, 56 So.3d 559, 564 (Miss. 2011).
. Id. at 564.
. Jenkins v. State, 947 So.2d 270, 278 (Miss. 2006) (quoting Baker v. State, 802 So.2d 77, 81 (Miss. 2001)).
. Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 836, 844 (Miss. 2005) (quoting Amiker v. Drugs For Less, Inc., 796 So.2d 942, 947 (Miss. 2000)).
. Jenkins, 947 So.2d at 274.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 278. See also Ross v. State, 954 So.2d 968, 1016-18 (Miss. 2007). Flowers relies on Ross in his brief. However, in Ross, this Court upheld Ross’s conviction and the trial court's denial of his motion for a new trial despite its concerns over the contradictory and inconclusive evidence, noting that "[a]bsent from the record are the myriad nuances and subtle impressions from which jurors weigh credibility, and this Court must be wary of encroaching on the peculiar province of the juiy.” Ross, 954 So.2d at 1016-18.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marcus O'Neal FLOWERS a/k/a Tupac a/k/a Marcus Flowers v. STATE of Mississippi
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published