Title: King v. State

State: mississippi

Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court

Document:

408 So. 2d 1375 (1982) Freddy Lamar KING v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 53179. Supreme Court of Mississippi. February 3, 1982. Danny L. Lowery, Corinth, for appellant. Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Billy L. Gore, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before PATTERSON, C.J., and BROOM and DAN M. LEE, JJ. PATTERSON, Chief Justice, for the Court: On the evening of March 21, 1980, Ricky Alexander died after being stabbed by Freddy King. King was tried for murder, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to fifteen years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections with seven years suspended. He appeals from this action by the Circuit Court of Alcorn County, and assigns for reversal the introduction of a photograph of the deceased which he contends prejudiced the jury. No question arises concerning the accuracy of the photograph portraying the body of Ricky Alexander depicting the stab wound on his chest. Neither is there any question that the stabbing caused the death. The objection of defense counsel was, *1376 After viewing the photograph the judge ruled, We are of the opinion the photograph had some evidentiary value and it was not inordinately gruesome to an adult jury acquainted with the norms of life and death. We are therefore of the opinion the trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting its introduction. See Bruce v. State, 349 So. 2d 1068 (Miss. 1977). It is true there was no issue concerning the cause of Alexander's death, but there was some doubt from the evidence, as to the posture of Alexander and King at the time the knife blade entered Alexander's body. The appellant's testimony was, The photograph had the potential of clarification, or making more certain, that which occurred. In any event we do not think it was introduced solely for the purpose of prejudicing the jury in view of its evidentiary value and surely we cannot state the judge abused his discretion in permitting its introduction. AFFIRMED. SMITH and SUGG, P. JJ., and WALKER, BROOM, ROY NOBLE LEE, BOWLING, HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, JJ., concur.