Case Name: Ernest C. GILL v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1986-05-21
Citations: 488 So. 2d 801
Docket Number: No. 56085
Parties: Ernest C. GILL v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER, P.J., and DAN M. LEE, PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 488
Pages: 801–809

Head Matter:
Ernest C. GILL v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 56085.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
May 21, 1986.
Charles R. Brock, Jackson, for appellant.
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Leyser Q. Morris, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Opinion:
ROY NOBLE LEE, Presiding
Justice, for the Court:
Ernest C. Gill was found guilty in the Circuit Court of Winston County on a charge of murder and was sentenced to life in custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He has appealed to this Court and assigns two errors in the trial below.
I.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE LOWER COURT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.
Although not married, appellant and Sherry Slaughter lived together as husband and wife in Louisville, Mississippi. Sherry's cousin, Vidalia, lived in the house with them. On October 25, 1983, about midday, Sherry and Vidalia were cleaning the house when appellant, using profanity, asked what they were cleaning up for. He had a baseball bat in his hand, walked into the livingroom, and smashed the television with the bat. Sherry Slaughter told appellant, "You know that wasn't none of my television. It belonged to your sister." Shortly thereafter, appellant asked Vidalia as to the whereabouts of his bat. About the same time, appellant's two brothers came into the house and sat down. Appellant found the bat, approached Sherry, who was ironing clothes, walked up behind her and struck her in the back with the bat. According to Vidalia, appellant then stated, "I know I going to kill that bitch. I know I going to kill her."
Appellant swung the bat a second time, hitting the wall. Sherry had fallen to the floor and appellant then hit her in the back of the head with the bat and again in the face, the blows being with such force that the bat broke into two pieces. One of appellant's brothers struggled with him and took the handle of the bat from appellant's hands. Appellant ran out of the house, Sherry was taken to the Winston County Hospital Emergency Room, and was later transferred to University Hospital in Jackson, where she died on November 5, 1983, as a result of the injuries.
Under this assignment of error, appellant contends two issues, viz, insanity and lack of intent, should reduce the conviction of murder to manslaughter.
Four (4) expert witnesses were called, two (2) for the State and two (2) for the defense. Those for the defense were an expert in psychology and counseling and an expert in the field of psychiatry. Those for the State were a neurologist at Mississippi State Hospital and Director of the Forensic Unit, and a clinical psychologist.
Appellant's condition was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. The issue to be determined from all the evidence relating to that condition is whether or not appellant knew the difference between right and wrong at the time he killed Sherry Slaughter. The appellant's expert witnesses were of the opinion that appellant did not know the difference between right and wrong. The State's expert witnesses were of the opinion that appellant did know the difference between right and wrong at the time he took the life of Sherry Slaughter, and lay witnesses corroborated those opinions. The issue of sanity at the time of the commission of an offense is for the determination of the jury. Brady v. State, 425 So.2d 1347 (Miss.1983); Billiot v. State, 454 So.2d 445 (Miss.1984); Frost v. State, 453 So.2d 695 (Miss.1984); Collins v. State, 361 So.2d 333 (Miss.1978); Cole v. State, 405 So.2d 910 (Miss.1981).
In Brady v. State, supra, at 1349, the Court said: "Juries and trial judges are not bound to accept the testimony of expert witnesses, but may accept or reject parts of that testimony. Matthews v. State, 394 So.2d 304 (Miss.1981)."
We are of the opinion that the verdict of the jury is supported by the evidence.
II.
THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN DECLINING TO GRANT A MISTRIAL BECAUSE OF NON-SEQUESTRATION OF THE JURY.
When court recessed for a lunch break, the trial judge made the following statement to the jury:
You're going to be guests of the county today. You will be escorted by the sheriff's department and by the bailiffs. You are charged you are not to discuss this case, even among yourselves. The bailiffs are charged in this case to make certain they do not discuss this case with anyone. All right, we will be in recess until one o'clock.
After lunch, appellant's attorney advised the court he had been informed that the jury had violated the sequestration order. He called witnesses to the stand, who indicated that during the lunch break at times only four jurors were under the supervision of bailiffs and that nine other jurors were at other parts of the courthouse. Some of the jurors went into the sheriff's office unaccompanied by a bailiff. One or two female witnesses made telephone calls from the sheriff's office. At one time, five to seven of the jurors were in the bathroom or in the sheriffs office.
Appellant's attorney moved for a mistrial. The State contended that under Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice, Rule 5.07, the trial judge had not ordered sequestration and that the rule had not been complied with. In ruling upon the motion, the trial judge stated: "It was my intention that the jury be sequestered, and I think that was the understanding of both the sheriff and the bailiff." He overruled the motion for a mistrial and stated:
The Court, having listened to arguments of counsel and having heard played back its instructions to the jury before lunch in this matter, finds that while it may have been the Court's intentions that they be sequestered and they maintained together during lunch, the Court finds that was not the instructions given the bailiff in this case. The Court is going to overrule the motion of the defendant in this case.
Uniform Rules of Circuit Court Practice Rule 5.07 provides:
In any case where the defendant is charged with a crime punishable by death and the state seeks to impose the death penalty, the jury shall be sequestered during the entire trial.
In all other criminal cases, the jury may be sequestered upon request of either the defendant or the state made at least 48 hours in advance of the trial. The trial judge may, in the exercise of sound judicial discretion, either grant or refuse the request to sequester the jury. In the absence of a request, the trial judge may, on his own initiative, sequester a jury at any stage of a trial.
The State contends that the assignment is without merit since the appellant was not charged with capital murder. The State further contends that the only ways the jury may be sequestered are: (1) the defendant or the State requests such at least 48 hours in advance of trial, or (2) in the absence of such request, the trial judge may, on his own initiative, sequester a jury at any stage of a trial. By all admissions, the first was not complied with.
We are of the opinion that even though the trial judge may have intended to sequester the jury, he in fact did not implement that sequestration by following Rule 5.07 and by giving specific instructions to the bailiffs and officers, and to the members of the jury. Sequestration of the jury was aborted before it commenced.
There is no contention or proof that the verdict of the jury was affected by what transpired or that the appellant was prejudiced by lack of sequestration. Since the sequestration would have been imposed solely at the discretion of the trial judge, it not having been requested by the parties under the procedure outlined in Rule 5.07, we are of the opinion that the assignment of error is without merit. Gerlach v. State, 466 So.2d 75 (Miss.1985).
AFFIRMED.
PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER, P.J., and DAN M. LEE, PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.
HAWKINS, J., dissents.
ROBERTSON, J., concurs in dissent by written opinion.