Case Name: Zacharia Chase DAMBRELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee
Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2004-05-25
Citations: 905 So. 2d 655
Docket Number: No. 2002-KA-01260-COA
Parties: Zacharia Chase DAMBRELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
Judges: Before KING, C.J., THOMAS, MYERS, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 905
Pages: 655–661

Head Matter:
Zacharia Chase DAMBRELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
No. 2002-KA-01260-COA.
Court of Appeals of Mississippi.
May 25, 2004.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 3, 2004.
Phillip Broadhead, Columbia, Ross Parker Simons, Frank Hartley, attorneys for appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.
Before KING, C.J., THOMAS, MYERS, JJ.

Opinion:
KING, C.J.,
for the Court.
¶ 1. Zacharia Dambrell was convicted in the Circuit Court of Jackson County of attempted armed robbery. Aggrieved by his conviction Dambrell appeals and states the following issue:
I. Whether the circuit court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict, peremptory instruction, and judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the State did not sufficiently prove an overt act toward the commission of the crime of attempted armed robbery.
¶2. Finding that the State failed to prove each element of the indictment, this Court reverses and renders.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
¶ 3. On May 9, 2000 at about 2:00 p.m. Zach Dambrell and a few friends began smoking marijuana and ingesting drops of LSD. The young men continued taking the drugs until well past midnight, and in the early morning hours of May 10, after taking his second dose of LSD, seventeen-year-old Dambrell began talking with his friends about robbing the E-Z Serve convenience store located about a quarter of a mile away for money and cigarettes.
¶ 4. To facilitate the robbery, Dambrell's friends gave him a knife, a towel to cover it with, and a t-shirt to cover his face. Dambrell tied the t-shirt around his neck, put the knife in his belt, and went to the E-Z Serve. Upon arrival at the store Dambrell' hid behind a dumpster. After noticing suspicious activity by the dumpster, the store clerk walked outside, saw someone hiding behind the dumpster and went back in to call the police. After the clerk walked back inside, Dambrell pulled the t-shirt up to cover the lower half of his face, took the knife out of his belt and entered the store.
¶ 5. A video surveillance tape from the E-Z Serve store indicates that Dambrell entered the store with a t-shirt partially covering his face, and a knife in his right hand. After only a few steps inside the store, Dambrell stopped, saw the store clerk on the phone, and without saying a word to the clerk, cursed, slung the knife and towel to the floor and fled. The entire scenario lasted only a few seconds. After Dambrell fled, the store clerk walked over to retrieve the item Dambrell had thrown down, and for the first time saw the knife. Dambrell threw the t-shirt into the dumpster outside the store and walked back to his friend's house.
¶ 6. On November 7, 2000, Dambrell was indicted for attempted armed robbery pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-79.
¶ 7. Dambrell was convicted by a jury of attempted armed robbery and sentenced to six years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved by the denial of his motion for a directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, Dambrell has appealed.
ISSUE AND ANALYSIS
Whether the circuit court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict, peremptory instruction, and judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the State did not sufficiently prove an overt act toward the commission of the crime of attempted armed robbery.
¶ 8. This Court finds the indictment to be problematic and dispositive of the case, and will therefore not address the issue as stated by Dambrell.
¶ 9. Rule 7.06 of the Uniform Circuit and County Court Rules states:
The indictment upon which the defendant is to be tried shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged and shall fully notify the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation. Formal and technical words are not necessary in an indictment, if the offense can be substantially described without them. An indictment shall also include the following:
1. The name of the accused;
2. The date on which the indictment was filed in court;
3. A statement that the prosecution is brought in the name and by the authority of the State of Mississippi;
4. The county and judicial district in which the indictment is brought;
5. The date and, if applicable, the time at which the offense was alleged to have been committed. Failure to state the correct date shall not render the indictment insufficient;
6. The signature of the foreman of the grand jury issuing it; and
7. The words "against the peace and dignity of the state."
UCCCR 7.06 (emphasis added).
¶ 10. The indictment against Dambrell read as follows:
Zach C. Dambrell in Jackson County, Mississippi, on or about May 10, 2000, did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attempt to, steal and carry away from the person and/or the presence of, and against the will of Owen Waters, merchandise, the personal property of Owen Waters of which he was in lawful possession by virtue of his employment with E-Z Serve, by putting the said Owen Waters in fear of immediate injury to his person, by the exhibition of a deadly weapon, to wit: a knife, contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi.
(emphasis added).
¶ 11. Beyond question, this indictment was "a plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged." The State was required to prove each essential fact constituting the offense charged. Bullock v. State, 447 So.2d 1284, 1286 (Miss.1984). Those essential facts were: (1) that Dam-brell attempted to take personal property from Owen Waters; (2) that Owen Waters had possession of the personal property by virtue of his employment with E Z Serve; and (3) that Dambrell exhibited a knife to Owen Waters, and by doing so, caused him to fear immediate injury to his person. The State's obligation was to prove each of the essential fact; not two out of three, but each essential fact. Id.
¶ 12. In his appeal Dambrell has argued that the State failed to prove each essential element of the charge. He specifically argues that the State failed to prove the exhibition of a knife. The trial court was troubled by this issue also. In an effort to satisfy that concern, the court questioned Owen Waters. The trial court's questions and the responses of Owen Waters were as follows:
THE COURT: I have a question. Mr. Waters, you indicated that when he [Zach] walked in he had the towel and—
MR.WATERS: The towel, he had the knife wrapped up in the towel, so I never did actually see the knife until after he slung it.
THE COURT: So he came in and he had the towel and—
MR. WATERS: Wrapped around the knife.
THE COURT: That's all?
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Could you tell what it was?
MR. WATERS: Not at that point, no, sir. I didn't know until he slung it. That's when I knew he had a knife.
THE COURT: So when he slung it the towel and the knife went off in the same direction?
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: That's when you realized he had a weapon?
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir.
¶ 13. In discussing Dambrell's motion for a directed verdict, the trial judge noted that the weapon was not exhibited because Waters never saw the weapon until Dam-brell had disposed of it.
¶ 14. The State chose to track the language of Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-79 in its indictment. By doing so, the State obligated itself to prove that Dambrell exhibited a deadly weapon to Waters, and that as a result of that exhibition, Waters was placed in fear of immediate injury to his person. The State was obligated to establish that any fear of Waters flowed directly from, and was occasioned by his awareness of the existence of the weapon. Mere assumption that a deadly weapon exists is not enough, the victim must have definitive knowledge that such deadly weapon does in fact exist to support a conviction under a standard of reasonable doubt. Gibby v. State, 744 So.2d 244, 245(¶ 8) (Miss.1999).
¶ 15. Where the State has failed to establish that a weapon was exhibited, then of necessity it has also failed to establish that the victim was placed in fear of immediate injury to his person by the exhibition of a weapon. Our review of the record leads to the unavoidable conclusion that it does not contain proof of every essential fact alleged in the indictment. Therefore, it contains insufficient evidence upon which a reasonable person might have found Dambrell guilty pursuant to the indictment against him. Where the State has failed to prove each and every essential element of the indictment as drafted we are compelled to reverse and render the conviction.
Lee v. State, 756 So.2d 744, 748 (¶ 11) (Miss.1999). The State failed to prove that Waters was placed in immediate fear by exhibition of a deadly weapon, accordingly this Court reverses and renders Dambrell's conviction.
¶ 16. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY IS HEREBY REVERSED AND RENDERED. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE TAXED TO JACKSON COUNTY.
BRIDGES, P.J., THOMAS, LEE, MYERS, AND CHANDLER, JJ., CONCUR. IRVING, J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY. GRIFFIS, J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY SOUTHWICK, PJ.