Case Name: James WILLIAMS a/k/a James A. Williams a/k/a Muggy Williams v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2001-10-31
Citations: 803 So. 2d 1159
Docket Number: 
Parties: James WILLIAMS a/k/a James A. Williams a/k/a Muggy Williams v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: PITTMAN, C.J., MILLS, WALLER, COBB AND EASLEY, JJ., CONCUR. BANKS, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. DIAZ, J„ NOT PARTICIPATING.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 803
Pages: 1159–1168

Head Matter:
James WILLIAMS a/k/a James A. Williams a/k/a Muggy Williams v. STATE of Mississippi.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Oct. 31, 2001.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 17, 2002.
Leslie Roussel, Attorney for Appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, Jackson, Attorneys for Appellee.

Opinion:
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
SMITH, J, for the Court:
¶ 1. James "Muggy" Williams was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Greene County for the murder of Johnny Powe and was sentenced to life imprisonment, This conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. This Court granted Williams's petition for writ of certiorari concerning errors in instructing the jury and the weight of the evidence. We find that the judge properly instructed the jury and further that the State presented ample evidence below to support his conviction. Thus, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
FACTS
¶ 2. On June 7, 1996, Williams shot and killed Powe with a .32 caliber pistol. Prior to the shooting, Williams had been involved in an altercation at a convenience store with Kevin McCarty over a woman with whom both men had been involved. After this incident, Williams left with Terrence McGee and went to "Pistol Park" where they met Adrian Strickland and Kenja Blakely. McCarty returned to the vehicle he had been in and rode to the park as well. He was with Powe and Elbert Bolton.
¶ 3. The events at the park are in dispute. The State's witnesses testified that Powe was driving and that he stopped the vehicle close to Williams and the men with him. They testified Powe exited the vehicle with an AK-47 or SKS rifle at his side. The witnesses next stated that he approached the men, but the rifle stayed at his side and he did not threaten anyone with it. They testified that he had a heated discussion with Adrian Strickland, and it was during this that Williams put the .32 caliber pistol to Powe's temple and fired.
¶ 4. Williams maintains that he shot Powe in self-defense. The witnesses for him testified that the vehicle driven by Powe passed by two to three times before stopping. The defense witnesses stated that during each pass, someone in the vehicle waved the rifle and shouted threats at Williams, McGee stated that during this time, he handed Williams a pistol. The witnesses testified that once the vehicle came to a stop, Powe exited with the rifle and approached Williams. They stated that Powe raised the rifle levelly at Williams and threatened him repeatedly. The defense witnesses then testified that Powe grabbed Williams by the arm, and Williams shook him off. They stated that Powe then raised the rifle as if to shoot Williams. The witnesses testified that it was at this time that Williams drew the pistol and shot Powe.
¶ 5. After deliberating, the jury convicted Williams of murder, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison. His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. His petition to this Court for a writ of certiorari was granted.
ANALYSIS
I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN INSTRUCTING THE JURY?
¶ 6. Williams requested three instructions on self-defense which the court refused based on the fact that it had already accepted the State's proposed instruction which it felt adequately explained the defense to the jury. Williams claims that the judge erred in refusing his requested instructions. It is well-settled that a defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on self-defense when it is warranted by the evidence. Slater v. State, 731 So.2d 1115, 1118 (Miss.1999). This Court has held:
In a homicide case, as in other criminal cases, the court should instruct the jury as to theories and grounds of defense, justification, or excuse supported by the evidence, and a failure to do so is error requiring reversal of a judgment of conviction. Even though based on meager evidence and highly unlikely, a defendant is entitled to have every legal defense he asserts to be submitted as a factual issue for determination by the jury under proper instruction of the court. Where a defendant's proffered instruction has an evidentiary basis, properly states the law, and is the only instruction presenting his theory of the case, refusal to grant it constitutes reversible error.
Hester v. State, 602 So.2d 869, 872 (Miss.1992) (citations omitted).
¶ 7. In the case at bar, Williams's self-defense instructions had an evidentia-ry basis and arguably stated the law. However, we do not look at jury instructions in a vacuum. "The instructions actually given must be read as a whole. When so read, if the instructions fairly announce the law of the case and create no injustice, no reversible error will be found." Hickombottom v. State, 409 So.2d 1337, 1339 (Miss.1982) (citations omitted). Here, Williams's proposed instructions were not the only instructions presenting his theory of defense. The trial judge instructed the jury on the law of self-defense through instruction S-7. Thus, there was no error in refusing the additional instructions.
¶ 8. Instruction S-7 is the same self-defense instruction recommended by this Court in Robinson v. State, 434 So.2d 206, 207 (Miss.1983). This Court later over ruled Robinson, but not the instruction it had recommended. Flowers v. State, 473 So.2d 164, 165 (Miss.1985). Until recently, the instruction recommended by Robinson was consistently held to be a proper instruction on self-defense. Cohen v. State, 732 So.2d 867 (Miss.1998); Gossett v. State, 660 So.2d 1285, 1295 (Miss.1995).
¶ 9. In Reddix v. State, 731 So.2d 591, 595 (Miss.1999), this Court ruled that the Robinson instruction did not "sufficiently treat the subject of self-defense." It was argued in Reddix that the instruction was incomplete because it failed to alert the jury to its duty to acquit if it believed the theory of self-defense. Id. at 594. The Court agreed, holding:
This instruction while fine for the State, is not sufficient as a neutral self defense instruction. It is couched in prosecuto-rial terms and fails to state that self defense is, in fact, a defense. In other words, the instruction failed to notify the jury it was bound to acquit Reddix if it found that he acted in self defense. Assuming, as we do that juries follow the instructions given to them by the trial court, Collins v. State, 594 So.2d 29, 35 (Miss.1992), this means the jury could not have acquitted Reddix based upon self defense because it was not informed of any law permitting them to do so.
Reddix, 731 So.2d at 595.
¶ 10. Williams did not object to the giving of instruction S-7 at trial, and "[i]n order to preserve a jury instruction issue on appeal, a party must make a specific objection to the proposed instruction in order to allow the lower court to consider the issue." Crawford v. State, 787 So.2d 1236, 1244-45 (Miss.2001) (citations omitted). However, assuming ar-guendo that Reddix requires us to review such an omission as plain error, we find no such error in the case below.
¶ 11. As the Court of Appeals noted in Johnson v. State, 749 So.2d 369, 373 (Miss.Ct.App.1999), "[t]he problem that Reddix properly highlights is that the long-approved Robinson instruction cannot be the sole-reference to self-defense. It is quite simply a definition." However, in addition to the Robinson instruction, the jury below was given instruction S-l. This instruction provided the jury with the elements of murder, including that "the shooting was not in necessary self-defense." In Cohen, the last case that upheld the Robinson instruction prior to Reddix, this exact set of instructions was given. Cohen, 732 So.2d at 872. Such additional language informed the jurors that if they found that the killing was in "necessary self-defense" then the elements of the crime were not met. They were further instructed that if the State "failed to prove any one or more of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt" then they should find Williams not guilty. Thus, the problem found in Reddix is cured in the case sub judice.
¶ 12. Williams further argues that the giving of instruction S-6 was error. Instruction S-6 stated:
The Court instructs the Jury that where two or more persons engage in mutual combat, not in reasonably necessary self-defense but each with the intent to kill or do serious bodily injury to the other, and one or more of said persons does, in fact, kill the other, then the person or persons while acting alone or encouraging, aiding, or assisting in any manner in the killing, shall be guilty of murder.
¶ 13. Williams complains that there was no evidence supporting a mutual combat instruction, and further that it was an improper statement of the law as applied to the facts as it does not define self-defense and it omits the possibility of manslaughter. We agree that there were no facts to support such an instruction. However, Williams's only objection to this instruction below was that it failed to define self-defense. As noted, we do not look at jury instructions individually, but as a whole. Gary v. State, 760 So.2d 743, 751 (Miss.2000); Jackson v. State, 645 So.2d 921, 924 (Miss.1994); Hickombottom, 409 So.2d at 1339. Selfdefense was properly defined in instruction S-7, and therefore it also was not necessary that it be defined in instruction S-6.
¶ 14. We find no reversible error in the refusal of defense instructions, D-5, D-5A, or D-6, and none in the instructions that were given.
II. WHETHER THE JURY VERDICT IS CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE PRODUCED AT TRIAL?
¶ 15. Williams claims that the evidence for self-defense was so strong that the trial court should have directed a verdict or granted a new trial. However, this Court has stated that "once the jury has returned a verdict of guilty in a criminal case, we are not at liberty to direct that the defendant be discharged short of a conclusion on our part that given the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the verdict, no reasonable, hypothetical juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty." Gary, 760 So.2d at 749 (quoting Ashford v. State, 583 So.2d 1279, 1281 (Miss.1991)). The weight and credibility of the evidence are matters left to the jury. Gary, 760 So.2d at 749 (citing Fisher v. State, 481 So.2d 203, 212 (Miss.1985)).
¶ 16. The issue of whether this killing was murder or self-defense was for the jury to determine. After hearing all of the facts, the jury believed the witnesses for the State and returned a verdict accordingly.
¶ 17. The defense presented testimony from McGee, Tracy Bolton and Blakely that Powe was the aggressor. They stated that the vehicle which Powe was in swept by them at least twice in the park, and that each time someone was yelling threats and waving the rifle at Williams. Williams testified that Powe told him that "[he] could die today." The defense further put on evidence that Powe had the rifle aimed at Williams during their confrontation and that Williams only shot him once it appeared that Powe was about to shoot him.
¶ 18. However, the State put on evidence from numerous witnesses that while Powe exited the vehicle with a rifle, he never aimed that rifle anywhere other than at the ground. The State's witnesses testified that Powe was arguing with Strickland and that Williams shot him from the side while this was going on. The State further presented forensic testimony that the gunshot that killed Powe was fired into his left temple from a distance of less than % of an inch.
¶ 19. Upon review of the evidence presented, this verdict was not unreasonable. Thus, we find that the record below adequately supports the verdict.
CONCLUSION
¶ 20. We find no error below that warrants reversal. The jury instructions given adequately presented the law and the theory of the defense, and there was ample evidence to support the verdict. Thus, the judgment and sentence are affirmed.
¶ 21. JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF APPEALS IS AFFIRMED.
PITTMAN, C.J., MILLS, WALLER, COBB AND EASLEY, JJ., CONCUR. BANKS, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. DIAZ, J" NOT PARTICIPATING.
. The refused jury instructions are included as an Appendix A.
. The instruction stated:
The court instructs the jury that to make a killing justifiable on the grounds of self- defense, the danger to the defendant must be either actual, present and urgent, or the defendant must have reasonable grounds to apprehend a design on the part of the victim to kill him or do him some great bodily harm, and in addition to this he must have reasonable grounds to apprehend that there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished. It is for the jury to determine the reasonableness of the ground upon which the defendant acts.