Case Name: George W. JACKSON v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1990-01-17
Citations: 556 So. 2d 335
Docket Number: No. 07-58598
Parties: George W. JACKSON v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON and BLASS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 556
Pages: 335–338

Head Matter:
George W. JACKSON v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 07-58598.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Jan. 17, 1990.
Clarence A. Whitaker, Vicksburg, for appellant.
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen., (elected Supreme Court Justice Jan. 3, 1989) Mike C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Leyser Q. Morris, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appel-lee.

Opinion:
ANDERSON, Justice,
for the Court:
George W. Jackson was convicted of sexual battery in the Circuit Court of Warren County and sentenced to serve a term of fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, Jackson timely appealed raising four issues as error by the lower court. We find no merit to any of the issues raised by Jackson; and therefore, we affirm. However, in affirming, we address the issue of whether the lower court erred in refusing to grant a peremptory instruction for a directed verdict after the State failed to establish venue of the crime.
FACTS
Jackson fathered two children by the victim's mother. The victim being the second of the two children. However, Jackson and the mother of his children never married each other. On April 15, 1987, for various reasons, the victim's mother asked Jackson to keep the children overnight until a friend picked them up the next day. When Jackson arrived to take the children home with him, the victim said that she did not want to go with Jackson, began to cry and displayed unusual behavior.
The mother then took the victim into another room of the house to talk with her about her behavior. The victim told her mother, "Mama, I think it's about time I tell you." At this time, the victim related to her mother that Jackson had engaged in sexual intercourse with her on several occasions.
On the following morning, April 16, 1987, the mother reported the victim's recount of the sexual intercourse to the Welfare Department in Jackson. The victim then was taken to a physician for an examination. Various other reports and interviews were conducted by the appropriate authorities which we need not go into here with the exception that the victim, in a video interview, told a Warren County Deputy Sheriff that Jackson had sexual intercourse with her in November 1986 and three (3) times in January 1987 at his house on First North Street, as well as at the home of a friend of Jackson's.
I.
At trial the prosecutor put on several witnesses, including the victim and her mother, in order to establish the venue of the crime. Jackson argued, however, that the prosecution failed to prove the fact that the scene of the crime occurred in Warren County, Mississippi. Ruling on Jackson's motion for peremptory instruction, the trial court stated:
I will overrule the objection and take judicial notice that the dates and times complained of and the acts alleged to have occurred are all testified to as being in or about Warren County although, to the court's remembrance and counsel's remembrance, there is no specific mention of Warren County, State of Mississippi, as being the place of territory. But the court will judicially notice under the new rules that as the court understood the testimony, all references were to places in or about the county and the state.
II.
On appeal, Jackson again argues that the prosecution failed to establish venue of the crime of which he was convicted. However, Jackson incorrectly relies on Jackson v. State, 246 So.2d 553 (Miss.1971), as basis for his argument for reversal. Unlike the case at bar, in Jackson the trial court took judicial notice that Tougaloo College was located in Madison County when, in fact, it is located in both Madison and Hinds Counties, and we correctly reversed. Here, the trial testimony reveals that the sexual battery occurred in Vicksburg by identifying specific street names unique to the surrounding community.
Testimony from the investigative officer which the trial judge used as a basis to take judicial notice that Vicksburg is located within Warren County included:
Q: Can you tell me, in your own words, what happened to you in January and before January?
A: George Jackson took me to his house. I can't remember the date, and he made me pull down my pants.
Q: Does this man live over here in Vicksburg?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you know what address?
A: No. He lives on First North.
Q: Where else did it happen?
A: Over at his friend's house.
Q: Does he live near First North Street?
A: No.
Q: He lives somewhere here in Vicksburg?
A: Yes, near the Army Reserve.
When the victim's mother was asked about the location of Jackson's friend house she testified:
A: I am familiar with Lee Street, . That's where the baseball field is. I think its's Army-Navy.
Q: Is that called Army Reserve Street? Where Confederate and Army Reserve?
A: Yes. .
We find that the trial court correctly took judicial notice of the fact that the crime of sexual battery by Jackson occurred in Warren County, Mississippi. Vicksburg is located only in Warren County which is located in the State of Mississippi. We may take judicial notice that a certain town or city is in a certain county. See Rule 201(b), Miss.R.Ev.; Clark v. State, 230 Miss. 143, 92 So.2d 452, 453 (Miss.1957). Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the lower court.
AFFIRMED.
ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON and BLASS, JJ., concur.
DAN M. LEE, P.J., and SULLIVAN, J., dissent.
PITTMAN, J., not participating.