Case Name: William WOODARD, Jr. a/k/a Junior Woodard, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee
Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2000-03-14
Citations: 765 So. 2d 573
Docket Number: No. 1998-KA-01768-COA
Parties: William WOODARD, Jr. a/k/a Junior Woodard, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
Judges: BEFORE KING, P.J., DIAZ, AND IRVING, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 765
Pages: 573–580

Head Matter:
William WOODARD, Jr. a/k/a Junior Woodard, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
No. 1998-KA-01768-COA.
Court of Appeals of Mississippi.
March 14, 2000.
Rehearing Denied May 30, 2000.
Certiorari Denied Aug. 24, 2000.
Raymond M. Baum, Winona, Attorney for Appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, Attorneys for Appellee.
BEFORE KING, P.J., DIAZ, AND IRVING, JJ.

Opinion:
DIAZ, J.,
for the Court:
¶ 1. William Woodard, Jr., appeals the decision of the Attala County Circuit Court convicting him of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Woodard raises the following issues in this appeal: whether the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to establish the crimes of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and whether the jury's verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm the ruling of the circuit court.
FACTS
¶ 2. Richard Ford, who owns and operates Ford's Handi Mart on Highway 35 South in Attala County, testified that during store hours three men came in and ordered drinks and chips. He observed each and noticed that one of the youths was on crutches. They left the store but returned at 9:45 p.m. that night. At 10:00 p.m., one of the males, identified later as Woodard, pointed a handgun at Ford, told him to turn around, and then shot him in the jaw, where the bullet went down his throat and damaged an artery, his windpipe and vocal cords.
¶ 3. While bleeding on the floor, Ford wrote a note that read, "Three black males, one on crutches." Ford testified that, when Woodard shot him, he did not see any crutches but stated that his note referred to when he saw Woodard on crutches earlier that day in his store. At the preliminary hearing, Ford identified Woodard as the shooter stating, "No doubt in my mind. I will never forget that face." He also identified still frame photographs of Woodard from a nearby convenience store taken on the same night as the shooting. Ford gave a prior statement to Deputy Kenny Summers, an investigator for the Attala County Sheriffs Department, that indicated that Woodard was on crutches when he entered the store at 9:45 p.m. as well as at 8:30 p.m. Although Ford gave a short statement to Summers before Nacuron, a paralysis agent, and a general anesthesia were administered, he could not explain why he was not clear about when Woodard was seen on crutches. Trial testimony indicated that he was on heavy drugs after surgery.
¶ 4. Coolidge Perteet, a friend of Woodard's and an eyewitness called by the State, testified that it was Woodard who shot Ford. Perteet testified that Jerrod Erving, Woodard, and he had been in the store earlier that day. Perteet also stated that Woodard had a gun which he obtained from a "crack head." He said Woodard was not on crutches when he entered the store at 9:45 p.m. He said that once inside the convenience store, he heard Woodard tell Ford to turn around and get down. When questioned Perteet testified that he saw the gun fire. He stated that it was Woodard who had a gun and that he saw Woodard shoot Ford. Perteet also stated that he was not coerced to testify that Woodard shot Ford.
¶ 5. Jerrod Erving, who is Perteet's cousin, initially testified that he heard a shot but that he did not know who did it, but that he was sure it was not Woodard. He also stated that the district attorney threatened to charge him in the matter if he did not testify that Woodard shot Ford.
¶ 6. Harold Boyd testified that Woodard obtained the gun from a man named Le-Roy. He described how Woodard, Per- teet, Erving, and he went to Ford's several times, but that he did not go into the store when Woodard shot Ford. Boyd also stated Woodard did not use his crutches when he went into Ford's the final time.
¶ 7. Deputy Summers testified that he arrived at Ford's Handi-Mart contemporaneously with Ford being taken to the hospital. He remained at the crime scene where he discovered the bloody note written by Ford and a .25 caliber spent cartridge. He also photographed the store including the bloody floor. Afterwards, Summers took a photo of Woodard, who was a suspect in the shooting, to the hospital where Ford was awaiting air transport to University Medical Center in Jackson. According to Summers, Ford identified the photo of Woodard as the shooter and that he was on crutches. During cross-examination, Summers conceded that Ford described the shooter as wearing a baseball-type shirt. It was later revealed that Erv-ing, not Woodard, was wearing the baseball shirt.
¶ 8. During a taped conversation between Ford and Summers, Ford said of the two men who entered the store at 9:45 p.m. and stood by the chip rack, one was on crutches. Summers also testified that he attended the preliminary hearing and saw Ford identify Woodard as the shooter.
¶ 9. At the close of the State's case-in-chief, Woodard made a motion for a directed verdict which was denied.
¶ 10. Woodard called Bryan Paige and Herbert Lee Townsend, who were both longtime friends, to testify that he was never without his crutches. Although both testified accordingly, neither was with Woodard the night of the shooting.
¶ 11. Woodard recalled Boyd to the stand. Boyd testified that he saw Perteet with the gun after the shooting and that he was wiping it down. Boyd stated during this testimony that, although Woodard was looking for a gun, he never got one. He also stated that only once during the evening was he far enough away from Perteet and Woodard for Perteet to have given Woodard the gun. Emma Jean Woodard, Woodard's sister, also testified that Per-teet wiped his prints off the gun before he hid it.
¶ 12. Perteet was also recalled to the witness stand by Woodard. He stated that the district attorney made him testify that Woodard shot Ford. However, Per-teet stated that Woodard was the shooter because he saw Woodard's light-colored hand holding the gun. Perteet explained that Woodard was lighter in skin color than Erving and himself.
¶ 13. Woodard was convicted for aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and sentenced for twenty years and three years, respectively, in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. His motion for a JNOV or, in the alternative, a new trial was denied. Feeling aggrieved, Woodard perfects this appeal.
DISCUSSION
I. WHETHER THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT TRIAL WAS SUFFICIENT TO ESTABLISH THE CRIMES OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND POSSESSION OF A FIREARM BY A CONVICTED FELON AND WHETHER THE JURY'S VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence
¶ 14. A challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence requires an analysis of the evidence by the trial judge to determine whether a hypothetical juror could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty. May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (Miss.1984). If the judge determines that no reasonable juror could find the defendant guilty, then he must grant the motion for a directed verdict and JNOV. Id. If he concludes that a reasonable juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, then he must deny the motion. Id. This Court's scope of review is limited to the same examination as that of the trial court in reviewing the motions for directed verdict and JNOV; that is, if the facts point in favor of the defendant to the extent that reasonable jurors could not have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, viewing all facts in the light most favorable to the State, then it must sustain the assignment of error. Blanks v. State, 542 So.2d 222, 225-26 (Miss.1989). Of course, the opposite is also true. We may reverse the trial court's ruling only where one or more of the elements of the offense charged is lacking to such a degree that reasonable jurors could only have found the defendant not guilty. McClain v. State, 625 So.2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993).
¶ 15. Here, legally sufficient evidence existed to find Woodard guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The State made out its prima facie case by putting into evidence Ford's and Perteet's eyewitness testimonies which identified Woodard as the shooter. Additionally, Ford wrote a short note after he was shot that described the suspects, including the fact that one of the suspects was on crutches. Ford testified that he had seen Woodard in the store earlier that day on crutches, but that Woodard was not on crutches when he shot Ford. Deputy Summers testified that Ford made a photo identification of Woodard shortly after the shooting. Boyd's testimony also bolstered the State's theory that Woodard was the shooter. Since the State put forth sufficient, credible evidence, the trial judge was required to leave the final decision of guilt or innocence to the jury. We affirm the trial judge's ruling with regard to the motion for a directed verdict.
B. Weight of the Evidence
¶ 16. The next motion we will review is that for a new trial. This goes to the weight of the evidence and not its sufficiency. In reviewing this claim, this Court must examine the trial judge's denial of Woodard's motion for a new trial. Jones v. State, 635 So.2d 884, 887 (Miss.1994). The decision of whether or not to grant a motion for a new trial rests in the sound discretion of the trial judge and should only be granted when the judge is certain that the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that failure to grant the motion would result in an unconscionable injustice. May, 460 So.2d at 781. In making the determination of whether a verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, this Court must view all evidence in the light most consistent with the jury verdict, and we should not overturn the verdict unless we find that the lower court abused its discretion when it denied the motion. Veal v. State, 585 So.2d 693, 695 (Miss.1991). The proper function of the jury is to decide the outcome in this type of case, and the court should not substitute its own view of the evidence for that of the jury's. Id. Likewise, the reviewing court may not reverse unless it finds there was an abuse of discretion by the lower court in denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. Id. Upon reviewing all of the evidence as noted by the facts of this case, even those that conflict, and when presented in the light most consistent with the verdict, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying Woodard's motion for a new trial. Accordingly, we dismiss this assignment of error asTacking in merit.
¶ 17. THE JUDGMENT OF THE AT-TALA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT OF CONVICTION ON COUNT I OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND A SENTENCE OF TWENTY YEARS; AND COUNT II OF POSSESSION OF FIREARM BY A CONVICTED FELON AND SENTENCE OF THREE YEARS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS IS AFFIRMED. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE TAXED TO ATTALA COUNTY.
McMILLIN, C.J., KING AND SOUTHWICK, P.JJ., BRIDGES, LEE, MOORE, PAYNE, AND THOMAS, JJ., CONCUR. IRVING, J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION.