Title: Harris v. State
Citation: 386 So. 2d 393
Docket Number: 51876
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: July 30, 1980

386 So. 2d 393 (1980) Oscar HARRIS v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 51876. Supreme Court of Mississippi. July 30, 1980. *394 Gerald, Brand, Watters, Cox &amp; Hemleben, J.I. Palmer, Jr., Jackson, George S. Monroe, Newton, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Susan L. Runnels, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before ROBERTSON, WALKER and BOWLING, JJ. ROBERTSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: Appellant, Oscar Harris, was indicted, tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Newton County, Mississippi, of armed robbery. He was sentenced to 30 years in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Harris assigns as error: *395 Jeanette Smith worked in her husband's trailer office. On September 5, 1978, Harris, who had been released from prison on a work-release program, entered Smith's office and inquired as to the whereabouts of Mr. Smith. When Mrs. Smith informed him that her husband was not in, the defendant went outside, looked up and down the street, then re-entered the office, pointed a gun at Mrs. Smith and demanded money. She gave him the small amount of money in her billfold, and also wrote him a $200 check. Harris then ordered Mrs. Smith to hand over her car keys which she did. He then jerked the phone from the wall, struck Mrs. Smith on the head with the gun knocking her to the floor. When Harris left, Mrs. Smith crawled to the back door of the office-trailer and screamed for help. Darvis Vance, who worked in an office nearby, heard Mrs. Smith and proceeded to her office. Vance saw Harris moving toward Mrs. Smith's automobile, and told Harris to leave the Smith car alone, but Harris replied that he was taking the car to the shop for repairs. Harris then got in the car and drove off in a reckless fashion. Harris was later arrested at Evelyn Gallaspy's home after he had wrecked Mrs. Smith's automobile. J.I. Palmer, Jr., who was appointed by the court to defend Harris, soon after his appointment filed a motion to be allowed to withdraw as defense counsel because the victim, Mrs. Smith, had talked to the senior member of his law firm about the civil liability of Harris for the wrecked automobile. After a hearing on the motion, in which it was brought out that the actual details of the conference with Mrs. Smith were not made known to Palmer, that no civil suit would be filed and, therefore, the law firm did not actually represent Mr. or Mrs. Smith in this particular matter, the court overruled the motion to withdraw. Mississippi has adopted the "actual prejudice" rule in Augustine v. State, 201 Miss. 277, 28 So. 2d 243 (1946). In Augustine, this Court stated that the test is "whether the accused has been protected, so far as counsel can do so, in all of his legal rights." It is clear to us, from a careful study of the record in this case, that Palmer represented the defendant well and protected Harris "in all of his legal rights." See also Dunn v. State, 264 So. 2d 823 (Miss. 1972). The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in overruling the motion of the court-appointed defense counsel to withdraw. MCA § 99-13-11 (1972) provides in part: A pre-trial hearing was held on the motion for a psychiatric examination. Ed Cumberland, sheriff of Newton County, and Charles Jackson, a deputy sheriff, testified that during the year that defendant was in jail he always appeared normal and rational and served as a trusty for about 3 months. Melvin Anderson, who had known Harris most of his life, testified that defendant "didn't have good sense", that he did foolish things. However, Anderson admitted that the defendant had never been treated for a mental condition or psychiatrically examined. Jim Allen, who had worked with the defendant, testified that some days the defendant was normal while at other times he seemed to be in a daze. It was his opinion that defendant was not right in the head. The trial court was not in error in overruling the motion for a psychiatric examination under our holding in Bell v. State, 360 So. 2d 1206 (Miss. 1978), wherein we said: No testimony was offered that the defendant was not able to assist in his own defense. The instruction, refused by the trial court which is urged as error on appeal, does not appear anywhere in the record. It is a well settled rule of this Court that we will not consider any matter outside the record. Brown v. Elton Chalk, Inc.,, 358 So. 2d 721 (Miss. 1978). We stated in Canal Insurance Company v. Howell, 253 Miss. 225, 175 So. 2d 517 (1965), that it is up to the appellant to see that instructions questioned are in the record so that this Court can intelligently act on any question about an instruction. Even if this point were properly before the Court, in Collins v. State, 361 So. 2d 333 (Miss. 1978), we did not adopt the Parsons rule but instead reaffirmed the M'Naughten rule. There is no merit in this assignment of error. The trial court's refusal to give the appellant's proffered instruction on voluntary intoxication is supported by our holding in McDaniel v. State, 356 So. 2d 1151 (Miss. 1978), wherein this Court said: There is no merit in this assignment of error. Appellant's 6-line argument presents no facts nor does he cite any authority. In Ramseur v. State, 368 So. 2d 842 (Miss. 1979), we said: Appellant contends that the Mississippi Legislature abused its discretion when it enacted MCA § 47-7-3 (Supp. 1979), denying parole to anyone convicted of robbery where the perpetrator of the crime displays a firearm. The Supreme Court of Louisiana answered this question in State v. Howard, 262 La. 270, 263 So. 2d 32 (1972) wherein it said: In addition, this assignment of error is rendered moot by the recent amendment to MCA § 47-7-3 passed by the 1980 Mississippi Legislature. § 47-7-3(d) was amended by adding this language to the no eligibility for parole provision where a person was convicted of robbery through the display of a firearm: For these reasons, the conviction and sentence are affirmed. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH, P.J., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE, BOWLING and COFER, JJ., concur.