Title: Spencer v. State
Citation: 348 So. 2d 1030
Docket Number: 49515
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: August 10, 1977

348 So. 2d 1030 (1977) Hendrick SPENCER v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 49515. Supreme Court of Mississippi. August 10, 1977. Guy &amp; Dowdy, C. Wayne Dowdy, Ronald L. Whittington, McComb, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Scherry J. LeSieur, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before PATTERSON, SMITH and LEE, JJ. SMITH, Presiding Justice, for the Court: Hendrick Spencer was convicted of the capital murder of a police officer under the provisions of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19(2)(a) (Supp. 1976) and was sentenced to death. His conviction and sentence must be reversed and the cause retried in accordance with Jackson v. State, 337 So. 2d 1242 (Miss. 1976). Appellant has also assigned as error the trial court's refusal to grant an instruction that defined the lesser included offense of manslaughter and permitted the jury to find the defendant guilty of that offense if supported by the evidence. The question is answered by Jackson v. State, supra. The trial judge was without benefit of the Jackson holding during the trial of the case, but should follow its ruling and instruct the jury as to lesser included offenses if the evidence adduced upon retrial should justify the giving of such an instruction. Other matters assigned as error are without merit or are of such a nature as are not likely to recur upon the retrial of the case. The case will be reversed and remanded for a new trial and further proceedings consistent with the opinion in Jackson v. State, supra. REVERSED AND REMANDED. PATTERSON, C.J., INZER, P.J., and ROBERTSON, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE and BOWLING, JJ., concur.