Title: McMillian v. State
Citation: 361 So. 2d 495
Docket Number: 50550
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: August 9, 1978

361 So. 2d 495 (1978) Jessie E. McMILLIAN v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 50550. Supreme Court of Mississippi. August 9, 1978. Mitchell M. Lundy, Grenada, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Marvin L. White, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before ROBERTSON, SUGG and COFER, JJ. ROBERTSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: Jessie E. McMillian was indicted, tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Grenada County for the murder of James Harvey. *496 The shooting occurred on September 1, 1973, and the trial took place on February 7, 1974. McMillian was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. In the early evening, September 1, 1973, James Harvey and five of his friends went to Guy Lee's Cafe-Beer Joint south of Gore Springs in Grenada County. While there he got into an argument with Jessie McMillian. The final outcome was that McMillian got his rifle and shot Harvey three times; he died on the spot. The evidence is undisputed that McMillian shot and killed Harvey, at least three eyewitnesses testifying that they witnessed the whole affair. On February 7, 1974, defendant McMillian and his court-appointed counsel were present in the courtroom, ready for trial. They participated in the voir dire of the jury. After the jury had been impaneled, selected and sworn in, the court recessed about noon for lunch. When court reconvened at 1:00 P.M., the defendant was not present. After attempting to locate the defendant and delaying the trial until 1:35 P.M., the court authorized the issuance of an alias capias for McMillian, and ordered that the trial proceed in his absence. Defense counsel objected, but the court overruled his objection. McMillian was apprehended in a neighboring county and was returned to the courtroom after the trial had been completed and while the jury was out considering its verdict. McMillian was physically present when the jury returned its verdict of guilty as charged. After the case had been appealed, court-appointed defense counsel was allowed to withdraw from the case, and the court appointed present defense counsel to represent McMillian on appeal. Appellant has assigned as error: McMillian was tried on February 7, 1974. In Capler v. State, 268 So. 2d 338 (Miss. 1972), the defendant was sentenced to death upon conviction of murder. This Court, in ruling out the death penalty, said: Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-19 (Supp. 1977) defining capital murder (the case at bar does not fit into that definition) and authorizing the imposition of the death penalty for capital murder, was not enacted until April 23, 1974, so on February 7, 1974, the time of the trial, McMillian could not have been sentenced to death and was in no danger of suffering capital punishment. Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-17-9 (1972), (unchanged since 1857), styled "Trial in the absence of accused", provides: *497 In Stubbs v. State, 49 Miss. 716 (1874), this Court quoted from Price v. State, 36 Miss. 531 (1858): While the case at bar turned out to be not a capital case, this Court held in Thomas v. State, 117 Miss. 532, 78 So. 147 (1918), that when the defendant is in custody even in a capital case, by his voluntary absence he may waive his presence at the trial. In Thomas this Court said: Thomas was being tried for murder and absented himself for a short time when the jury was being voir dired. The court held that he was in custody at the time. Inasmuch as McMillian was present in court when the trial was begun and the jury examined, selected and sworn in, it is our opinion that he was in custody at the time he voluntarily left and fled and thus escaped. In Thomas, the Court went on to say: We followed this same line of reasoning in Ford v. State, 170 Miss. 459, 155 So. 220 (1934), Hamburg v. State, 203 Miss. 565, 35 So. 2d 324 (1948), and Myers v. State, 268 So. 2d 353 (Miss. 1972). McMillian did receive a fair and impartial trial and the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in ordering the trial to proceed in McMillian's absence. McMillian next complains of alleged prejudicial statements made by the trial judge in the presence of the jury concerning defendant's absence. The judge's remarks were merely in explanation of McMillian's absence, the steps being taken to return him to the trial, and the necessity for proceeding with the *498 trial, so they were not prejudicial. Moreover, no objection whatsoever was made at the time these remarks were made. There is no merit in this assignment of error. McMillian next contends that "the trial court erred in overruling the defendant's motion for a mistrial and admitting the testimony of Jimmy Pass on rebuttal." Again, no objection whatsoever was made to Pass's testimony when it was offered; defense counsel vigorously cross-examined Pass; and waited until the state rested before moving for a mistrial on the ground that the defendant was caught by surprise when Pass changed his testimony. This assignment of error is without merit. The evidence was undisputed that McMillian shot and killed James Harvey. The jury was justified in finding beyond a reasonable doubt that McMillian was guilty of Harvey's murder. The conviction and sentence are, therefore, affirmed. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH, P.J., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE, BOWLING and COFER, JJ., concur.