Opinion ID: 1148242
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Did the Introduction in Both Phases of Mr. Lockett's Trial of Evidence and Argument Concerning a Separate Distinct Crime of Murder and Other Crimes Deprive Mr. Lockett of His Rights Under the Constitutions of this State and of the United States?

Text: Lockett next argues that the trial court erred in allowing in evidence of John Calhoun's murder. This case presents the other side of the coin from that addressed in Lockett I, part VI. In Lockett I we found no error by the trial court in admitting numerous references to Mrs. Calhoun's death. We likewise find no error in this trial concerning evidence of Mr. Calhoun's death. Unlike the case in Lockett I, the other crime here preceded and directly led to Mrs. Calhoun's death. Mrs. Calhoun was present when John Calhoun was shot, and she was forced to assist Lockett in robbing her husband's body. Lockett's own statements suggest he told Mrs. Calhoun she would have to die because she witnessed the crime and she knew who he was. Mrs. Calhoun was taken from her home and killed within a very short period following her husband's death. This case was tried May 5 and 6, 1986, and is thus subject to our Mississippi Rules of Evidence. In applying the Rules, there can be no question that evidence of John Calhoun's death is relevant to Mrs. Calhoun's murder. See M.R.E. 404(b), 401, 402. Rule 404(b) states that though it is generally inadmissible, evidence of other wrongs or other crimes may be admissible for other purposes such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. These exceptions are not exclusive, however. The rules contemplate and we have held that evidence of other crimes is admissible where the charged act and the other sought to be proved are too interconnected to be separated. See, Neal v. State, 451 So.2d 743, 758-59 (Miss. 1984); Lockett I, at 1331. Even more so than in Lockett I, evidence of John Calhoun's murder was interrelated and inseparable from Mrs. Calhoun's murder; her murder was part of the same transaction. The evidence also just as clearly bears on Lockett's motive for the second murder. The evidence was far more probative than prejudicial. M.R.E. 403.