Opinion ID: 1795600
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether a Specific Person, as the Intended Victim of a Conspiracy, must Be Named in the Indictment.

Text: ¶ 7. The issue here involves count two of the indictment, the conspiracy charge. The conspiracy count provides: COUNT TWO, and that on or about the 22nd day of December, 2001, in Copiah County, Mississippi, and within the jurisdiction of this court, the said WILLIAM SANDERSON AND JOSEPH D. TAYLOR did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly conspire and agree, each with the other, to wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly commit the crime of Aggravated Assault, contrary to and in violation of Sections 97-1-1 and 97-3-7 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi. ¶ 8. The Court of Appeals majority reversed the conspiracy conviction because this count does not list Gary Mullins as the victim of the aggravated assault. The Court of Appeals majority cites Burks v. State, 770 So.2d 960, 963 (Miss.2000), which states, an indictment must state the name of the victim of an offense where that is an element of the offense. . . . We agree that this is a correct statement of the law. However, the elements of a conspiracy require recognition on the part of the conspirators that they are entering into a common plan and knowingly intend to further its common purpose. Peoples v. State, 501 So.2d 424, 428 (Miss.1987). There is no suggestion that a victim's name is an element of conspiracy. ¶ 9. Furthermore, [s]o long as a fair reading of the indictment, taken as a whole, clearly describes the nature and cause of the charge against the accused, the indictment is legally sufficient. Farris v. State, 764 So.2d 411 (Miss.2000). As three judges of the Court of Appeals' mentioned in their separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, Gary Mullins's name was in the first count immediately preceding count two. Count one charged: The Grand Jurors of the State of Mississippi... upon their oaths present that WILLIAM SANDERSON AND JOSEPH D. TAYLOR, late of county aforesaid, on or about the 22nd day of December, 2001, in COPIAH County, Mississippi, and within the jurisdiction of this court, did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and purposely cause bodily injury to another, namely, one Gary Mullins, a human being, with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a knife, by then and there stabbing the said Gary Mullins, contrary to and in violation of Section 97-3-7 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi, this being count one of the indictment ... (emphasis added). Using the Farris rule, and reading both counts as a whole, Sanderson was given fair and adequate notice of the crimes for which he was tried. As the three Court of Appeals judges correctly pointed out, simply because Mullins's name was not repeated in the second count does not mean that Sanderson did not understand the charges against him. Count one clearly identified the victim of the aggravated assault, and the next count leads a reasonable person to believe that the conspiracy was based on the aggravated assault. ¶ 10. Since the indictment as a whole provided Sanderson with sufficient notice regarding the charges against him, we hold that the victim's name need not be included in the conspiracy count. The Court of Appeals erred in concluding otherwise.