Opinion ID: 1689769
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: statement of facts and case

Text: ¶ 1. On the night of August 18, 1997, Keith Williams (Williams) was shot and killed outside the Rising Sun apartments in Greenwood. Deputy Charlie Cooley of the Leflore County Sheriff's Department testified that he was patrolling in the area when he heard a cry for help, and found Williams lying on the ground. Williams told him that he had been shot by a man named Stewart. ¶ 2. On January 30, 1998, Terry Allen Brooks (Brooks) was indicted by a Leflore County grand jury for murder. The grand jury found in its indictment that: Terry Brooks, acting in concert with Corkceno Stewart, Walter Stewart, and Sammie Grant, each together with the other, on or about the 18th day of August, 1997, in Leflore County, Mississippi, did unlawfully, wilfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought, kill and murder Keith Williams, a human being. On May 18, 1998, Brooks was tried for murder in the Leflore County Circuit Court. The circuit judge allowed Brooks to conduct voir dire as well as part of the arguments at trial, but the judge refused Brooks' request to be permitted to cross-examine prosecution witnesses. On May 20, 1998, the jury found Brooks guilty of murder, and Brooks timely appealed to this Court.