Opinion ID: 1708394
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Other Five Magazines

Text: Five other magazines were introduced into evidence along with The Best of Hustler.  There is no evidence in the record linking the five additional magazines with the alleged sexual battery of Tammy T. They were neither shown to Tammy T. nor viewed by Billy Wayne Collins during the commission of the crime. In fact, they were tucked away inside a desk drawer. The only connection between the five magazines and the alleged crime is that the desk in which the magazines were stored was located inside the shed in which the alleged crime occurred. This Court holds that the magazines were not probative of any element of the sexual battery, nor were they part of the res gestae of the alleged crime, especially in light of the fact that the one magazine seen by Tammy and viewed by appellant during the alleged act was identified and distinguished from the other five. The issue becomes whether the introduction of the five magazines was unfairly prejudicial to the point of constituting reversible error. This Court holds they were. The very nature of the magazines is highly inflammatory. Jurors might have been offended by the magazines because of, in addition to nudity, the sexual explicitness of the photographs, including depictions of homosexuality, and the sacreligious nature of some of the photographs. The magazines, other than The Best of Hustler,  were neither relevant to any issues in the case nor a part of the res gestae of the crime. They were simply found in a desk drawer in a shed owned by the defendant. The sole function of the introduction of the five magazines was to inflame the Yalobusha County jurors. For those reasons, this Court holds the conviction of Billy Wayne Collins should be reversed. REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL. ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and DAN M. LEE, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. WALKER, C.J., HAWKINS, P.J., and ANDERSON, J., dissent.