Opinion ID: 1610587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: House Violation?

Text: During its case-in-chief, the State produced four witnesses who positively identified photographs of the van that was recovered in Houston, Texas. All four witnesses identified the van as the one they saw at or near the Tucker home on the morning of the shooting. In addition, two of the witnesses identified a photograph of Henry Nixon as an occupant of the van. One of the witnesses to identify both Henry Nixon and the van was Mrs. Alicia Arender. Basically, Mrs. Arender testified the identified van pulled out in front of her as she approached the Tuckers' driveway on the morning of January 22, 1985. Mrs. Arender followed the van for some distance and was able to see the reflection of the driver, Henry Nixon, in the rear-view mirror on the driver's side of the van. Prior to her testifying at trial, at the request of a Rankin County Deputy Sheriff, Mrs. Arender underwent a state of relaxation in order to recall the tag number of the van she had seen. Mrs. Arender testified the video-taped session with a Dr. Stanley lasted an hour, but that she was unable to recall the tag number. Mrs. Arender also testified, over the objection of defense counsel, that the identification she made of Henry Nixon was her own and was not a product of hypnotic suggestion. Mrs. Arender testified she was at all times aware of the questions asked and the answers given. On appeal, Nixon contends Mrs. Arender's testimony violated this Court's guidelines in House v. State, 445 So.2d 815 (Miss. 1984). In House, the Court suggested guidelines for trial judges to follow before allowing a witness to testify from a hypnotically refreshed memory. See House, 445 So.2d at 826. The facts of the instant case are simply distinguishable from those in House. Mrs. Arender was not testifying from a hypnotically refreshed memory. In fact, she admitted the hypnosis failed its essential purpose  to produce the tag number of the van. No reversible error is found here, particularly since three other witnesses identified the van.