Opinion ID: 1859882
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Severance of Count II

Text: ¶ 26. Derrick and Krishun appealed their convictions alleging that Count II, the armed robbery of Jackie Hardiman, should have been severed from the indictment for the capital murder of Cheryl Johnson. Historically, this Court had not allowed multi-count indictments until 1986 when the Mississippi Legislature adopted a multi-count statute. Corley v. State, 584 So.2d 769, 772 (Miss.1991). However, the Mississippi Legislature adopted Miss.Code Ann. § 99-7-2 (2000), addressing whether two or more offenses may be tried together or must be severed. ¶ 27. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-7-2 (2000) reads, in pertinent part, as follows: (1) Two (2) or more offenses which are triable in the same court may be charged in the same indictment with a separate count for each offense if: (a) the offenses are based on the same act or transaction; or (b) the offenses are based on two (2) or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. (2) Where two (2) or more offenses are properly charged in separate counts of a single indictment, all such charges may be tried in a single proceeding. (3) When a defendant is convicted of two (2) or more offenses charged in separate counts of an indictment, the court shall impose separate sentences for each such conviction. . . . . ¶ 28. This Court has stated that when a multi-count indictment has been handed down and the defendant has requested severance of the indictments, the trial court should conduct a hearing on the issue. Eakes v. State, 665 So.2d 852, 861 (Miss.1995). In Eakes, this Court set out the trial court's determination of whether a multi-count indictment warrants severance. The State bears the burden of proving that the multi-count indictment is within the language of the statute. Id. The court should consider the time period between the offenses, whether evidence proving each offense would be admissible to prove the other counts, and whether the offenses are interwoven. Id. ¶ 29. The trial court in this case held a hearing on the issue of severance of the counts of the indictment. The State alleged that the armed robbery of Jackie was one of a series of events that day. The State addressed that the trial court had already heard testimony in the first trial and the testimony of Terry that was proffered that these five people (Roderick Eskridge, Lonnie Donnelly, Krishun Williams, Derrick Willis and Terry Yates) all planned to take people out and rob them, that they did carry out the first victim and decided to go back and get another victim. [1] ¶ 30. The defense called Jackie to testify on the Motion to Sever. Jackie testified that the events occurred on December 1, 1997. Jackie testified that she did not see a gun until Eskridge got into the car. She testified that Eskridge is the one who said to go to the lake. Jackie testified that when she got in the car Terry and Krishun were also there. They then went and picked up Lonnie and Eskridge. All were together when she was forced to take off her clothes and robbed at gunpoint. ¶ 31. The defense argued that since Derrick and Krishun did not force Jackie to do anything that the count should be severed. ¶ 32. Jackie testified that she did not have insight into any prior discussions involving the defendants or any agreements made between them. Jackie testified that she did not know what all they had agreed to do between themselves before they picked her up. ¶ 33. The State argued that they had planned to get several people that same night and carry them to the lake and rob them. They all agreed with everything that happened that night. The State argued that they went right back to town after the first robbery to get another victim. The State argued from the record from the first trial. ¶ 34. The trial court stated that it considered that there was an official record of the prior cases incorporated as a part of this case, the first trial and plea bargain that arose out of the same facts as this case. The trial court overruled the Motion to Sever finding that Count II of the indictment was part of a series of events that same night. ¶ 35. This Court, in Eakes v. State, 665 So.2d at 861, restated the three options in which two or more offenses are triable in the same count and may be charged in the same indictment as addressed in Miss.Code Ann. § 99-7-2. The three options are as follows: (1) the offenses are based on the same act or transaction; or (2) the offenses are based on two (2) or more acts or transactions connected together; or (3) the offenses are based on two (2) or more acts or transactions constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. Eakes, 665 So.2d at 861. See McCarty v. State, 554 So.2d 909, 914 (Miss.1989). The intervening time period must be insignificant as a prerequisite to both the second or third options. Id. Citing McCarty v. State, 554 So.2d at 914-16, this Court has stated that [i]n allowing a multi-count indictment, this Court agreed with the Legislature that the offenses must be based on the same act or transaction, or be based on two or more acts or transactions, connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. Corley v. State, 584 So.2d at 772. ¶ 36. The testimony in the case sub judice established that the armed robbery and murder of Cheryl were together in both time and space. There was a plan to pick up people and rob them. On December 1, 1997, between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Jackie went for help. Cheryl was seen leaving with Krishun on December 1, 1997, sometime after 8:30 p.m. Two witnesses stated that they met up with Cheryl between 8:00-8:30 p.m. and went to a friend's apartment. The two witnesses saw Cheryl leave with Krishun from the friend's apartment. Cheryl's body was found around 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on that same evening. Clearly, the time between the two incidents is insignificant. ¶ 37. We find that the trial court did not err in trying Count II (armed robbery of Jackie) and Count III (capital murder) together. The crimes constituted a common scheme or plan to rob individuals that evening.