Opinion ID: 1106169
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: the state's repeated references to the second victim, dorothy tassin, violated the eighth and fourteenth amendments and mississippi law.

Text: Ladner contends that he was prejudiced by the State's repeated references to the second killing, that of Dorothy Tassin. The defense objected to these references. Ladner particularly complains that during closing argument at the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor made the following remarks: MR. GOLDEN: ... I think it's clear that he went in there; it was a cold calculated murder. He went in there with the intention of getting the jewelry and he knew he was going to have to get that ring off her finger... . He knew he was going to have to kill her. He ended up killing two people. (emphasis added). MR. NECAISE: Objection, if the Court please. We move for a mistrial. THE COURT: Overruled. The general rule is that evidence must be limited to the criminal activity charged in the indictment and evidence of other crimes must be excluded. Brown v. State, 483 So.2d 328, 330 (Miss. 1986); Tobias v. State, 472 So.2d 398, 400 (Miss. 1985); Donald v. State, 472 So.2d 370, 372 (Miss. 1985); Stinson v. State, 443 So.2d 869, 873-74 (Miss. 1983); Crafton v. State, 200 Miss. 10, 14, 26 So.2d 347, 348 (1946). Exceptions have been laid down to the general rule, and have been approved numerous times. Proof of another crime is permissible where the offense charged and that offered to be proved are so interrelated as to constitute a single transaction or occurrence or a closely related series of transactions. Wheeler v. State, 536 So.2d 1347, 1352 (Miss. 1988) (citing Neal v. State, 451 So.2d 743, 759 (Miss.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1098, 105 S.Ct. 607, 83 L.Ed.2d 716 (1984)). The defendant in Wheeler was charged with the aggravated assault of a police officer. During this incident, another officer was killed by the defendant. This Court held that evidence of the killing was admissible because: [I]t was integrally related in time, place and fact with the aggravated assault of Officer Steve Reid. The two offenses arose out of a common nucleus of operative facts. We are concerned here with the State's legitimate interest in telling a rational and coherent story of what happened ... to Officer Steve Reid. Neal at 759. Wheeler at 1352. See also Comment to M.R.E. 404(b). In overruling Ladner's request for a mistrial, the trial judge stated: As to the second victim at the scene, the two cases are so intertwined it's impossible as we discussed in pretrial, to disassociate one from the other. There must be some lapping into the second victim because the second victim was found right there at the scene with a bullet in her head, too. They can't go into the detail that they could go into if the defendant were on trial for the second victim today, but there is necessarily going to have to be some testimony that concerns itself with the other capital murder charge. The references made regarding Tassin were necessary to tell the complete story of the crime. Both were killed in Holden's mobile home with the same gun. See Griffin v. State, 504 So.2d 186, 191-92 (Miss. 1987). The issue is rejected.