Opinion ID: 1796115
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Powers's admission to causing the victim's death obviates the need for a circumstantial evidence instruction.

Text: ¶ 74. Circumstantial evidence instructions are required when the prosecution is without a confession and without eyewitnesses to the gravamen of the offense charged. Swinney v. State, 829 So.2d 1225, 1236 (Miss.2002) (quoting Woodward v. State, 533 So.2d 418, 431 (Miss.1988)). Thus, as the majority notes, an admission to any significant element of the offense removes the need for such an instruction. See Mack v. State, 481 So.2d 793, 795 (Miss.1985) . However, the majority has cited a case where this Court has held that a circumstantial evidence instruction is not warranted for an underlying felony in a capital murder case solely based upon the fact that the defendant has admitted to causing the death of the victim and not to the underlying felony. ¶ 75. In Swinney v. State, we held that a confession to a shooting could be direct evidence to an underlying felony for capital murder purposes. 829 So.2d at 1237. Swinney admitted to pointing a gun at the victim and stated that the gun accidentally fired as she attempted to unjam it. Id. at 1236. The underlying felony in this case was robbery. Since an essential element of robbery is the use of force or intimidation, we held her admission that she pointed the gun at the victim as confession of an essential element of the crime. Id. Therefore, we held that the circumstantial evidence instruction was not required. Id. at 1237. ¶ 76. Better yet, in Moody v. State, 841 So.2d 1067 (Miss.2003), this Court dealt with a capital murder based on sexual battery. Therein, we recognized that an admission to causing the death of the victim is not a confession to an essential element of the underlying offense. See id. at 1095. However, in that case, we found that there was enough direct physical evidence in the totality, including sperm samples produced by a vaginal slide, so that a circumstantial evidence instruction was not warranted. [1] Id. at 1095-96. ¶ 77. These cases ought to be instructive. We know from Moody that confessing to causing the death of the victim is not the same as confessing to the underlying felony. Therefore, we are left to apply the Swinney analysis and determine if by his admission, Powers admitted to an essential element of the offense. However, the majority fails to mention any element of attempted rape that is admitted in Powers's statement. Therefore, his confession to causing the victim's death is not cause alone to do away with the need for a circumstantial evidence instruction and to hold otherwise is in error.