Opinion ID: 1093220
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: did the trial court err in admitting evidence of flight?

Text: Miles Floyd, the arresting officer in this case, was working in an off-duty capacity on February 14 as the escort for a funeral service. While engaged in this activity, he noticed an unidentified black man running near Bailey and Collier Streets. Floyd testified that he was suspicious of the man's activities and began following him in an attempt to question him. He found the man in a shed near Douglas and Rockdale Streets, breathing hard. After getting a good look at the man's face, Officer Floyd realized that the man appeared to be Clim Jimpson, whose face he had seen on several wanted posters. He testified that he did not know that Jimpson was also wanted in connection with a house burglary in Pocahontas. Floyd called for backup and Jimpson was arrested. Jimpson now claims as an assignment of error that the admission of this testimony regarding his attempt to avoid arrest constituted improper evidence of flight. It should be noted initially that many cases dealing with flight address the issue in the context of having an improper flight instruction given to the jury. These cases include several relied upon by the appellant in his brief. Quarles v. State, 199 So.2d 58 (Miss. 1967), Fuselier v. State, 468 So.2d 45 (Miss. 1985). See also, Pannell v. State, 455 So.2d 785 (Miss. 1984). In the case at bar, the trial court refused to grant a jury instruction on the flight issue, thereby diminishing the probative value of the above-cited cases. It is also a general rule that evidence of flight is admissible on the issue of guilty knowledge. Mariche v. State, 495 So.2d 507, 508 (Miss. 1986); Hill v. State, 432 So.2d 427, 438 (Miss. 1983); McClendon v. State, 387 So.2d 112, 115 (Miss. 1980). This principle can also be found in 2 Wigmore on Evidence, 3d Ed., § 279: It is today universally conceded that the fact of an accused's flight, escape from custody, resistance to arrest, concealment, assumption of a false name and related conduct, are admissible as evidence of consciousness of guilt, and thus of guilt itself. Under Rule 403 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence, relevant testimony may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by consideration of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. It is the opinion of this Court that the probative value of this evidence was not substantially outweighed by its prejudicial value, and thus this assignment of error is overruled.