Opinion ID: 1751529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: whether the introduction of inflammatory photographs of the victims without evidentiary purpose of the probative value violated jimmie mack's rights pursuant to mississippi law and the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment?

Text: Mack contends that exhibits 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 33, and 34 should not have been admitted into evidence because the photographs were inflammatory, repetitive, and cumulative. When deciding on the admissibility of gruesome photos, trial judges must consider: (1) whether the proof is absolute or in doubt as the identity of the guilty party [and] (2) whether the photos are necessary evidence or simply a ploy on the part of the prosecutor to arouse the passion and prejudice of the jury. McNeal v. State, 617 So.2d 999, 1011 (Miss. 1993). In Hurns v. State, 616 So.2d 313 (Miss. 1993), the photographs there in question were introduced during the pathologist's testimony concerning the scientific cause of death. Although this Court held that the trial judge in Hurns did not err in admitting the photograph, as corroboration of that testimony, it warned prosecutors about the use of and reliance upon such photographs. Few autopsy photographs will meet the criteria of containing more probative value, as compared to being unfairly prejudicial or inflammatory, or overly gruesome. Id. In Alexander v. State, 610 So.2d 320 (Miss. 1992), in 1988, Alexander was convicted of killing her dormitory suitemate. This Court, in affirming the conviction, found that the trial court did not err in admitting a gruesome autopsy photograph, depicting the victim's open skull, to show the cause of death. Two of the photographs in the case at bar are similar to the pictures in Hurns and Alexander. Exhibit 33 showed tissue which had been removed from Fulton's head revealing Fulton's skullcap and fractures to the cranial bone. Exhibit 34 showed the top of head cut open, revealing the entire cranial cavity and a pair of scissors inside the head in the bloody bony tissue on which the brain would normally rest. Like the photographs in Hurns and Alexander, these, were used to establish Fulton's cause of death as craniocerebral trauma secondary to blunt force trauma. The photographs also were illustrative of the extent of damage that caused Fulton's death and were introduced while Dr. Haynes was testifying. The pathologist's explanation was corroborated by Monroe and Washington, both of whom testified that Mack struck Fulton repeatedly in the head with an iron pipe. Mack testified that he slapped Fulton. Other photographs showed Fulton's body at the scene, while exhibits 14 and 15 showed his body at the morgue. While the autopsy photographs were gruesome, they were not so gruesome as to be overly prejudicial and inflammatory. The photographs were probative and no error was committed in admitting them.