Opinion ID: 1708859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: WAS JIMBO STRINGER'S RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL DENIED BY THE ADMISSION OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF MRS. McWILLIAMS, WHICH WERE IRRELEVANT, PREJUDICIAL, AND INFLAMMATORY?

Text: Over the objection of defense counsel, the state introduced pictures of Mrs. McWilliams. The initial introduction was of three photographs of Mrs. McWilliams' body, as it appeared at the scene of the murder. These were introduced during the testimony of L.E. Davis, of the Jackson police, who was the McWilliamses' neighbor, and discovered the bodies. The angle of the body in those photographs has the head pointed away from the camera, and, thus, does not fully show the extent of Mrs. McWilliams' wounds. Prior to the testimony of Dr. Galvez, the state introduced slides of Mrs. McWilliams' body. The two slides admitted appear to be essentially shot from the same angle as the photographs. Both the slides and the photographs, while not showing the extent of the wound to Mrs. McWilliams' head, do clearly show fragments of her skull and brain on the floor and on the wall. During the closing argument for the state, at the guilt phase, the record indicates the following: But they left a witness. And who took care of that? There he sits. There he sits. And how did he do it? (Mr. Davis changing slides) There it is. It's not my handiwork. It's not anything you did. That's his handiwork. He had to go back to do it. And how did he do it? What did Dr. Galvez say? Down on her hands and knees probably trying to crawl behind a table to hide? She wasn't standing up. Why didn't he shoot her in the back while she was standing up? That's his handiwork  his handiwork. [emphasis added] Again, during the closing argument in the sentencing phase, reference was made to the murder of Mrs. McWilliams. The record indicates that Mr. Davis turned the projector on during his argument. After discussing the appearance of Mr. McWilliams following the murder, Mr. Davis said the following: And then we get to this defendant's handiwork. We get to what he did. Is there a drop of mitigation in that? Any fact or circumstance arising out of the case that you find to be mitigating. Do you find anything mitigating about that? Clearly, then, the slides depicting the body of Mrs. McWilliams, as it appeared after the murders, were shown to the jury during closing argument for the state, both in the guilt phase and the sentencing phase. The state defends this presentation by stating that it portrayed Stringer's role as the silencer. Counsel for the state urges that the photographs were necessary to prove the element of capital murder that Jimbo Stringer killed Mrs. McWilliams to prevent her from identifying the killers of Mr. McWilliams. Further, the state would argue that it was within the trial court's discretion to admit the photographs and slides. It has long been the position of this Court that photographs of bodies may be admitted into evidence where they have probative value, and where they are not so gruesome as to be overly prejudicial and inflammatory. Johnson v. State, 476 So.2d 1195, 1206 (Miss. 1985); Cabello v. State, 471 So.2d 332 (Miss. 1985). The pictures of Mrs. McWilliams are not overly gruesome. The question in this case is primarily only of relevance  were the photographs of Mrs. McWilliams' body necessary to establish the guilt of Jimbo Stringer in the murder of Mr. McWilliams? Certainly, the state, in order to connect Jimbo with the murder of Mr. McWilliams, had to show that he participated in the murder in some way. The testimony showed that Stringer was not the trigger man in the murder of Mr. McWilliams, nor was he involved in the struggle. The state's position was that his primary involvement in the crime was as the silencer of Mrs. McWilliams. However, Jimbo's role could have been established without the admission of the photographs. The photographs of Mrs. McWilliams were used in evidence during the testimony of the officer who found the bodies and during the testimony of the pathologist. However, slides of her body were also shown during closing argument in both the guilt phase and the sentencing phase. In West Virginia v. Clawson, 165 W. Va. 588, 270 S.E.2d 659 (1980), the court found that the trial judge had abused his discretion in allowing the admission of gruesome photographs of two murder victims. In determining whether the admission of the photographs was harmless error, the court noted that the photographs had been used during closing argument. The court held that this precluded the error from being harmless, since where such photographs are shown to the jury during closing argument, their impact on the jury is such that it will become so incensed and inflamed at the horrible conditions depicted that it will not be able to objectively decide the issue of the defendant's guilt. Id. 270 S.E.2d at 674. While the introduction of these pictures, in itself, did not constitute reversible error, the pictures must have had a highly inflammatory effect on the jury. First, the pictures were part of an overall scheme to, in effect, try Jimbo Stringer for the murders of both Ray McWilliams and Nell McWilliams. The prosecution introduced extensive evidence about both murders. During closing argument in the sentencing phase, the district attorney reminded the jury that Stringer did not receive the death penalty in his trial for the murder of Mrs. McWilliams, and emphasized that: [T]his is my last chance. This is the state of Mississippi's last chance. This is the relatives of the McWilliams last chance for retribution. Thus, the state used these photographs in an attempt to get a second bite of the apple in its quest for the death penalty for the murder of Nell McWilliams. Second, the prosecution could not be content with merely introducing the photographs of Nell McWilliams into evidence, but displayed them to the jury during closing argument as part of its slide show. We deplore this practice. As the West Virginia court noted in Clawson, the effect is to take the pictures far beyond their evidentiary value and use them as a tool to inflame the jury. While our death penalty statute mandates consideration of any factor which may mitigate against the sentence of death, it limits the aggravating circumstances which would warrant the imposition of the death penalty. It is the jury's duty to weigh the permissible aggravating circumstances against any mitigating factors to determine whether the defendant deserves to suffer the death penalty. Just as a lack of evidence taints this process, so does the admission of irrelevant or inflammatory evidence. Color slides of the body of another victim, projected on a screen during closing argument, are an unnecessary dramatic effect that can only be intended to inflame and prejudice the jury. A sentence of death returned after such an unnecessary and gruesome display must be suspect. We hold that this tactic, combined with others, so prejudiced the jury that Jimbo Stringer did not receive a fair sentencing trial.