Opinion ID: 1853439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the court err in overruling a motion for new trial?

Text: Lonnie Johnson was called to the stand as a rebuttal witness for the State. No objection was made to any of his testimony. He was asked three different times who returned with him from Columbus, Georgia to Moss Point and his response to each question was that he did not remember. He was excused and Detective Barry Jones was called as a rebuttal witness. No objection was made to the testimony offered by him. He testified that he took a written statement from Lonnie Johnson [ See Appendix] and, among other things, Lonnie Johnson told him that appellant returned with him to Moss Point, that they got back to Moss Point about 6:00 a.m., Thursday, January 3, 1974, and that Travis Johnson got out of the automobile near Bill Johnson's grocery on Frederick Street. Mrs. Stone positively identified appellant as the person who committed the robbery. It is well settled that such testimony, when unimpeached, is sufficient to sustain a verdict of guilty. Contrary to Mrs. Stone's positive identification, appellant testified that he was in Nashville, Tennessee when the crime was committed. The fact that he actually caught a bus to Nashville and was in Nashville is not corroborated. The jury was not under a duty to accept the alibi of appellant [ Spikes v. State, 302 So.2d 250 (Miss. 1974)] and, viewing the evidence as a whole, we are of the opinion that the verdict of the jury was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and that the motion for new trial was correctly overruled by the court. Murphree v. State, 228 So.2d 599 (Miss. 1969); Ivey v. State, 206 Miss. 734, 40 So.2d 609 (1949).