Opinion ID: 1932173
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: did the trial court err in permitting references to the shooting and death of officer jackie sherrill?

Text: At trial, the defense counsel made a motion in limine that no mention be made of the fact that a bullet was fired which struck and/or killed Officer Jackie Sherrill on the grounds that such a statement would be prejudicial to Wheeler. The trial court overruled this motion with the exception of advising the district attorney that this was not a retrial of the capital murder. The court's ruling was correct in this matter. Proof of another crime is admissible where the offense charged and that offered to be proved are so interrelated as to constitute a single transaction or occurrence or a closely related series of transactions or occurrences. Such proof of another crime is also admissible where it is necessary to identify the defendant, where it is material to prove motive, and there is an apparent relation or connection between the act proposed to be proved and that charged, where the accusation involves a series of criminal acts which must be proved to make out the offense, or where it is necessary to prove scienter or guilty knowledge. Neal v. State, 451 So.2d 743, 759 (Miss. 1984). See, e.g., Johnson v. State, 416 So.2d 383 (Miss. 1982); Mason v. State, 429 So.2d 569, 572-73 (Miss. 1983); Woods v. State, 393 So.2d 1319, 1325 (Miss. 1981). As in Neal, evidence of Wheeler's crime against Officer Jackie Sherrill was admissible because it was integrally related in time, place and fact with the aggravated assault of Officer Steve Reid. The two offenses arose out of a common nucleus of operative facts. We are concerned here with the State's legitimate interest in telling a rational and coherent story of what happened ... to Officer Steve Reid. Neal at 759. What happened to Officer Jackie Sherrill is integrally intertwined with what happened to Officer Steve Reid. In addition, careful study of the record makes it clear that the trial judge and prosecuting attorney refrained from mentioning other crimes except when it was reasonably necessary to the State's legitimate effort to establish the aggravated assault of Officer Steve Reid. This assignment of error, therefore, is without merit. In addition, Rule 404(b), Mississippi Rules of Evidence, provides that evidence of other crimes may be admissible for purposes other than to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. The Comment notes that evidence of another crime is admissible when the offense in the instant case and in the past offense are so inter-connected as to be considered part of the same transaction. The shooting of Sergeant Sherrill and the shooting of Officer Steve Reid were so intimately interconnected that it would have been impossible for the State to have related to the jury the complete story of the crime, without referring to the shooting of Sergeant Sherrill. Brown v. State, 483 So.2d 328, 330 (Miss. 1986). The jury also was entitled to know why Sergeant Sherrill was not present in court to testify. Rule 404(b) also provides that evidence of another crime may be admitted to prove absence of mistake or accident, and such proof was crucial to the State's case here, since accident or mistake was the very defense offered by Wheeler. As required by Rule 403, the probative value of this evidence outweighed its potential for prejudice.