Opinion ID: 1745175
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the trial court erred in failing to sustain appellant's motion to sequester the jury.

Text: The pertinent part of the indictment, to which appellant's demurrer points, follows: That Frank Lambert in said county and state on the 17th day of March, A.D., 1985, did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought kill and murder Jefferson Davis Lambert, a human being; contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi. This Court has upheld literally hundreds of indictments in the exact form. There is no merit in the contention. Hines v. State, 472 So.2d 386, 390 (Miss. 1985); Harden v. State, 465 So.2d 321, 324 (Miss. 1985); Jones v. State, 461 So.2d 686, 693-94 (Miss. 1984). On January 13, 1986, during a pretrial hearing appellant moved to have the jury sequestered for the trial. The case was to be tried the next week before a different circuit judge, and the pretrial judge suggested to the attorney that the matter be taken up the following week. The record does not indicate that the motion was ever renewed or that the trial judge was given an opportunity to rule on the motion. Therefore, error cannot be charged against the lower court. Furthermore, the trial judge may, in the exercise of sound judicial discretion, either grant or refuse the request to sequester the jury. Rule 5.07, Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit Court Practice; Barnes v. State, 374 So.2d 1308, 1309 (Miss. 1979).