Opinion ID: 864053
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: ¶2. On March 25, 1999, Robert, Anthony Rhone, and William Glass drove from Meridian to Kemper County to a night club called The Other Side of Midnight. Robert's wife, Mary Ann, and her friend Charlotte Curtis drove to the club separately. While at the club, Glass and Cross got into a fight on the dance floor. Mary Ann and Curtis were outside when the fighting ensued. Robert and Rhone stood at the edge of the dance floor with their backs turned while Glass and Cross fought. Someone turned the lights on and off during the fight while many patrons were exiting the building. The lights went out a final time, and gun shots were heard and seen by different witnesses. Cross was shot five or six times and died as a result. Several witnesses said that shots were fired outside the club also. Testimony differed as to how many shots were fired and their origin. ¶3. Robert admitted that he pulled from the front of his pants a Lorson 9 mm pistol, which had a ten round clip in it, and began shooting. He told law enforcement officers that he shot toward the ground. Robert said he did not see Cross on the floor and did not know until later that Cross had been shot. He stated that once he got outside, Glass and Rhone were already in car, so Robert got in the car with his wife and Curtis and left. ¶4. At one point, Robert told law enforcement officers that he thought he shot his gun four times but that he did not think he shot Cross. Later, he said that he did not know how many shots he fired. At the motion to suppress hearing, Robert said he shot his gun toward the ceiling and toward the ground. In a tape-recorded statement to police, Robert said he told his wife in the car that night that he thought he shot Cross. Robert told law enforcement officers that a day or two after the incident he gave his gun to Al Ott to put it up and has not seen it since that time. ¶5. Rhone testified that he saw a total of eight to ten gunshots coming from both sides of the club. Contrary to Robert's statement, Rhone testified that when he got outside after the shooting, Robert and Glass were already getting in the car, a Mazda Protege. Rhone said he did not hear anything after the shooting from Robert that would link Robert to the shots fired in the club. ¶6. Debra Boyd testified that she was standing behind the bar in the club and that she went to the front of the dance floor once the fighting began. Boyd said there were two or three guys fighting and that she saw more than five or six shots coming from one direction. ¶7. Curtis testified that Robert, Rhone and Glass all came outside to the Mazda Protege before she heard gunshots. She said Robert got a black gun from the trunk of the car, and then the guys went back inside. Curtis was the only witness to testify seeing Robert with a gun. She said she heard two shots outside also and that Mary Ann started the car and was leaving when Robert got out of the car with Rhone and Glass and got in the car with them. Curtis heard Robert tell Mary Ann that Glass beat up Cross. She also said Robert bragged about shooting Cross and said his gun held ten bullets but there were none left. She never heard Robert state the number of times he shot Cross. ¶8. Cross went to the club with Hill the night he was killed. Hill testified that the two had been together since the night before and neither of them had a firearm or weapon of any kind nor did they plan to fight anyone. Hill saw two males fighting but did not know that Cross was one of them. The third time the lights went out, Hill heard a gunshot and could see fire from the bullet. He said he heard four gunshots inside and they were aimed downward and that he heard shots outside too. Hill went back inside after the shooting ceased to find Cross lying on the floor with two nurses trying to revive him. On cross-examination, Hill admitted to telling police officers in an interview that he heard five or six shots inside the club and two or three outside.