Opinion ID: 1695019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: whether washington was tried and convicted on a multiplicitous and duplicitous indictment in violation of his constitutional rights.

Text: ¶ 23. Washington's final assignment of error charges that the indictment against him violates his constitutional rights. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-7-2 (2000) and Rule 7.07 of the Uniform Circuit and County Court Rules authorize multiple count indictments when the alleged crimes arise out of the same transaction or are parts of a common scheme. Washington correctly points out that his indictment was based on burglaries occurring on different days at different homes with different victims. Washington cites McCarty v. State, 554 So.2d 909 (Miss.1989), in which a conviction for multiple burglaries was reversed because the incidents did not arise out of a single transaction and actually took place days apart. ¶ 24. Washington also claims that charging him with both armed robbery and burglary of an inhabited dwelling is tantamount to double jeopardy. He asserts that the charges are essentially an attempt to punish him twice for the same conduct. ¶ 25. Again, Washington neglects to apply the appropriate law to the appropriate facts. While McCarty does not allow single convictions on multiple count indictments, Counts 3 and 6, which arose did arise out of a single transaction, were severed from the other counts and tried separately. In fact, all of the counts were separated from each other, except for those intimately connected (like Counts 3 and 6). In McCarty, the motion to sever was denied. Id. at 914. If Washington had faced a single trial on all six counts, then he may have had a viable McCarty argument. ¶ 26. As for Washington's duplicity argument, one simply need examine the elements of the two charges to see that they are independent and distinct crimes. The crime of burglary was complete when Washington broke into and entered the Nettles residence with the intent to commit some crime while inside. At the same time, the armed robbery occurred when Washington took money from Mildred with force or threat of force while armed. Each crime could have occurred without the other, and different facts support each. Therefore, we find this issue to be without merit.