Rouster v. State


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Docket Number: 2006-KA-00451-COA
Linked Case(s): 2006-KA-00451-COA

Court of Appeals: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 11-20-2007
Opinion Author: BARNES, J.
Holding: Affirmed

Additional Case Information: Topic: Murder & Aggravated assault - Cross-examination - Propensity for violence - M.R.E. 401 - M.R.E. 402 - M.R.E. 403 - M.R.E. 404(a)(2)
Judge(s) Concurring: KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., IRVING, CHANDLER, GRIFFIS, ISHEE, ROBERTS AND CARLTON, JJ.
Procedural History: Jury Trial
Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 12-15-2005
Appealed from: Hinds County Circuit Court
Judge: Bobby DeLaughter
Disposition: CONVICTED OF COUNT 1 - MURDER AND COUNTS 2 AND 3 - AGGRAVATED ASSAULT. SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AS TO COUNT I AND TWENTY YEARS IN THE CUSTODY OF MDOC FOR EACH OF COUNTS 2 AND 3. SENTENCES FOR ALL COUNTS TO RUN CONSECUTIVELY.
District Attorney: Eleanor Faye Peterson
Case Number: 050497

  Party Name: Attorney Name:   Brief(s) Available:
Appellant: DARON J. ROUSTER




SHAUN EREN YURTKURAN



 
  • Appellant #1 Brief

  • Appellee: STATE OF MISSISSIPPI OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: DEIRDRE MCCRORY  

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    Topic: Murder & Aggravated assault - Cross-examination - Propensity for violence - M.R.E. 401 - M.R.E. 402 - M.R.E. 403 - M.R.E. 404(a)(2)

    Summary of the Facts: Daron Rouster was convicted of murder and two charges of aggravated assault. Rouster was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder charge and twenty years for each aggravated assault charge. He appeals.

    Summary of Opinion Analysis: Rouster argues that the court abused its discretion in excluding testimony about whether the two victims of aggravated assault were smoking marijuana at the time of the incident. While the scope of cross-examination is usually broad, the trial judge retains the inherent power and discretion to limit cross-examination to relevant matters. Rouster presented no evidence that smoking marijuana increases a person’s propensity for violence generally. Nor did Rouster present any evidence suggesting specifically that the victim’s propensity for violence might be increased by the smoking of marijuana since, as the trial judge pointed out, marijuana, as alcohol, affects people in different ways. Therefore, the court properly excluded the evidence under M.R.E. 401, 402 and 403. Moreover, the testimony would not be admissible under an exception to M.R.E. 404(a)(2). At the time the defense counsel attempted to elicit this testimony, during the State’s case-in-chief, Rouster had not established the victim as the initial aggressor or claimed self-defense. Also, no evidence was presented that marijuana smoking is linked with a propensity for violence either generally or regarding the victim specifically. To the extent that older authority holds evidence of intoxication is admissible in a self-defense claim, the trial court properly excluded such possible evidence by balancing its probative and prejudicial effects under M.R.E. 403. The trial court found the proposed testimony would have no probative value because the possible testimony of marijuana usage was not linked to a propensity for violence.


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