Tucker v. State


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Docket Number: 2010-KA-00305-COA

Court of Appeals: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 06-07-2011
Opinion Author: Griffis, P.J.
Holding: Affirmed.

Additional Case Information: Topic: Attempted kidnapping - Admission of photograph - M.R.E. 401 - M.R.E. 402 - M.R.E. 403
Judge(s) Concurring: Lee, C.J., Irving, P.J., Myers, Barnes, Ishee, Roberts, Carlton and Maxwell, JJ.
Non Participating Judge(s): Russell, J.
Procedural History: Jury Trial
Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 04-06-2010
Appealed from: Coahoma County Circuit Court
Judge: Kenneth L. Thomas
Disposition: Convicted of Attempted Kidnapping and Sentenced to Ten Years in the Custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and Ordered to Register as a Sex Offender
District Attorney: Brenda Fay Mitchell
Case Number: 2009-0016

  Party Name: Attorney Name:  
Appellant: Matthew Chester Tucker




HUNTER N. AIKENS, LESLIE S. LEE, ALLAN D. SHACKELFORD



 

Appellee: State of Mississippi OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: JOHN R. HENRY JR.  

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Topic: Attempted kidnapping - Admission of photograph - M.R.E. 401 - M.R.E. 402 - M.R.E. 403

Summary of the Facts: Matthew Tucker was convicted of attempted kidnapping. He appeals.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: Tucker argues that the trial judge committed reversible error when he allowed a photograph of handcuffs on the floorboard of Tucker’s car into evidence. He argues that because the photograph was taken over two months after the incident at issue had occurred, its content was too remote in time to be relevant. It was within the trial judge’s discretion to determine that the photograph of handcuffs in Tucker’s car was relevant under M.R.E. 401 and 402, even though it was taken more than two months after the alleged attempted kidnapping had occurred. The evidence established that on September 15, 2008, and on December 29, 2008, Tucker traveled from his home in Panola County to Clarksdale, Coahoma County. When the officer asked Tucker why he was in Clarksdale on December 29, Tucker told the officer that he was “driving around looking for women.” Later, in Tucker’s statement to the police, he stated: “I have rode [sic] around Clarksdale about four or five times looking for women to meet, and have saw [sic] children that aroused me about three of those times.” The presence of handcuffs in Tucker’s car on December 29 was offered to establish that, on his trips to Clarksdale to “look for women,” Tucker was not looking for consensual relationships. Tucker also argues that the photograph presented a danger of unfair prejudice that substantially outweighed its probative value under M.R.E. 403. The photograph at issue in this case had sufficient probative value.


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