Cotton v. State
Docket Number: | 2004-KA-02161-COA | |
Court of Appeals: |
Opinion Link Opinion Date: 07-18-2006 Opinion Author: Lee, P.J. Holding: Affirmed |
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Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Murder - Manslaughter instruction - Photographs - Sufficiency of evidence Judge(s) Concurring: King, C.J., Myers, P.J., Southwick, Irving, Chandler, Griffis, Barnes, Ishee and Roberts, JJ. Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY |
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Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 09-29-2004 Appealed from: DeSoto County Circuit Court Judge: George B. Ready Disposition: CONVICTED OF MURDER AND SENTENCED TO LIFE IN THE CUSTODY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS District Attorney: JOHN W. CHAMPION Case Number: CR-2004-0493 RD |
Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
Appellant: | Joe Henry Cotton |
JOHN D. WATSON |
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Appellee: | State of Mississippi | OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: SCOTT STUART |
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Synopsis provided by: If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
Topic: | Murder - Manslaughter instruction - Photographs - Sufficiency of evidence |
Summary of the Facts: | Joe Cotton was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life. He appeals. |
Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Issue 1: Manslaughter instruction Cotton argues that the court erroneously rejected his proposed manslaughter instruction. While a defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed regarding his theory of the case, the court may properly refuse an instruction if it states the law incorrectly, is covered elsewhere in the instructions, or is without an evidentiary foundation. Nothing in the record indicates that Cotton killed the victim in the heat of passion. Indeed, Cotton’s testimony was that he did not see, much less shoot, the victim that night. Issue 2: Photographs Cotton argues that the court erred in admitting photographs of the victim into evidence. Photographs have evidentiary value where they aid in describing the circumstances of the killing and the corpus delicti, describe the location of the body and cause of death, and supplement or clarify witness testimony. The photographs in this case fulfill all three of these criteria. The pictures depict the circumstances of the shooting, the location of the body and the cause of death, specifically that the victim was killed while sitting in her car. The pictures also supplement and clarify the testimony of the crime-scene investigators regarding the location of the wounds, the trajectory of the bullets, and the number of the bullets. Issue 3: Sufficiency of evidence The evidence of Cotton’s guilt is overwhelming, notwithstanding a witness’s testimony that Cotton was not the man she saw run towards the pond and dispose of the gun. A witness from the Mississippi Crime Laboratory testified that the bullets retrieved from the victim’s body were fired from a gun with the same serial number as the gun Cotton had retrieved from the pawn shop two days prior to the shooting. The gun bearing this serial number was found in the section of the pond where witnesses testified they saw a man toss an unidentified object. A witness identified Cotton as the man he saw running from the direction of the shooting and toss an object into the pond. |
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