Neville Patterson

This case involves John Buford Irving III's application for post-conviction collateral relief to vacate his 1976 capital murder conviction and death sentence under Mississippi's Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act. Irving had been tried and sentenced to death under a bifurcated procedure, with the sentence later vacated by a federal court due to ineffective assistance regarding his right to testify, leading to resentencing and another death penalty upheld on appeal. The Mississippi Supreme Court denied the application, finding that all raised issues had either been previously adjudicated and were thus res judicata or were procedurally barred for not being raised in prior proceedings. On rehearing, the court reaffirmed the denial, emphasizing that claims lacked new evidence or authority and noting the extensive prior litigation across state and federal courts. The petition for rehearing was denied, with an execution date set.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved a workers' compensation claim by Arlis Edgar Etheridge against his employer Penrod Drilling Company and its insurer for a back injury allegedly sustained on the job in November 1980. An administrative law judge and the full Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission denied the claim, finding that Etheridge failed to prove a causal connection between his injury and his employment based on contradictions in his testimony, statements on a "hurt sheet," and testimony from other employees. The Circuit Court of Warren County reversed the denial, concluding it was not supported by substantial evidence due to reliance on "negative testimony" from biased witnesses. On appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the circuit court and reinstated the Commission's order, holding that the Commission is the fact-finder whose determinations supported by substantial evidence—including negative testimony—must be upheld, and that the circuit court's scope of review had been misapplied under Mississippi Code Annotated § 71-3-51.

labor & employmentprocedure

In Hill v. Dunaway, plaintiff John Steve Hill sued defendant James E. Dunaway for personal injuries sustained when Dunaway's car crashed after the two men had been drinking beer on a drive to the Mississippi Gulf Coast; Hill, a passenger, claimed severe leg injuries and over $41,000 in medical and wage losses, and a jury awarded him $50,000. Hill appealed, arguing that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on comparative negligence, which he claimed lacked evidentiary support and improperly reduced his recovery. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the verdict, holding that the instruction was warranted because the record contained credible evidence that Hill knew or should have known of Dunaway's drowsiness and intoxication yet failed to exercise reasonable care for his own safety, allowing the jury to apportion fault under the state's comparative negligence rule.

torts & liability

Mrs. Mozell Satcher sued several physicians and a nurse at the University of Mississippi Medical Center after her infant was stillborn during delivery in 1979, alleging negligence in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of her labor. The defendants filed demurrers to her amended declaration, which the trial court sustained, dismissing the case with prejudice. On appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, holding that the declaration contained only general legal conclusions about the defendants' duties and failures without specifying any particular acts or omissions constituting negligence. The court reasoned that pleadings are construed most strongly against the pleader and must allege facts sufficient to state a cause of action, applying pre-1982 procedural standards. A dissent argued that the allegations were adequate to proceed to further development and that the trial court improperly treated merit-based defenses as affirmative defenses.

proceduretorts & liabilityhealthcare

George David Tokman, convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in Hinds County Circuit Court, filed a motion under the Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act to vacate his conviction and sentence after the state supreme court had affirmed them and the U.S. Supreme Court had denied certiorari. Among his nineteen claims, Tokman asserted that he received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, citing twelve specific instances. The state agreed that many of these claims could not be resolved on the existing record and required an evidentiary hearing. The court therefore granted Tokman leave to proceed in the trial court solely on the ineffective-assistance issue, while denying rehearing and clarifying its prior opinion.

criminal law

The case was an appeal by Don Henry Pace from his arson conviction and six-year sentence in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, Mississippi, arising from allegations that he paid Terry Rhudy to burn a competing saloon called the Bottom Dollar. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in a majority opinion. The court reasoned that the state's evidence, including Rhudy's testimony corroborated by other witnesses and the fire marshal, was sufficient for the jury to find guilt; there was no prosecutorial misconduct; the trial court properly exercised discretion to limit cross-examination of a state witness on irrelevant matters concerning her past; and the trial judge's inquiry into the jury's numerical division without identifying votes for guilt or innocence did not violate precedent or coerce the verdict. A dissent argued that the jury inquiry improperly referenced guilt or innocence and likely influenced the holdout juror, warranting reversal.

criminal lawprocedure