Facts
On the afternoon of October 13, 2022, Travis Jones and his younger brothers, Jaclarence, LeBron, and Michael Jones, were at their home on Johnson Town Road in Lake, Mississippi. Travis was approximately sixteen years old. Their cousin Daylan Chapman had come over to play video games. On the way, Chapman had seen Tyrus Tillman, who was also sixteen years old, in the front yard of a nearby gray house down the street, dancing with a small gun in his hand. Chapman drove past Tillman without stopping to speak. A few moments later, Davion Thames, another friend of the Jones brothers, also arrived at the Joneses’ house. Everyone was playing video games but Travis, who was in a separate room by himself.
Earlier that day, Thames had been sending threatening messages to Tillman. One of the messages stated “Fixing to get this circle set up for you all boys.” The police investigation later discovered there was animosity between Tillman’s friends and Travis because Travis was dating the sister of one of Tillman’s friends. There was also an issue about a rap video or song made of Travis’s girlfriend. Tillman, however, denied having a problem with Travis.
Shortly after Thames arrived at the Joneses’ house, everyone decided to go to Walmart. They left in three separate vehicles, closely following one another, headed south on Johnson Town Road. Thames led in his white Chevy truck, carrying Travis’s three younger brothers—Jaclarence, LeBron, and Michael. Next was Chapman, alone in his Impala. Last was Travis, alone in his truck. They drove slowly past the gray house, where Tillman was still standing outside.
Chapman testified that when he passed the gray house, Tillman was alone, but with no gun in his hand this time. Chapman did not slow down or speak to Tillman. After passing the house, Chapman heard gunshots but could not tell what was happening behind him. Chapman testified that no bullets hit his vehicle, and he did not think any bullets hit Thames’s vehicle. Chapman was unsure if any shots were fired at his vehicle. He denied shooting at Tillman and did not see any guns firing from Thames’s vehicle in front of him. Chapman testified that neither he nor any of the other individuals driving past the gray house had guns. Chapman was not aware of a plan to do anything to Tillman. On cross-examination, the defense entered a photograph taken from social media of Travis, Travis’s brothers, Chapman, and other young men flashing gang signs. The exact date of the photograph was unknown. Chapman admitted to knowing about the local “Johnson Town Gang,” or “JTG,” but denied knowing whether the Jones brothers were in it at the time of the shooting.
Travis’s younger brother Michael, who was thirteen years old at the time of the shooting, testified that when he rode by the gray house, several people were standing outside, and three individuals had “guns up in the air.” It looked like they were firing them. One individual was Tillman, who was standing on the edge of the road. After passing the house, Michael testified that he heard gunshots and looked back to see that Travis’s truck had run off the road. Michael testified that nobody in his vehicle fired or flashed a weapon as they drove past the gray house, nor did they stop to talk to the individuals standing outside. Michael denied having a gun, and to his knowledge, neither Travis nor Chapman had one. Michael testified that Thames had a pistol in his glove compartment, but it was not used in the shooting. Michael denied that he or his brothers were in the JTG, but he thought Tillman was a member.
One of the first officers to arrive at the scene was Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee. Approximately twenty to thirty people were gathered in different areas. Sheriff Lee saw Travis’s wrecked truck in a wooded area along Johnson Town Road. Travis was still in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. The back glass of the truck was shot out. Travis was pronounced dead at the scene.
Other officers who arrived at the scene were Investigators Billy Patrick, Donald Simpson, and Michael McCarty. In addition, Major Willie Anderson went to the hospital to check on a thirteen-year-old victim who was shot in the leg by a stray bullet while at a nearby trailer. After thirty minutes, Major Anderson went to the scene. He observed a bullet hole on the lower driver’s side door of Travis’s truck and another on the tailgate. The rear window of the truck was missing, and both front and rear driver’s side headrests had bullet holes in them. Major Anderson testified that the bullet hole on the driver’s side door looked like a bullet was shot relatively straight into the side of the truck.
In the front yard of the gray house, officers found a total of seventy-four shell casings in three separate clusters—two clusters of nine-millimeter shells and one cluster of .45- caliber casings. The nine-millimeter clusters were closer to the road; the .45-caliber cluster was closer to the gray house near a magnolia tree, which was also struck by bullets. Travis’s truck was located on the other side of the magnolia tree, where the cluster of .45-caliber casings was found. Officers found four or five AK-47 rifle casings further south on Johnson Town Road, but officers could not determine their source.
Witnesses gave officers conflicting reports of what happened. Some witnesses told officers that two other individuals, Dashiel Ernest and Zykevious Johnson, were shooting on their end of the road. Other witnesses told officers that Travis’s brothers were firing shots; however, no physical evidence, such as shell casings or projectiles, was found indicating that the individuals in the three vehicles had fired in the direction of the gray house.
On October 17, 2022, four days after the shooting, Tillman was arrested and gave the first of three statements to law enforcement. Major Anderson and Investigator Patrick read Tillman his Miranda rights, which he waived. Major Anderson testified that, initially, Tillman denied being present at the shooting. However, Tillman ultimately confessed to his presence and that he was shooting a nine-millimeter gun at the location of the shell casings. After an interview lasting approximately two hours, Investigator Patrick reduced Tillman’s statement to writing, which Tillman signed. His first statement was entered into evidence and read:
I was at Mark Wilson’s old house on Johnson Town Road. I was with Joshua Nicks and a guy I only know as Backend [Cenarius Morgan].[3] We all had guns. I received a phone call on Instagram on Joshua’s phone saying they was going to kill me. It was Davion [Thames] and Jock [Jacquez Evans4]. A few minutes later, they come driving through. [Thames] was driving a white truck and an Impala [Chapman] was behind [Thames]. There was another truck that was following [Thames] and the Impala. We thought [Thames] and the Impala [Chapman] was about to start shooting at me. So I pointed my 9mm pistol and started shooting. Joshua starts shooting as well. And the guy I knew as Backend, he started shooting as well. We didn’t mean to shoot the last vehicle. It was kind of coming into the shooting that was going on. After we stopped shooting, we could still hear some gunshots going on at the end of the road. Me and Josh got into the vehicle with Backend and left. He took me to the Brusher community where he dropped me off. I stayed in Brusher by myself while Josh and Backend left. As we was leaving from Johnson Town Road, we could still hear a lot of shooting going on at the end of the road. I took my 9mm pistol and gave it to Octavious Polk to keep for me. Later the same day, I talked to Dashiel Ernest, and he told me that he didn’t know that we were shooting down at Mark’s house. And I told Dashiel that we didn’t know that they were shooting on that end of the road. I know that it was Dashiel and Zykevious Johnson shooting on their end because Dashiel told me so. Zykevious shot twice and his gun hung up, and he took off running. They were shooting at [Thames]’s truck. I also talked to Jordan Pace that day, and he tells me he was shooting as well. (Emphasis added).
Major Anderson testified that Tillman admitted no one in the three vehicles fired a weapon, brandished a weapon, or made “any threats whatsoever[;] . . . [t]hey just started shooting” as the vehicles passed the gray house. Tillman told Major Anderson there was “beef” with Thames, who was in the lead vehicle, but not with Travis, who was driving the last vehicle. Major Anderson testified that Thames was not injured, but Travis, an “innocent bystander,” was killed.
Major Anderson and Investigator Patrick conducted two more follow-up interviews with Tillman—on October 19 and October 31, 2022—to determine who fired what weapon. For both interviews, Tillman again waived his Miranda rights. The October 19 interview was verbal only, but Major Anderson testified that he took notes during the interviews, which were later transferred to a supplemental report and admitted for identification purposes only.
During Tillman’s third statement on October 31, 2022, Tillman himself wrote the following statement, which was entered into evidence:
They met up down the street from my house at his house then [Thames] text me saying they finna spin in[.] Jock said he was finna kill me so when I see him he told me I better shoot my gun. They came through, I shot[,] my brudda shot Backend shot[,] then more shooting went on[,] then Lil Tim started shooting. Cenarious Morgan aka Backend [was] shooting a 45 glock. Lil Tim aka Shooter [was shooting] a glock 9. Jock was shooting a 9. I was shooting a 9 Sar that Gray sold to me [for] 300 dollars. I stay with Jordan Pace.
Major Anderson testified that Tillman assisted law enforcement in recovering the nine-millimeter Sar pistol he used. Major Anderson agreed with the prosecutor that “it sounds like from the statements, Mr. Tillman is basically saying he was shooting in self-defense or in fear” of Thames and Jock. However, Major Anderson also agreed that the evidence in the investigation did not support Tillman’s claim of acting in self-defense because “[n]one of the drivers or occupants in the three vehicles produced any weapons whatsoever.”
A Scott County jury convicted Tyrus Tillman as charged for the first-degree murder of Travis Jones. The trial court sentenced him to serve forty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Tillman argued that his motion to suppress should have been granted. MCOA found no error with the trial court’s denial of Tillman’s motion to suppress (however, this case was reversed due to a jury instruction issue).
Analysis
Before trial, Tillman wrote a letter from the county jail to the Scott County Clerk of Court requesting dismissal of his charges because Major Anderson and Investigator Patrick ignored his request for an attorney and continued their interviews in violation of his Miranda rights. Tillman further contended that the officers threatened and coerced him to waive his Miranda rights and to give the statements.
The trial court held a suppression hearing, outside the presence of the jury, where Major Anderson, Investigator Patrick, and Tillman testified.
Major Anderson and Investigator Patrick testified that they took all three statements from Tillman, but none were audio or video recorded. Anderson testified that during the first statement on October 17, he read Tillman his Miranda rights. No threats or offers of reward or leniency were made to induce the statement. Tillman then blurted out to the court, “He’s lying.” Anderson reiterated that no threats were made and continued that Tillman never asked for an attorney to be present or for the questioning to stop during the two-hour interview. Additionally, Anderson testified, “We actually took our time to explain each one of them [Miranda rights] to him because of his age [and] . . . education level. Made sure that [we] put it in layman’s terms to make sure that he understood it.” Tillman acknowledged that he understood his rights, but the officers “went back through them again just to make sure.” Also, on the Miranda waiver form, Tillman marked “yes” to understanding that he had the right to talk to an attorney and that he wanted to speak to the officers. Anderson testified that Tillman gave a verbal statement which Investigator Patrick wrote down in Anderson’s presence. Tillman signed the statement, which was entered into evidence. However, Anderson admitted that there were many verbal statements by Tillman not reduced to writing during the interview, but they were included in the supplemental police report, which was entered into evidence only for identification purposes. Major Anderson testified that for Tillman’s second and third statements on October 19 and 31, Tillman was properly given his Miranda warning, and there were no threats, promises, or offers to induce the statements. Further, Anderson again testified that Tillman did not request an attorney but agreed to talk to the officers. Tillman signed a Miranda waiver form in acknowledgment. Investigator Patrick’s testimony confirmed Anderson’s testimony about the interviews.
Tillman, however, testified that on October 17, his mother and grandmother took him to the police station, where Major Anderson led Tillman to a conference room and told his mother they would be right back. Then Anderson told Tillman that his mother and grandmother had left him and started questioning. Tillman initially denied that he was on the scene. He recounted that he was asked to sign a paper but did not know “what it was.” Tillman testified that he was told “it’s not saying you’re doing anything or you did anything.” Tillman denied giving a statement on October 17 and stated that on that day, he was arrested, booked, and confined to “lockdown” for two days. The officers then questioned Tillman again, and he contended that is when he made his first statement. Tillman testified that he asked for an attorney but was told “[Y]ou didn’t do anything, why you need an attorney? You’re not getting no attorney until I talk to you.” Tillman also testified that he asked to call his mother so she could get him an attorney but was told “they already know where you at.” Tillman denied being read his Miranda rights and claimed he was denied his repeated requests for an attorney. However, Tillman admitted his signature was on the Miranda waiver forms. Tillman testified that he was denied an attorney during the second interview as well. He did not request an attorney during the third interview, however, because “[t]hey kept denying me my right to an attorney. Told me I won’t get one. Finally, Tillman claimed the first statement which Anderson wrote down for him was not his words but “[w]ords that they put in my mouth.”
Tillman first argues that the practice by law enforcement of not recording his interviews, either by video or audio, “deprived Tillman of a reliable determination” regarding the voluntariness of his confessions. Tillman also complains that his two-hour interview was condensed by the officers into a two-page statement written by them, which “cherry-picked” Tillman’s narrative, creating an inaccurate statement, which a recording would have rectified. However, Tillman cites no legal authority in support of his complaints. Indeed, in Mississippi, neither our courts nor our constitution require that custodial interrogations be recorded. See MSC Williams v. State, 522 So. 2d 201 (Miss. 1988). Further, the absence of such a recording does not render the statements inadmissible. We find no merit to this argument.
Tillman also argues that his suppression hearing was “unreliable” because too many essential facts were undeveloped and unexplored. We disagree. Tillman’s suppression hearing followed the proper procedure. Tillman and the two officers performing the interviews testified at length and in detail. Tillman was represented by counsel, who cross-examined the officers. Just because the officers’ and Tillman’s testimonies differed regarding the circumstances of the interview does not mean the hearing itself was “unreliable” or improper. The trial court did not err in admitting Tillman’s three statements. Under our standard of review, the trial court did not commit manifest error or apply an incorrect legal standard but properly found there was substantial credible evidence that Tillman waived his right to counsel and that his confessions were voluntary.