One hour traffic stop was reasonable based on the facts of this case
Facts In 2004, Brandy Stewart Yates left her husband of eight years, James Yates, Jr., and their two young children to travel with defendant Joseph Goff. Brandy had become acquainted with Goff while working as a waitress at the Bama Barn, a bar in Theodore, Alabama. Brandy checked into room 121 at Rocky Creek Inn […]
Identification was reliable despite the suggestiveness of the single photo
Facts Billy Joe Anderson was indicted for the 2002 armed robbery of Jerry’s Appliance Center in Utica, Mississippi. At the time of the robbery, there were only two employees working at Jerry’s – Bryan Hales and Lynda Stephens. They heard the door open and saw two males enter the store. One man was tall and […]
In the past can mean one day in an affidavit
Facts On January 22, 2003, a confidential informant (CI) reported to Shannon Bullock, an investigator with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, that he had witnessed the possession and distribution of cocaine at the home of Jimmie Roach. In turn, Bullock relayed this information to another Hinds County investigator, Richard Spooner. On the same day, Spooner […]
Officer smell can be the basis for probable cause
Facts In 2006, Kendrick Cowan was traveling with Roderick Cowan and Alvin Wiseman on Highway 78, while en route from Memphis, Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia. The three men rented a car and were on their way to Atlanta, a source city for narcotics, where Kendrick Cowan was going to buy a car advertised on the […]
Police can move car before obtaining search warrant if they have probable cause
Facts In 2005, Vicksburg police responded to a report of a dead female lying face down next to a garbage dumpster at the Vicksburg Hotel, an apartment complex in downtown Vicksburg. Officer Billy Brown and Sergeant Virgil Woodall determined: 1) the deceased was Chenara Young, 2) she died of blunt force trauma, and 3) due to […]
totality of the circumstances is used to determine if a defendant intelligently, knowingly, and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights
Facts In 2002, while working at the Cash Depot in Jackson, Paula Kay Dinkins was shot in the head during an armed robbery; she was found dead, kneeling in front of an empty safe that previously had contained $2,200. After an investigation which revealed William Scott to be a possible suspect, an ex-girlfriend of Scott’s […]