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McGowen v. State9/11/2003
NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 09/11/2003
. Hugh Wilton McGowen, Jr. (McGowen) was indicted for the crime of capital murder by the April 2000 Jackson County Grand Jury. More specifically, the indictment charged McGowen with the murder of Shelby Lynn Tucker while in the commission of the crime of kidnapping. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-19(2)(e). Following a four-day trial, a jury found McGowen guilty of capital murder and thereafter, upon being given the option of finding that McGowen could be sentenced to death or life without parole, the jury found that McGowen should be sentenced to life without parole in the state penitentiary. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-101(1). Four days after the jury verdict, the trial court entered its judgment consistent with the jury verdict and sentenced McGowen to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-101(1); Miss. Code Ann. § 47-7-3(1)(e) (Supp. 2001). McGowen's motion for a new trial was denied on March 21, 2002, and from that order McGowen has perfected this appeal.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT
. On February 27, 2000, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Vicki McGowen, McGowen's sister-in-law, called 911 to report missing her 4-year-old granddaughter, Shelby Lynn Tucker. Upon arriving at Vicki's residence, the Jackson County Sheriff's Deputies learned that Vicki put Shelby to bed around 10:00 p.m on February 26, 2000, and woke the following morning to discover her missing. The Sheriff's Deputies found no signs of forced entry and began a search for the absent child. Vicki told Deputy Sheriff Terry Dosher that McGowen had been the last person at her home around 2:00 a.m. that morning, February 27, 2000. Charles McGowen, Vicki McGowen's husband and Shelby's step-grandfather, added that his brother, Hugh McGowen, "liked little girls." At this point, Deputy Dosher sought to speak with McGowen.
. McGowen initially reported no knowledge of Shelby's whereabouts. However, during subsequent conversations with law enforcement officers, McGowen revealed the location of Shelby's body and produced objects related to her murder. On the afternoon of February 28, 2000, Sergeant Eddie Stewart and Lieutenant Louie Miller of the Pascagoula Police Department spoke with McGowen at his residence. McGowen dictated a map to the officers leading them to Shelby's body, and produced a blue plastic bag containing a blanket. "This is Shelby's blanket," he told the officers. "This is what she was wrapped up in." After Sergeant Stewart advised McGowen of his Miranda rights, McGowen volunteered further cooperation by taking the officers to a bridge where he located a piece of rope that he told the officers was "what I used to strangle her with." Sergeant Stewart transported McGowen to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, where McGowen offered an eleven-page statement.
. In his statement, McGowen testified that on the afternoon of February 26, 2000, he and his brother, Charles, traveled the short distance to Mobile, Alabama, to watch remote control car races. During their spectating and on the ride home, McGowen and his brother imbibed Old Milwaukee beer to the point of becoming drunk. When they returned to Charles's home around midnight, Charles passed out in the front seat of McGowen's company truck. Then, according to McGowen's statement, something "just clicked." McGowen took his brother's keys, went inside his brother's house, picked up Shelby, and took her to his residence in Charles's truck.
. Once inside his residence, McGowen made sexual contact with Shelby, touching her vagina with his fingers. Forensic reports later showed vaginal distension but
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