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Clark v. State6/7/2005
NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED: 06/07/2005
BEFORE KING, C.J., IRVING AND GRIFFIS, JJ.
. Charles Clark was convicted of aggravated assault with weapon in the Circuit Court of Hinds County. He was sentenced to serve twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Clark contends that: (1) the trial court erred by admitting the second knife into evidence, (2) the trial court erred in granting the motion in limine barring any mention of the civil suit pending between David Woodruff, the victim, and Gateway Rescue Mission, (3) the trial court erred in excluding Clark's testimony regarding his fears of Durham and Woodruff, and (4) the trial court erred in refusing jury instruction D-9. We find no error and affirm.
FACTS
. Gateway Rescue Mission was home to David B. Woodruff, Tom Durham, and Charles Clark. The three men were employees as well as residents. However, during the trial, their relationship was consistently described as "hostile" and "difficult."
. On July 3, 2002, Durham informed Woodruff that Clark had urinated in the sink. Woodruff confronted Clark about the reported conduct. After this warning, the parties' stories are inconsistent. Clark testified that Woodruff and Durham came to his room yelling and threatening to physically harm him. Woodruff testified that such threats were never made. Rather, it was Woodruff's testimony that he merely admonished Clark and reprimanded him for his behavior.
. After the confrontation, it is undisputed that Woodruff left Clark and went into the lounge where he sat talking and smoking a cigarette with Joseph Evans. Clark took a knife from his room and proceeded to the lounge. Clark entered the lounge and attacked Woodruff. Clark stabbed Woodruff once in the abdomen and once in the leg. Ted Downing distracted Clark by throwing a milk carton at him allowing Woodruff time to escape. Clark then dropped the knife and ran out of the building. He went to a nearby building that Gateway used to house transients and remained there until police arrived. When the police arrived, they found Clark sitting with a knife in his hand. Police talked to Clark for approximately five minutes until Clark surrendered the knife. Clark surrendered without further incident and was arrested.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
. The standard of review for denial of a motion for directed verdict or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict is the same. Alford v. State, 656 So. 2d 1186, 1189 (Miss.1995). Once the jury has returned a guilty verdict, neither the trial court nor this Court is at liberty to direct that the defendant be found not guilty unless, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, no reasonable, hypothetical juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty. Conners v. State, 822 So. 2d 290, 293 ( ) (MisS.Ct. App. 2001). This Court must consider as true all evidence consistent with the defendant's guilt, and the State must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences. McClain v. State, 625 So. 2d 774, 778 (Miss.1993). It is not for this Court to pass on the credibility of witnesses, and where the evidence justifies the verdict, it must be accepted as having been found worthy of belief. Grooms v. State, 357 So. 2d 292, 295 (Miss.1978). Under this standard of review, we look at the evidence presented at trial that favors the guilty verdict.
ANALYSIS
I. Whether the Trial Court Erred by Admitting the Second Knife into Evidence
. Clark's first assignment of error is that the trial court erred by admitting a second knife into evidence. Clar
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