Jerome Davis was convicted of attempted murder after a jury trial in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court for shooting Kalvin Young once in the upper thigh with an AR-15 during a dice game at an apartment, causing life-threatening arterial injuries that required hospitalization. Davis appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove intent to kill and that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, holding that the State presented sufficient evidence because Davis’s words (“n****, I will bust your shit”), his retrieval of a fully loaded assault rifle, and the close-range shooting allowed a rational jury to infer intent to kill. The court further ruled that the verdict was not contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence, noting the jury’s access to surveillance video and witness testimony, and emphasizing that it does not reweigh evidence or reassess credibility on appeal.
The case involved a wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit filed by the widow of a deceased U.S. airman and three injured airmen against All About Painting and Cleaning, Inc. They sought to hold the company vicariously liable for the negligence of its employee, Emmett Bennett, who struck the victims with his vehicle after ingesting kratom and fentanyl-laced oxycodone during an unpaid lunch break while returning to a painting job on Keesler Air Force Base. The Harrison County Circuit Court granted summary judgment to All About, and the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed. The court held that Bennett was not acting within the course and scope of his employment when the collision occurred, as he was driving his personal vehicle after an unpaid break, had performed no work-related tasks, and had violated the company’s drug policy. Under longstanding precedent, an employer is not liable for an employee’s torts while commuting to or from work, even if the employee had clocked in remotely or believed he was returning to duty.
Christopher Thomas, a maintenance technician at Nissan North America, injured his left shoulder on the job in 2022 while pulling a heavy pallet, underwent rotator cuff surgery, and was later assigned a 5% permanent medical impairment rating to his left arm before returning to his regular duties without restrictions. He filed a workers’ compensation claim seeking permanent partial disability benefits based on a claimed industrial loss of use exceeding that rating. The administrative judge and full Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission awarded benefits only for the 5% medical impairment, finding Thomas had not shown greater industrial loss. On appeal, the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that substantial evidence supported the Commission’s decision because Thomas continued to perform the substantial acts of his usual employment—maintaining and repairing machinery—without demotion, discipline, or loss of productivity, and because pallet-pulling was not shown to be an essential function of the job.
Billy Magyar filed criminal affidavits charging Emily and James Shiers with malicious mischief, claiming that sewage from a leaking septic system on Emily’s property was damaging his driveway. The justice court dismissed the charges for lack of evidence, after which the Shierses sued Magyar in circuit court for malicious prosecution. Following a bench trial, the circuit judge found Magyar liable and awarded the Shierses $81,188 in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages. On appeal, the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the circuit judge did not clearly err in finding that Magyar acted without probable cause and with malice when he initiated the criminal proceedings. The court concluded that substantial evidence supported both the liability determination and the award of punitive damages.
In this Mississippi probate dispute, Melvin and Helen Brown appealed a chancery court ruling that invalidated a 2017 deed conveying Bessie Anderson’s home to them, which her godson Ronald Fitzgerald II had challenged after Bessie’s death. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision to set aside the deed and direct that the property pass to Ronald under Bessie’s will. The court held that substantial evidence supported the chancellor’s findings that Bessie suffered from a weakness of intellect at the time of the conveyance and that the consideration Melvin provided (including an alleged oral agreement allowing Bessie to remain in the home) was grossly inadequate, making those grounds alone sufficient to void the deed.
Kent Malone-Bey, identifying as Moorish American, filed a petition in chancery court seeking an order requiring the Mississippi State Board of Health to amend his birth certificate to add his self-identified race (“white: Asiatic/Moor”) and nationality, asserting that the omission impeded his religious expression and violated due process and equal protection. The chancery court denied relief, finding it lacked authority to grant the request, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The court held that state law and Board rules prescribe an official birth-certificate form that records only parents’ races and contains no field for a child’s race or nationality; while courts may correct errors or omissions in existing data fields under Miss. Code Ann. § 41-57-23, they cannot compel an agency to add new categories of information or perform administrative functions. The opinion further concluded that the uniform policy did not discriminate against Malone-Bey or burden his religious exercise, as the government is not constitutionally required to revise its record-keeping forms to align with an individual’s beliefs.
