Thursday, August 3, 2017

Fondren carjacker's conviction reversed thanks to D.A. & Judge.

JPD catches them while the Hinds County criminal justice system does its darndest to turn them loose.  The Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of  Kadarius White and sent his case back to circuit court for a new trial.  The District Attorney had a recording of White confessing his crimes to his girlfriend for two years but did not tell the defendant about the recording's existence until the morning of the trial's first day.  Judge Winston Kidd did not grant a continuance to White so he could review the evidence.


White went on a crime spree back in 2013:

¶4. In August 2013, a Hinds County grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against White. The  indictment alleged as follows: On April 7, 2013, White used a gun to take Scott Penman’s wallet and cell phone (Count I – armed robbery) and white Toyota Corolla (Count II – armed carjacking). On April 22, 2013, White used a gun to take Shelley Davis’s purse (Count III – armed robbery) and Jeep Cherokee (Count IV – armed carjacking). On April 22, 2013, White also used a gun to take LaQuinta Thomas’s purse (Count V – armed robbery) and Honda Civic (Count VI – armed carjacking). On April 23, 2013, White used a gun to take Destiny Taylor’s wallet and cash (Count VII – armed robbery) and Ford Fusion (Count VIII – armed carjacking). And on April 24, 2013, White possessed a Hyundai Sonata that had been stolen from Tabitha Bailey and that White knew or had reasonable grounds to know that the vehicle was stolen (Count IX –  possession of stolen property).
 Following a jury trial, White was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, two counts of armed carjacking, and possession of stolen property. He was sentenced to four terms of twenty-five years and one term of ten years, all to be served concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

One bad dude.  However, even bad dudes have rights and are protected from trial by ambush.  The Court stated:

Just prior to opening statements, the district attorney disclosed that the State possessed approximately ninety-five minutes of recorded phone conversations involving White, and the State intended to introduce unspecified parts of the recordings, including an alleged “confession,” into evidence at trial. The recordings had been in the State’s possession for two years, but despite a specific discovery request by White, the State had failed to disclose their existence. The trial judge delayed opening statements just long enough for White’s attorney to listen to the recordings but denied White’s request for a continuance or mistrial.

White arrested in April 2013 and held at the Simpson County jail. Hinds County was forced to ship its prisoners to neighboring jurisdictions after inmates destroyed pod C in a riot at the Raymond Detention Center at the time.   White was dumb enough to call his girlfriend on the jailhouse phones and discuss his criminal activities:

thereafter. Within a few days of White’s arrest, Captain Fred Williams of the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department obtained recordings of phone calls placed by White from the jail to an unidentified female. Captain Williams notified JPD Detective Williams of the evidence, and Detective Williams and Detective West promptly traveled to Simpson County to retrieve the recordings. Detective Williams testified that he recognized White’s voice on the recordings...


The District Attorney tried to place the blame on JPD:


On Monday, May 4, 2015, a jury was selected. At the end of the day, the judge told the jurors and the parties to report back ready to begin trial at 9 a.m. The next morning, just before opening statements, the district attorney announced: “This morning, Your Honor, we received a CD. . . where Mr. White was recorded from the Simpson County jail speaking to his girlfriend, and he also basically confessed to committing certain crimes in this case. The defendant did not get this because we just received [it] this morning.” In response to the judge’s questions, the district attorney admitted that although he claimed that he had “just received” the CD, it had been in Detective West’s possession for two years. Defense counsel informed the judge that the district attorney’s announcement was the “first time” he had heard about the CD.....

They sparred back and forth but Judge Kidd allowed the prosecution to play excerpts of the recordings in court.  The D.A. didn't even provide a list of excerpts until 8:59 AM on the day they were presented in the courtroom.
The recorded conversations were rather damning (Read #20 on page 10 in the opinion posted below for the actual conversations.).   However,  the Court gutted the D.A.'s attempt to blame JPD:

the explanation given for the discovery violation does not hold up.  The district attorney claimed that the CD was overlooked because it was “part of a number of investigations,” all related and involving White. In other words, the CD was relevant to so many cases that the State forgot that it should be produced to the person recorded, who was under indictment in five such cases. Even White’s specific discovery request in January 2014 did not prompt the State to correct this regrettable “oversight.” Only sixteen months later, after a jury was selected and just prior to opening statements, did the State suddenly realize that it should turn over the CD to White. It is difficult to imagine a clearer violation of Rule 9.04.

The Court said the rule is supposed to prevent "trial by ambush" and it was clearly violated in this case.  It said the defense based a substantial part of its argument on an inability of the police to link the guns to White.  However, the recordings "seriously undermined"  that claim and did so with no warning to the defense.  Meanwhile, the prosecution ran up and down the field with the recordings in its closing arguments as Mr. Smith argued White confessed in the recordings.

Kingfish note: Total incompetence all the way around but hey, this is what the voters of Hinds County want. 


*Rule 9.04:

If during the course of trial, the prosecution attempts to introduce evidence which has not been timely disclosed to the defense as required by these rules, and the defense objects to the introduction for that reason, the court shall act as follows:

1. Grant the defense a reasonable opportunity to interview the newly discovered witness, to examine the newly produced documents, photographs or other evidence; and

2. If, after such opportunity, the defense claims unfair surprise or undue prejudice and seeks a continuance or mistrial, the court shall, in the interest of justice and absent unusual circumstances, exclude the evidence or grant a
continuance for a period of time reasonably necessary for the defense to meet the non-disclosed
evidence or grant a mistrial.

3. The court shall not be required to grant either a continuance or mistrial for such a discovery violation if the prosecution withdraws its efforts to introduce such evidence.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least Danny Glover and the mayor can't show up and blame the incompetence on white racism.

Anonymous said...

10:26 Why not? After all, don't confuse me with the facts my mind is made up

Anonymous said...

Yall clearly dont know how much Madison and Rankin and other court judges are reversed. Lets be fair in our reporting

Anonymous said...

@ 11:38 I think the post points to RSS lying about how long the evidence was known to exist and the judge still allowing it in to the trial despite the "last minute" arrival of those phone calls.

Go watch My Cousin Vinny before you start your "What about Madison and Rankin?" crap.

Kingfish said...

Really? The decisions and hand downs are online. Show me some.

Anonymous said...

RSS and Judge Kidd are both beyond awful and I hope people remember these guy when he commits another crime.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, just a friendly reminder to inject race into everything! Y'all are doing a great job! Keep up the good work!

-the 1860's

Anonymous said...

2:19, facts speak for themselves. Race can be determined and applied to facts. Determine the cause of the remand, analyze against other judges or DAs, do whatever analysis you choose. Then if the facts produce results that have a racial connection - its not the 1860's. Its not racism. It is admitting an issue that some folks don't wear enough blinders to overlook.

Anonymous said...

Incompetence is incompetence, regardless of race. Forget the race of the people involved -- just concentrate on the deeds and misdeeds and crimes and cost of retrial. We are doomed as a county and as a city if incompetent people continue in elected office. It is not racist to point out the constant blunders of an elected official. It is public education of the voter by an informed press. No matter what your race, being represented by the equivalent of one of the three stooges is everyone's concern, or should be.

Unknown said...

Hey Fish. Based upon this judges reasoning, looks like the conviction of Butler may either be thrown out (?) or sent back for re-trial as his defenses tried for years to see the video that was first shown on the first day of his trial. Or do I have that wrong?

So are so we saying trial by ambush is OK? Incompetence on the part of prosecute rs should not be rewarded by judges. Wouldn't a judges additional incompetence by not following the law be even worse. Hey this is too hard, Let's go back to tar and feathering in the town square. Lynch sweet tea anyone?

Anonymous said...

Yelling incompetence does not get you noticed as much as yelling racist.
Racist is the catch all of excuses. When there is nothing else that can be used for an excuse yelling racist is the answer.

Anonymous said...

Still waiting on the list for all of the Madison/ Rankin reversals. Criminal cases there have been about 3 in the last decade and the trial judges top the list for number of cases tried in the state. The AOC maintains the numbers. Even the C-L has run articles about the high number of cases tried and the low reversal rate. So why make a false statement about the Madison/Rankin system?

Anonymous said...

Timothy Norman v. State, 2014-1789
Reginald Desmond Wallace v. State, 2014-1131
Edward M. Myers v. State, 2013-0226
Carl Richard Cook, 2012-1553

Anonymous said...

classic example of why everyone want to work for the government. you have no liability , no mater how bad you foul things up.

Anonymous said...

a case handed down back in the early 1990s by the supreme court call Stringer v state said that when prosecutors pull a stunt like this that they would be required to pay for the retrial out of their office budget. why the COA failed to apply that is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

the COA may have reversed this case , but as for the trial judge that allowed this train wreak to take place, no stern warning , no rebuke, no disiplinary action, no nothing.


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