Turner v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed Kelvin Turner's conviction for aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer and his thirty-year sentence as a habitual offender. The court held that the evidence was sufficient, that conflicts in witness testimony were for the jury to resolve, and that the challenge to the admission and use of prior convictions was procedurally barred and meritless.

Holdings

1. The evidence was sufficient to support Turner's conviction for aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer because testimony that he pointed a handgun at Officer Dean and pulled the trigger permitted a reasonable and fair-minded juror to find the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. Conflicts and inconsistencies in the testimony did not warrant reversal because credibility determinations and resolution of conflicting evidence are within the province of the jury.
3. The challenge to the State's reference to Turner's prior convictions was procedurally barred because Turner did not object at trial. In any event, the reference was not error because Turner himself introduced the convictions to support his credibility, and the State could ask the jury to consider the same facts in evaluating credibility.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to prove Turner guilty of aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. Whether inconsistencies and contradictions in the testimony, including the absence of gun testing and uncertainty about the second trigger pull, required reversal.
3. Whether the trial court erred by admitting or permitting reference to evidence of Turner's prior convictions.

Disposition

affirmed