Amy
04-17-2004, 07:09 PM
JACK ELLIOTT JR.
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - Warren County prosecutors have asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to reinstate the molestation conviction of a Vicksburg man.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agree to hear the case.
The state Court of Appeals last year threw out Raymond Helton Friley Jr.'s conviction. The Appeals Court also ordered Friley released from prison.
The Appeals Court said the jury in the 2000 trial were led to believe they could convict Friley of molestation even though he was never charged with that crime.
Friley was indicted for the sexual battery of a 9-year-old child. He was convicted of molestation and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Appeals Court said sexual battery and molestation are two separate crimes in Mississippi law and are not connected in any way.
The Appeals Court said the trial judge erroneously told jurors that molestation was a lesser-included offense under the sexual battery law. That is, the court said, the judge told jurors it was impossible to commit sexual battery unless a molestation was taking place.
That, the Appeals Court said, led the jury to believe Friley could be convicted of either crime.
"The prosecutor and the trial court confused the jury by allowing them to consider an erroneous instruction," the court said. "We find that to allow Friley to be convicted of a crime for which he was never charged would create an injustice."
On another matter, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider its denial of motions in 13 separate cases by attorneys seeking to have one or more justices step aside from their appeals.
The cases included an oil field related dispute, an insurance claim, a conservatorship, and an appeal from the maker of Propulsid.
The Supreme Court ruled in February in each case that the attorneys failed to show good reasons why the justices should step aside. On Thursday, the court said it would not review those decisions.
Source: Biloxi Herold online http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/8449357.htm (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=d80e8aaf8454d458456c58533f7bc843&lat=1082246927&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esunherald%2ecom%2fm ld%2fsunherald%2fnews%2fpolitics%2f8449357%2ehtm)
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - Warren County prosecutors have asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to reinstate the molestation conviction of a Vicksburg man.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agree to hear the case.
The state Court of Appeals last year threw out Raymond Helton Friley Jr.'s conviction. The Appeals Court also ordered Friley released from prison.
The Appeals Court said the jury in the 2000 trial were led to believe they could convict Friley of molestation even though he was never charged with that crime.
Friley was indicted for the sexual battery of a 9-year-old child. He was convicted of molestation and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Appeals Court said sexual battery and molestation are two separate crimes in Mississippi law and are not connected in any way.
The Appeals Court said the trial judge erroneously told jurors that molestation was a lesser-included offense under the sexual battery law. That is, the court said, the judge told jurors it was impossible to commit sexual battery unless a molestation was taking place.
That, the Appeals Court said, led the jury to believe Friley could be convicted of either crime.
"The prosecutor and the trial court confused the jury by allowing them to consider an erroneous instruction," the court said. "We find that to allow Friley to be convicted of a crime for which he was never charged would create an injustice."
On another matter, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider its denial of motions in 13 separate cases by attorneys seeking to have one or more justices step aside from their appeals.
The cases included an oil field related dispute, an insurance claim, a conservatorship, and an appeal from the maker of Propulsid.
The Supreme Court ruled in February in each case that the attorneys failed to show good reasons why the justices should step aside. On Thursday, the court said it would not review those decisions.
Source: Biloxi Herold online http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/8449357.htm (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=d80e8aaf8454d458456c58533f7bc843&lat=1082246927&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esunherald%2ecom%2fm ld%2fsunherald%2fnews%2fpolitics%2f8449357%2ehtm)