TRACY ALAN HANSEN v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI12/18/1991
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
EN BANC
ROBERTSON, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
I.
We are confronted today with the senseless slaying of a veteran state trooper, to which the jury responded by sentencing the killer to die. What stands out on review is how few of the hundreds of rulings the trial judge made from beginning to end are open to credible question. At only two or three points are we seriously troubled that the defendant's substantial right to a fair trial may have been compromised, this though defense counsel has persistently put us through our paces. In this world where there are no perfect trials but where, when life is at stake, we seek trials as fair as is humanly possible - to the prosecution and the defense, the trial judge did about as well as may be done.
For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
II.
A.
Tracy Alan Hansen was born in Florida on May 25, 1963, and then began the rest of his troubles. These included substantial abuse through a troubled childhood, frequent encounters with Florida's juvenile justice system and, between July, 1981, and October, 1984, at least ten felony convictions - eight property crimes and two escapes.
In the Spring of 1987, Hansen hooked up with Anita Louise Krecic, four years and a day his senior. On Friday, April 10, 1987, the two left Florida in a dark blue Lincoln Continental, and by approximately 6:30 p.m. they had made Mississippi and were traveling westward on Interstate Highway 10, Hansen driving, approaching the western boundary of Harrison County. This was the first week of Daylight Savings Time. The sun was shining.
David Bruce Ladner, eighteen years an officer of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol (MHSP), was assigned to the Gulfport Substation. On this Friday afternoon, he was patrolling I-10 in Harrison County when he encountered the dark blue Lincoln Continental and observed erratic driving and speeding. Trooper Ladner pulled in behind the vehicle and signaled to the driver to pull over, which he did. Apparently at the time, Trooper Ladner foresaw nothing more serious than a traffic offense, at worst a driving-while-intoxicated. Once he had the vehicle stopped - on the north side of the road for westbound traffic - Trooper Ladner began to suspect more and asked permission to search the car. Hansen and Krecic signed a Consent to Search form, giving fictitious names, Christopher Larcinesse and Barbara Gilbert. In the process, Ladner took the keys to the Continental and placed them in his pocket.
It is unclear exactly what happened next, but, at some point, Hansen drew a .38 caliber pistol and shot at Trooper Ladner. To avoid the fire, Ladner ran around the car and dropped to the ground, in an apparent attempt to roll underneath. Hansen managed to get off two shots at close range, each striking Ladner in the back. Still, Ladner managed to get up and make it to the median strip, where Charles Shirley, fortuitously driving through at the moment, picked him up and took him to the hospital. Ladner died some thirty-one (31) hours later - on early Sunday morning, April 12, 1987 - still in the hospital.
A number of motorists passing by the area observed bits and pieces of what happened. These included William Forrest Runnels, a sales representative from Sims, Alabama; Paul Tibbetts, a pharmacist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Donald Ray Meche, district manager for Seacorp. Industries from Mobile; Steve Diaz, a Gulf Coast resident; Sonya Burt, a seventeen-year old traveling with her parents, Janet and Frank Burt; Marla Kelly, another seventeen-year old; Jack Briar; Charles E. Childress; Debbie
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