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Tanner v. State5/4/2000
o Tanner's murder case. He was one of the main witnesses on the State's behalf. He's now in protective custody because of that. He's been in protective custody, and Tommy Mayfield and I have talked extensively about Mr. Shaddix's case, and he was the one who made the recommendation in the case. And that's how we have arrived at this particular plea offer in this particular case.
. Consequently, the court released Shaddix as a non-habitual offender with the remaining nine years and six months of his sentence suspended. Prior to his hearing, Shaddix was serving a twenty-five year term as an habitual offender with no possibility of parole.
. This Court has repeatedly held that " his Court will not consider matters which do not appear in the record and must confine itself to what actually does appear in the record." Medina v. State, 688 So.2d 727, 732 (Miss. 1996). "Moreover, we cannot decide an issue based on assertions in the briefs alone; rather, issues must be proven by the record." Id. In the present case, there is no information contained within the record itself that indicates Tanner received favorable treatment by the State in exchange for his testimony. In effect, Tanner is arguing matters which are outside the appellate record, and therefore, can not be considered by this Court. Therefore, Tanner's argument that the State misrepresented a deal to the jury is without merit.
VII.
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN LIMITING THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF STATE'S INVESTIGATOR
. Tanner asserts that the trial court erred by limiting his cross-examination of Detective Brent Winstead as to his theory of the case. Specifically, Tanner argues the court erred by not allowing Tanner to question Winstead about a white truck that was seen by a neighbor at Wood's house on the night of the murder. Tanner further maintains that Winstead centered his case around Tanner because he thought Tanner owned a white truck.
. The State, however, contends that the court properly sustained the objections upon the grounds of hearsay. The State further maintains that all information Tanner sought could have been properly put before the jury through the witnesses which had been subpoenaed. This Court agrees and finds Tanner's assertions that the court erred in limiting cross-examination of Winstead to be without merit.
. As stated previously, "relevancy and admissibility of evidence are largely within the discretion of the trial court and this Court will reverse only where that discretion has been abused." Underwood, 708 So. 2d at 31. Here, Tanner was questioning Detective Winstead as to what he had been told by the neighbor, Rosemary Scheuerman. Such testimony would be hearsay and is prohibited by Rule 802 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence.
In fact, Tanner was allowed to question Scheuerman, and elicited the following response:
Q: Now, let me back up just a moment. The person- first of all, the vehicle that pulled in behind Mrs. Woods, was it behind her or was it partially obscured by her vehicle?
A: It was partially obscured by her vehicle.
Q: Could you tell what kind of vehicle it was?
A: No. I jump to conclusions, and I jumped to conclusions on that vehicle....
Further, outside of the jury's presence, Tanner was allowed to question Detective Winstead about the white truck and the significance he placed on the white truck.
Q: Detective Winstead, what, if any, significance did you attach to a white pickup truck in your investigation of this capital murder case?
A: That Boman Tanner owned a white pickup truck.
Q: Why w
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