Havard v. Mississippi
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In early 2011, Defendant Jonathan Havard was convicted by a jury in George County Circuit Court for the deliberate-design murder of his girlfriend, Joy Hodges. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant requested his conviction and sentence be overturned, or, in the alternative, reversed and remanded for a new trial. Appellate counsel filed a "Lindsey"1 brief certifying to the Supreme Court there were no appealable issues in the record. Believing otherwise, Defendant filed a brief pro se assigning error to both the trial court and defense counsel. The alleged errors include violations of his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial, his Fifth Amendment right to refrain from testifying, inadequate jury instructions, ineffective assistance of counsel, and failure to grant a change in venue. Upon review, the Supreme Court disagreed and found the allegations of error to be lacking in merit. Therefore, the Court denied Defendant's requested relief and affirmed the decision of the trial court.
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