Appeals Court judges uphold area man's robbery conviction

A Franklin County man who sought to appeal a 2021 Lincoln County Circuit Court decision in connection with his conviction related to a 2018 commercial robbery had that request denied by the Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

James Davon O’Quinn was formally charged with the April 6, 2018, hold-up of a Dollar General store on U.S. Highway 84 in neighboring Lincoln County.

Three years later, O’Quinn’s case was heard by Lincoln County Circuit Judge David H. Strong Jr., with the defendant ultimately convicted of armed robbery by a jury and sentenced to 30 years — with 10 years suspended, 20 to serve and five years of post-release supervision.

O’Quinn appealed the court’s ruling by arguing his legal counsel had provided what he characterized as “ineffective assistance” by failing to object to numerous instances of perceived hearsay during his trail.

In his sole assignment of error on appeal, O’Quinn further argued his counsel’s actions deprived him of a fair trial.

However, the appellate court, in an opinion written by Presiding Judge Jack L. Wilson, ruled last week the claim by O’Quinn’s had no merit and issued an order affirming his conviction and sentence.

Court members said to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance, O’Quinn would have had to show his counsel’s performance was deficient to the point that errors were made and his representative was not functioning as the ‘counsel’ guaranteed to a defendant under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that O’Quinn was prejudiced as a result thus depriving him of a fair trial.

Further, the court noted because there was no hearsay objection during trial, prosecutors representing the state did not have an opportunity to articulate a basis for admitting testimony that O’Quinn challenged as hearsay.

According to trial testimony from last year, the suspect in the case — identified in court as O’Quinn — had allegedly brandished a handgun during the incident that happened around 9 p.m., on the night of the robbery.

The robber was described as a heavy-set black male wearing a hoodie — making off with around $130 from the store’s cash register.

A customer in the store at the time of the robbery, Steven Martin Jr., testified he followed the alleged robber to the parking lot where a Chevrolet Malibu was waiting and retrieved a shotgun from his own pickup.

That customer’s attempt to shoot out the front tire of the Malibu missed and struck the vehicle’s windshield with the impact of the gunshot injuring O’Quinn.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department stopped a vehicle fitting the description from the robbery with the occupants telling officers they had dropped O’Quinn at King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven for treatment of his injuries.

In its finding of facts based on testimony from Lincoln County Circuit Court, the state appeals court characterized the evidence against O’Quinn as “overwhelming.”

The store’s clerk positively identified O’Quinn as the robber in court.

A short time after the robbery, the getaway car was located, and when its occupants were searched, officers found a bloodstained roll of money containing about the same amount stolen from Dollar General.

Further, DNA testing established that blood found on the recovered money was O’Quinn’s.

There was also blood on the steering wheel and gear shift of the Malibu, and, in the trunk of the car, authorities found bloodstained clothing matching the items worn by the robber, including both a black and blue hoodie and dark pants with a hole in the right leg that was surrounded by blood.

When officers located O’Quinn at the hospital, they found that he had sustained wounds to his right hand and thigh with the location of O’Quinn’s leg wound matching the hole in the pants that were found in the trunk of the Malibu.

In addition, witnesses testified the robber was able to quickly void a pending transaction and open the cash register, suggesting he had prior experience working at Dollar General.

Dollar General regional manager Robert Sanchez testified O’Quinn has previously been an employee at the discount retailer’s Roxie and Meadville stores.

Surveillance video from the night of the robbery was also introduced as evidence.

The appeals court ruling indicated O’Quinn could not “show that there was a reasonable probability that … the result of the proceeding would have been different” if his trial attorney would have made additional hearsay objections.