A trial judge has rejected the request of a mother of four for a new trial, despite the state’s pathologist reversing his original ruling and saying the death was more likely a suicide.
“Nothing in Mississippi statutory and case law requires that the Forensic Pathologist must determine the manner of death to be homicide before a jury may convict a defendant of murder,” wrote Circuit Judge James Kitchens Jr.
A Clay County jury convicted Tameshia Shelton of murder in the 2009 shooting death of her sister’s boyfriend, Danelle Young. Shelton, who was sentenced to life, won’t be eligible for parole until 2043.
“Every day that passes represents an incalculable hardship to Ms. Shelton, to her children and her loved ones, as she serves her life in prison for a crime that never happened,” said her lawyer, Sandra Levick. “We will definitely appeal. We trust the higher court will correct this injustice.”
The prosecution never presented a motive for why Shelton, now 45, would have killed Young.
In April 2022, Kitchens presided over the last of three days of hearings over whether Shelton deserved a new trial. Those post-conviction hearings revealed evidence never shown to the jury, including an apparent suicide note Young wrote.
In 2009, forensic pathologist Dr. Liam Funte ruled Young’s death a homicide, basing that decision on the trajectory of the bullet from the front of the chest to the back “without significant deviation to left or right.”
Under questioning by Levick at one hearing, Funte said at the time he had not seen that in a suicide, but he said he has seen such cases since and was “leaning toward suicide.”
In reversing the original ruling, he cited scientific studies on bullet trajectories in suicides and homicides. In one study, more than 36% of suicides had bullet trajectories that did not deviate to the left or right.
After a verbal argument in which Shelton’s sister said she told Young that she didn’t want to live with him, Young walked to Shelton’s trailer.
Shelton told authorities that she was already in bed with her infant daughter when Young knocked on the window of the trailer. She went to the front door, and she said he told her that he only needed one bullet to kill a racoon.
She said she replied that he might need more than one bullet and loaded her .22 pistol and gave it to him.
When he failed to return, she said she went outside, found him collapsed on the gravel driveway and called 911.
In the autopsy report, Funte concluded the gun was fired from less than an inch away.
Both he and another forensic pathologist, Dr. Randall Frost, demonstrated at hearings how the small gun could fire a self-inflicted shot, following the same path the bullet traveled through Young’s body.
Funte said he would now rule the death “undetermined.”
Kitchens never addressed either the demonstrations or the apparent suicide note in his 15-page decision. In that note, Young wrote, “I have no life without her [Shelton’s sister]. … Tell [your daughter] Treasure about me one day. Bye. Bye.”
Under cross-examination at the post-conviction hearing by Special Assistant Attorney General Jackie Bost II, Funte acknowledged one scientific study showed that more than 82% of suicides by gunfire were shots to the head, while 16% were shots to the chest.
Other pathologists, who testified for the defense at the hearing, said Young’s death should have been ruled a suicide or undetermined.
At trial, Funte cited the lack of history that Young had suicidal thoughts or attempts, but said he had since seen impulsive suicides with no such history.
Asked how many suicides he had seen that were impulsive, Funte replied between 15% and 20%, with studies that put that number beyond 20%.
Bost asked, “So, four out of five suicides are not impulsive?”
“Correct,” Funte replied.
During the hearing, Judge Kitchens said Funte’s changed testimony “is probably the most damning to the conviction … That’s hard to get around.”
But in his new ruling, the judge found no problem.
Although the last hearing took place in April 2022, Kitchens had yet to rule in the case when Shelton’s lawyers complained to the Mississippi Supreme Court in November 2023. A clerk told justices that Kitchens should rule in December 2023.
When that didn’t happen by Jan. 22, justices ordered Kitchens to complete an order in 45 days. He took 53 days.
Matt Steffey, professor of law at the Mississippi College School of Law, said both dynamics and legal reasons make it difficult to persuade a trial judge to reverse a conviction in a case that he presided over a trial.
During a trial, a defendant is presumed innocent, but after a conviction, the law presumes the defendant is guilty, Steffey said. “It’s not enough to persuade a court that an error has been made.”
The defendant also has to prove the error likely impacted the verdict, he said. “This is a difficult standard to meet.”
Cognitive science shows how difficult it is to persuade people of their errors, and there are political dynamics as well, he said. “Trial judges are elected officials. Vacating convictions or ordering new trials can provide fodder for potential political opponents eager to claim a judge is insufficiently tough on crime and criminals.”
The simple truth is post-conviction relief offers “narrow grounds and a slim chance for success,” he said.
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