The Mississippi Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Greenwood man charged with a 2011 murder and drive-by shooting.
The court, in a 12-page unanimous ruling issued Tuesday, held that the conviction of Mario Harris for the murder of Cornelius Banks and the wounding of Jared Moore was lawfully rendered.
In 2012, a Leflore County jury sentenced Harris to life in prison for the murder of Banks and 30 years for the drive-by shooting of Moore.
In his appeal, Harris said crime scene photographs introduced at trial were irrelevant and prejudiced the jury.
The appeals court disagreed. “We fail to comprehend how the murder victim and the scene of the crime would not be relevant to this trial where Harris was convicted of murder,” said the ruling.
The court recounted the facts of the case that left Banks dead and five others wounded.
According to the trial testimony from Maurice Tims, he was driving his car late on the evening of Nov. 7, 2011, when he was flagged down by Harris and Michael Johnson in front of an abandoned house near the Bishop Apartments on Clay Avenue.
Another man, identified as Alfred Lacy, joined the trio.
Tims, who said he was smoking a marijuana blunt at the time, agreed to give the men a ride uptown. Shortly before leaving, Harris went to the abandoned house and returned with a semi-automatic rifle and sat in the front seat.
When Tims objected, Johnson, seated in the back seat, put a gun to the driver’s head and told him to drive the car, Tims’ testified.
Johnson, who also testified for the prosecution, denied putting a gun to Tims’ head.
Tims drove the men to Reno’s Restaurant at the intersection of McLaurin and Roosevelt streets. Circling the block twice, Harris is said to have lowered the right passenger window and fired the rifle into a crowd of people while Lacy fired a handgun.
Moore, Rodera Hunt, Carlos Jones, Marquazy Gray and Artez Gray were wounded in the shooting.
Moore was killed in an unrelated shooting in January 2013.
Harris also claimed that Tims’ and Johnson’s testimony was not credible. Although the appeals court agreed that the two prosecution witnesses differed on some points, it said it was up to the jury to “weigh these inconsistencies and determine credibility.”
The court said, “Both men placed Harris in the vehicle with an SKS assault rifle, shooting into a crowd of people outside Reno’s.” The opinion also noted that the men’s testimony was consistent with some of the physical and ballistic evidence, including that Harris’ fingerprints were found on the front passenger door of Tims’ vehicle and that Banks’ wounds were consistent with a bullet traveling from the left.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
