Williams v. State

Police arrested Dexter Smith when he took possession of a substantial marijuana delivery at a Mississippi home. Smith identified the homeowner as Lavar Williams (defendant), who had two prior convictions, and said that Williams had hired him to take possession of the delivery. When police searched Williams’s house, they found additional drugs and a firearm. Before being arrested, Williams drove Smith and Michael Brown to a lawyer’s office where Smith signed an affidavit stating that the firearm was his and Brown signed an affidavit stating that the drugs were his. At Williams’s subsequent trial for drug offenses and unlawful possession of a firearm, Williams sought to introduce Brown’s affidavit into evidence. He argued that although the affidavit was hearsay, it was admissible under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 804 because Brown was an unavailable witness and the affidavit constituted a statement against Brown’s interest, supporting its trustworthiness. Williams claimed that all attempts to serve a subpoena on Brown had been unsuccessful. However, his attorney had not requested a subpoena for Brown until the Friday before trial. Also, when Smith testified, he recanted his affidavit after admitting to being afraid of Williams because Williams had threatened his family. In light of these surrounding circumstances, the district judge excluded Brown’s affidavit, concluding that Rule 804’s requirements were not satisfied. After Williams was convicted of the drug and firearm offenses, he appealed, arguing that the judge erred by excluding Brown’s affidavit.