Adam Chism v. State of Mississippi, 253 So. 3d 343

Police Officer Angela Nichols responded to a home alarm and encountered Adam Chism exiting a damaged basement door carrying a bag; she ordered him to drop the bag and arrested him after finding an X-Box later identified as the tenant’s property.
Tenant Kenneth Gray testified the basement door and doorframe were significantly damaged, the living room was in disarray consistent with forced entry, and Gray had not given permission to enter.
Chism testified he approached the house to investigate an alarm and intended to offer or seek help; he claimed he did not intend to steal and found the bag inside as he called out for occupants.
At trial the State sought to introduce Chism’s prior burglary convictions (2009 house burglary and 2013 auto burglary) under Rule 404(b) to rebut his lack-of-intent defense; the court admitted them to prove intent.
The jury convicted Chism of burglary of a dwelling; he was sentenced as a habitual offender to life without parole. Chism appealed, arguing improper admission of prior convictions, insufficiency/weight of evidence, and denial of a circumstantial-evidence instruction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Chism)	Held
Admission of prior convictions	Prior convictions admissible under Rule 404(b) to prove intent	Admission was unduly prejudicial and an abuse of discretion	Court affirmed admission as relevant to rebut asserted lack of intent; no abuse of discretion
Sufficiency of evidence for burglary conviction	Nichols’s eyewitness testimony and physical evidence support conviction	Evidence insufficient; no proof Chism broke in or intended to steal	Evidence sufficient when viewed in favor of prosecution; conviction stands
Weight of the evidence / new trial	Verdict supported by direct eyewitness testimony and physical signs of forced entry	Verdict is against the overwhelming weight; case largely circumstantial	No unconscionable injustice; denial of new trial affirmed
Denial of circumstantial-evidence instruction	State produced direct eyewitness testimony, so instruction unnecessary	Entitled to instruction because case was circumstantial and lacked eyewitness to the breaking	Instruction properly refused because case was not wholly circumstantial

Mingo v. State, 944 So. 2d 18 (Miss. 2006) (standard of review for evidentiary rulings is abuse of discretion)
Parks v. State, 884 So. 2d 738 (Miss. 2004) (evidentiary standard cited for review)
Baldwin v. State, 784 So. 2d 148 (Miss. 2001) (Rule 403 balancing reviewed for abuse of discretion)
Jones v. State, 904 So. 2d 149 (Miss. 2005) (prior convictions admissible to prove intent)
Carter v. State, 953 So. 2d 224 (Miss. 2007) (prior felony convictions admissible for limited purpose of showing intent)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Bush v. State, 895 So. 2d 836 (Miss. 2005) (standard for weighing sufficiency and new trial based on weight of evidence)
Herring v. State, 691 So. 2d 948 (Miss. 1997) (new trial granted only where verdict is contrary to overwhelming weight)
Rubenstein v. State, 941 So. 2d 735 (Miss. 2006) (instructions reviewed as a whole to determine if law was fairly announced)
Keys v. State, 478 So. 2d 266 (Miss. 1985) (definition of circumstantial evidence)
Garrett v. State, 921 So. 2d 288 (Miss. 2006) (circumstantial-evidence instruction required only when case wholly circumstantial)