Anthony Windless v. State of Mississippi, 185 So. 3d 956

Charles Presley was found bludgeoned to death in his home on Feb. 26–27, 2011; the scene showed forced entry and heavy blood spatter.
Police linked Anthony Windless to the crime via blood on a jacket and on a flashlight (DNA), Windless’s fingerprints at the scene, and the murder weapon (flashlight) recovered nearby.
Windless confessed after agreeing to a polygraph, stating he struck Presley repeatedly with a flashlight during a burglary and stole cash and items.
Indicted for capital murder (underlying felony: burglary), Windless was tried; jury was instructed that burglary required breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny, but was not given a separate instruction stating the elements of larceny.
Windless did not object to the instruction at trial; jury convicted him of capital murder and he was sentenced to life without parole.
On appeal Windless argued (1) the trial court erred by not instructing the jury on the elements of larceny as the underlying offense of burglary, and (2) trial counsel was ineffective; the Court affirmed the conviction.

Issue	Windless's Argument	State/Respondent's Argument	Held
Whether court erred by failing to instruct jury on elements of larceny as the "underlying offense" of burglary	Trial court should have instructed jury on larceny elements; omission is per se reversible under Harrell	Burglary itself requires only intent to commit some crime; elements of the intended crime need not be proved or separately instructed	No error: Harrell inapplicable; instruction on burglary (intent to commit larceny identified) fairly informed jury; plain‑error review not warranted
Whether Windless received ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel failed to give opening statement, object to State instructions, and elicited prejudicial polygraph and prior‑record testimony	Record does not adequately develop ineffectiveness claims on direct appeal; such claims better raised in PCR	Dismissed without prejudice to raise in post‑conviction proceedings

Harrell v. State, 134 So.3d 266 (Miss. 2014) (held omission of instruction on elements of underlying felony robbery in capital murder is per se reversible)
Conner v. State, 138 So.3d 143 (Miss. 2014) (inference instruction plus burglary instruction found to fairly instruct jury where intended crime identified as theft)
Daniels v. State, 107 So.3d 961 (Miss. 2013) (jury instructions must identify the specific intended crime in burglary charges)
Booker v. State, 716 So.2d 1064 (Miss. 1998) (burglary’s intent element requires proof only of intent to commit some crime; elements of intended crime are not elements of burglary)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two‑prong ineffective assistance standard)
Kolberg v. State, 829 So.2d 29 (Miss. 2002) (trial court’s responsibility to instruct jury on essential elements of charged offenses)