Davarious Levonte Talley v. State of Mississippi, 164 So. 3d 516

Davarious Talley (19) was convicted by a Scott County jury of burglary of a dwelling for a December 22, 2012 break-in at Damekia Boone’s home and sentenced to 12 years.
Stolen items included an Xbox and a GPS; windows were pried open and a locked back door was found unlocked.
Multiple eyewitnesses (teenagers Prayer Wright, Keshun Chandler, Nikki, and others) testified that they observed Talley near or entering Boone’s house; some testimony described seeing him enter through a window and later exit through the back door.
Police found Talley in a maroon van with an Xbox and Garmin GPS devices shortly after the incident; Talley denied involvement and testified others committed the burglary.
On cross-examination, Prayer testified she saw Talley enter through a window but did not personally see him exit; she relayed that others told her they saw him leave. Defense objected and moved to strike that portion as hearsay; the trial court denied the motion. Talley appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by refusing to strike testimony that relayed out-of-court statements (hearsay) that Talley exited the house	State: testimony admissible and not outcome-determinative; Prayer directly saw entry and other witnesses corroborated	Talley: the portion saying Prayer heard others tell her he exited was hearsay and should have been stricken	Court: No reversible error — testimony was elicited by Talley’s counsel (so he cannot complain), entry (not exit) is the key element, other witnesses corroborated, any error harmless

Osborne v. State, 54 So. 3d 841 (Miss. 2011) (standard for reviewing admission/exclusion of evidence and harmless-error rule)
Rogers v. State, 85 So. 3d 293 (Miss. 2012) (a defendant cannot complain on appeal about evidence he elicited at trial)
Fleming v. State, 604 So. 2d 280 (Miss. 1992) (same principle regarding appellate review of evidence elicited by defendant)