Isaiah Jerome Gunn v. State of Mississippi, 374 So.3d 1206

On October 24, 2020, Isaiah Gunn visited Brandy Smith’s residence twice; an earlier confrontation included Gunn firing a shot into the air.
Later that evening Gunn returned; an argument with Mickey Robinson escalated, and Smith retrieved her father’s shotgun and walked Gunn backward down the driveway while pointing it at him.
Security camera footage showed Gunn draw a handgun, fire multiple rounds toward Smith, Robinson, and Daniel Guillot; Smith was struck and later died; Robinson was wounded; bullets entered a neighbor’s dwelling.
Gunn surrendered hours later; a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and shooting into a dwelling.
A jury convicted Gunn on all counts (life + concurrent terms); Gunn appealed, challenging (1) a jury instruction permitting an inference of deliberate design from use of a deadly weapon and (2) the verdict as contrary to the weight of the evidence based on his claim of self-defense.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Gunn)	Held
Whether Instruction allowing inference of deliberate design was erroneous	Instruction was a permissible permissive inference; defense objection preserved for appeal	Instruction improperly commented on weight of evidence, argumentative, and indistinguishable from an impermissible "presume" formulation	Objection was preserved; instruction was a proper permissive inference (affirmed)
Whether verdict was contrary to weight of evidence (self-defense)	Evidence (video, earlier conduct, chasing and firing at an unarmed Robinson) supports jury finding that Gunn was aggressor and not entitled to self-defense	Gunn acted in self-defense because Smith pointed a shotgun at him while he was backing down the driveway	Jury is the factfinder on credibility; viewing evidence favorably to verdict, conviction not against overwhelming weight (affirmed)

Williams v. State, 111 So. 3d 620 (Miss. 2013) (distinguishes "infer" from impermissible "presume" and approves permissive inference language)
Holliman v. State, 178 So. 3d 689 (Miss. 2015) (recognizes deliberate design may be inferred from use of a deadly weapon)
Reith v. State, 135 So. 3d 862 (Miss. 2014) (prohibits jury instructions that direct the jury to "presume" deliberate design)
Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570 (U.S. 1986) (acknowledges that juries may infer malice from conduct)
Francis v. Franklin, 471 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1985) (discusses constitutional limits on permissive inferences)
Ross v. State, 954 So. 2d 968 (Miss. 2007) (objection specificity rule for preserving jury-instruction error)
Knight v. State, 60 So. 2d 638 (Miss. 1952) (warning against copying opinion-language into jury instructions)
Gulf, Mobile & Northern R.R. Co. v. Weldy, 8 So. 2d 249 (Miss. 1942) (instruction must not be suggestive or comment on weight of evidence)