Kevin Boston v. State of Mississippi, 2016-KA-00047-SCT

On May 13, 2014, Kevin Boston and victim Willie Dean had a confrontation at Trigg Elementary; Dean later was fatally stabbed and died at the hospital.
Boston acknowledged carrying a pocketknife (purchased about a month earlier) and claimed he stabbed Dean in self-defense after being attacked with pliers; no pliers were recovered and no eyewitness saw the stabbing.
School surveillance captured aftermath but not the altercation; some witnesses described heated words, and one witness reported Dean said Boston stabbed him for no reason.
Boston was indicted for capital murder based on the killing occurring on educational property and tried in Washington County Circuit Court; a jury convicted him and he was sentenced.
On appeal, Boston’s counsel raised sufficiency/weight and denial of a self-defense instruction; Boston filed a pro se supplemental brief challenging the trial court’s grant of the State’s “pre-arming” jury instruction.
The Mississippi Supreme Court found the pre-arming instruction was granted without evidentiary support and reversed and remanded for a new trial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether granting the State’s pre-arming instruction was proper	State: Boston retrieved the knife from his pocket during the encounter, supporting the instruction	Boston: No evidence he armed himself in advance or intended to provoke a fight; instruction precludes self-defense	Reversed — instruction lacked evidentiary support and impermissibly curtailed Boston’s self-defense theory
Sufficiency/weight of evidence to convict	State: evidence supports guilt (circumstantial witness statements, conduct after stabbing)	Boston: argued self-defense and disputed witness accounts	Not reached as dispositive issue was instruction (other claims preserved for retrial)
Denial of one proposed self-defense jury instruction	Boston: trial court erred in refusing specific self-defense instruction	State: court’s jury package adequate	Not decided on appeal due to resolution on pre-arming instruction
Motion for directed verdict at close of State’s case	Boston: insufficient evidence warranted directed verdict	State: presented prima facie case	Not reached because case remanded for new trial

Dew v. State, 748 So. 2d 751 (Miss. 1999) (rejects pre-arming instruction as causing manifest injustice)
Johnson v. State, 908 So. 2d 758 (Miss. 2005) (pre-arming instruction cuts off jury consideration of self-defense)
Keys v. State, 635 So. 2d 845 (Miss. 1994) (condemns instructions that preclude assertion of self-defense)
Hart v. State, 637 So. 2d 1329 (Miss. 1994) (upheld pre-arming instruction where defendant’s uncontradicted testimony showed deliberate arming and intent to provoke)
Hall v. State, 420 So. 2d 1381 (Miss. 1982) (upheld instruction where record uncontradicted that defendant armed himself and drove to confront victim)
Reid v. State, 301 So. 2d 561 (Miss. 1974) (upheld instruction where defendant’s testimony showed deliberate arming and immediate challenge)