Sherman E. Billie, Sr. v. State of Mississippi, 199 So. 3d 1276

Victim J.B., a minor, alleged Billie (his stepfather’s brother) molested him beginning when J.B. was 14; complaint made in Sept. 2013; Billie arrested Oct. 7, 2013.
At the station Billie initially gave an oral confession after a Miranda waiver; investigators did not obtain a written statement that day because Billie was "distraught."
Billie spent the night in jail; the next morning (Oct. 8) he again waived Miranda and signed a written confession admitting to performing oral sex on J.B.
Billie and his wife testified at a suppression hearing that he had taken multiple sleeping pills before arrest and remained impaired; Billie also alleged Investigator Sciple promised to reduce bond in exchange for a written confession.
Investigator Sciple denied any promise to reduce bond, denied that Billie appeared impaired during interviews, and testified that the written statement reflected Billie’s own words; no audio/video recording of interviews existed.
Trial court admitted the written confession; jury convicted Billie of sexual battery and sentenced him to 15 years. On appeal, Billie argued the confession was involuntary and, alternatively, that the written statement was tainted fruit of an earlier inadmissible oral confession.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Billie)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether the written confession was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent	Billie was impaired by sleeping pills and thus incapable of knowingly waiving Miranda; investigator induced confession by promising lower bond	Investigator Sciple contends Billie was not impaired, no promise was made, and Billie knowingly waived rights	Trial court credited State’s witnesses; appellate court affirmed admission of the written confession
Whether the written confession was fruit of an allegedly inadmissible oral confession	The written statement was produced within 24 hours of an invalid oral confession and thus tainted	State argues no coercion on first interview and that the written confession was sufficiently independent; also procedural default on certain arguments	Court rejected fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree claim, finding no abuse of discretion in admitting the written confession
Whether failure to record interviews affected admissibility	Billie argued absence of tape undermines State’s prima facie case of voluntariness	State noted recording is not required by Mississippi law	Court noted recording not required and found no entitlement to suppression on that basis
Sufficiency of evidence to support conviction	Confession plus victim testimony showed elements of sexual battery beyond reasonable doubt	State relied on confession and victim testimony	Court affirmed conviction and sentence, finding evidence sufficient

Glasper v. State, 914 So. 2d 708 (Miss. 2005) (standard of review—trial court’s voluntariness finding reversed only if manifestly wrong)
Manix v. State, 895 So. 2d 167 (Miss. 2005) (trial court as fact-finder on voluntariness of confession)
Keller v. State, 138 So. 3d 817 (Miss. 2014) (coercive prior interrogation does not automatically require exclusion of subsequent valid confession)
Byrom v. State, 863 So. 2d 836 (Miss. 2003) (remedy for coercive interrogation is exclusion of the coercive statement, not necessarily later statements after proper warnings)
Yates v. State, 467 So. 2d 884 (Miss. 1985) (fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine is defeated where subsequent confession is judged admissible)
Carter v. State, 956 So. 2d 951 (Miss. Ct. App. 2006) (confession admitted on conflicting evidence will generally be affirmed)