Shunbrica Andrea Roby v. State of Mississippi, 183 So. 3d 857

On Oct. 28, 2012, Shunbrica Roby and cousins Natisha and Latwanna confronted Marcus Payne at a gas station; Roby broke Payne’s car windows with a hammer and a multi-person struggle ensued during which Payne was stabbed and later died.
Witnesses placed Roby at the scene, saw her strike the car, observed the cousins assault Payne, and heard calls like “cut his throat,” though several witnesses did not see who stabbed Payne.
Officers recovered a blood-saturated steak knife at the scene; one of Roby’s earrings was found near the knife; forensic testing linked blood evidence to the victim.
Roby gave a recorded statement admitting she brought a hammer and a knife (which she said she did not use), saying her cousins were the ones fighting and one of them stabbed Payne; she also admitted she intended to “bust” Payne’s windows.
A jury convicted Roby of deliberate-design (first-degree) murder; she was sentenced to life. Roby appealed, raising sufficiency/weight of the evidence, a Confrontation Clause claim, and challenges to several jury instructions.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed as to sufficiency/weight and found Roby forfeited her Confrontation Clause objection, but reversed and remanded for a new trial because the trial court erroneously granted State Instruction S-10 (an incorrect statement of the law on joint liability).

Issue	Roby’s Argument	State’s Argument	Held
Sufficiency / weight of evidence	Evidence insufficient and verdict against overwhelming weight because no direct proof Roby stabbed Payne	Evidence (witnesses, Roby’s admissions, weapon at scene, blood, and accomplice statements) supports deliberate-design murder	Affirmed: evidence sufficient and weight-of-evidence challenge fails
Confrontation Clause	Admission of cousins’ out-of-court statements (via officer testimony and in Roby’s recorded statement recounting them) violated Sixth Amendment	No contemporaneous objection; any error is not plain or was harmless given other evidence	Forfeited on appeal (no plain-error relief); claim rejected
Jury instruction D-3 (definition of deliberate design)	Trial court should have given further definition of malice/deliberate design	S-3 adequately defined deliberate design; D-3 would be repetitive	Refusal of D-3 was not error
State Instruction S-10 (joint-act/common-design homicide)	S-10 misstated law by making mere intent to assault sufficient for murder liability for all participants	Other instructions required proof of murder elements beyond reasonable doubt; error harmless when read together	Reversed: S-10 is incorrect/confusing and not harmless; remand for new trial

Bush v. State, 895 So. 2d 836 (Miss. 2005) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Kirk v. State, 160 So. 3d 685 (Miss. 2015) (defense counsel may waive error by emphasizing contested testimony on cross-examination)
Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) (Confrontation Clause requires unavailability and prior opportunity for cross-examination for testimonial statements)
Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305 (2009) (‘testimonial’ includes prior statements and similar materials intended for prosecutorial use)
Brown v. State, 176 So. 3d 1 (Miss. 2015) (use of a deadly weapon is prima facie evidence of malice)
Theodore v. State, 798 So. 2d 465 (Miss. 2001) (approved jury language defining deliberate design)
Fears v. State, 779 So. 2d 1125 (Miss. 2000) (premeditation/deliberate design requires appreciable time for reflection)
Welch v. State, 566 So. 2d 680 (Miss. 1990) (accomplice liability requires shared mens rea/community of intent)
Shedd v. State, 87 So. 2d 898 (Miss. 1956) (acts in furtherance of a common unlawful object are attributable to all participants)
Huggins v. State, 115 So. 213 (Miss. 1928) (joint enterprise must include the intent or agreement to commit the homicide to convict a non-killer for murder)
Gibbs v. State, 77 So. 2d 705 (Miss. 1955) (in joint assaults without prearrangement, conviction of a non-slayer requires proof of aiding/abetting or shared intent)