Ambrose v. Mississippi

In 2013, Abdur Ambrose ("Ambrose"), Stevie Ambrose, and Orlander Dedeaux were indicted for capital murder of Robert Trosclair with the underlying felony being kidnapping. Ambrose alleged Trosclair had "stolen stuff our of his car." and confronted him late in the afternoon. Trosclair was later found tied up with a yellow ratchet strap, tightly tied around his wrists and loosely tired around his back, his head as “very dirty, covered in dirt, black and blue, blood,” Trosclair’s ears had blood coming out of them, stab wounds, cuts, and scrapes to his body. Trosclair was heliported to a hospital where he was unresponsive upon arrival, and diagnosed as clinically brain dead. The trial court severed the case for separate trials. A jury found Ambrose guilty of capital murder, for which he received the death sentence. Ambrose appealed, raising following twelve alleged issues with the trial court's proceedings. A divided Mississippi Supreme Court majority concluded after a review of the the record and after considering all of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances presented at trial, the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict and the death penalty was not disproportionate or excessive. View "Ambrose v. Mississippi" on Justia Law