Barnes v. State

Defendant was indicted for murder, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment by the Circuit Court of Covington County.

The trial lasted two days and at the end of the first day, the jurors were allowed to separate for the night by agreement of the state, the attorney for the defendant, and the defendant. The jury was not sequestered because the motels were crowded.

Defendant does not assign as error failure to sequester the jury; however, the state cited Cox v. State, 365 So.2d 627 (Miss. 1978) in its brief. In Cox we held that the jury must be sequestered in cases…