Scott Herman Bates v. State of Mississippi

PIERCE, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Scott Herman Bates was convicted of simple assault of a law-enforcement officer in violation of Mississippi Code Section 97-3-7(1). Bates appealed his conviction, claiming he cannot be guilty of the enhanced crime of simple assault on .a law-enforcement officer because the officer he assaulted, Deputy Sheriff James Cox, was working off-duty as a private security guard. The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed Bates’s conviction. Bates v. State, 172 So.3d 805, 2014 WL 3824038 (Miss.Ct.App. Aug.5, 2014). The Court of Appeals found that, while Deputy Cox was…