Coxwell v. State

LEE, Justice,

for the Court:

Attorney Merrida P. Coxwell was convicted in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Honorable William F. Coleman, presiding, for receiving stolen property, was sentenced to five (5) years in the state penitentiary and was disbarred from the practice of law. He has appealed and assigns as error that the court erred in failing to grant a mistrial because of the district attorney’s final argument wherein he referred to Coxwell as a “crooked lawyer.”

The evidence for the State indicates that on March 6, 1978, an unidentified couple left the…