State of Mississippi v. Brandon Rawlings

GREENLEE, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. This is an appeal from a circuit court’s grant of a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) after a jury returned a guilty verdict for a felony charge of fondling a vulnerable person.

¶2. Brandon Rawlings was charged with sexual battery and fondling a vulnerable person. A jury found him not guilty of sexual battery and guilty of fondling a vulnerable person. He moved for a JNOV or, in the alternative, a new trial. The court initially denied his JNOV motion and granted his motion for a new trial citing a lack of evidence to serve as the basis of a conviction.…