Mario Rucker v. State of Mississippi

LEE, C.J.,

for the Court:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Mario Rucker was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced as a habitual offender to life without parole in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Rucker filed posttrial motions, which the trial court denied. Ruck-er now appeals, asserting that the trial court erred in sua sponte instructing the jury on aggravated assault.

FACTS

¶2. On September 28, 2012, Rucker admittedly stabbed William Nuby several times with a pair of scissors. The incident occurred at a Waffle House in Jackson, Mississippi. A Waffle House employee…