Thomas v. State

¶ 64. Without citation to any authority, the majority holds that proof regarding the value of the damaged or destroyed property was required in order for Thomas to have been entitled to a jury instruction regarding malicious mischief. This is contrary to our established case law; and, because the denial of Thomas’s instruction denied him due process of law, I respectfully dissent.

¶65. “From the very term ‘property’ the law infers some value.” Ill. Cent. R.R. Co. v. State, 94 Miss. 759, 48 So. 561, 562 (1909). Thus, when a defendant is charged with a crime against property, and the value of…