Prentiss County Man To Get New Murder Trial

Charles Burleson

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi Supreme Court has ordered a new trial in a capital murder case from Prentiss County.

Charles David Burleson II, now 31, was convicted in 2012 in the death of a Thrasher man. He was sentenced to life without parole.

The Supreme Court, in the 6-3 decision Thursday, said the trial judge erred when he declined to advise the jury on circumstantial evidence. The court’s majority also said prosecutors had no direct evidence that Burleson was guilty.

The rule in Mississippi has been that a circumstantial evidence instruction should be given to the jury only when the prosecution can produce neither eyewitnesses nor a confession to the offense charged.

Defense attorneys regularly use such instructions to plant doubt in jurors’ minds about the evidence against their client.