Few Cases on Witness Testimony and Appeals

Here are a few cases dealing with witness testimony on appeal.  They can also be helpful in making arguments to a trial court in summation:

               (1)  Regarding witnesses “[u]ndisputed testimony, which is not so unreasonable
as to be unbelievable, must be taken as truth.” Reeves Royalty Co., Ltd. v. ANB Pump Truck Service, 513 So.2d 595, 599 (Miss. 1987). 

              (2) For “in the absence of contradictory evidence, courts are bound to accept the
only credible evidence offered in a proceeding and apply the correct law.” MSU v. PETA, 992 So.2d 595, 607 (Miss. 2008).  

               (3)  “Juries cannot arbitrarily and capriciously disregard testimony of witnesses, not
only unimpeached in any of the usual modes known to the law, but supported by all the circumstances in the case.” Mobile, J. & K.C.R. Co. v. Jackson, 92 Miss. 517, 46 So. 142, 143 (Miss. 1908). For “we must accept the testimony of [a witness] as true,” when such a witness “is not contradicted either by direct evidence or by circumstances.” Stewart v. Coleman & Co., 120 Miss. 28,  81 So. 653, 655 (Miss. 1919).

               (4). Furthermore, the law in Mississippi is that a jury is to weigh expert testimony, and
“judging the expert’s testimony and weight to be accorded thereto is the province of the jury.”
Fleming v. Floyd, 969 So.2d 868, 878 (Miss. 2007) (internal quotations and citations omitted). For “the jury may consider the expert testimony for what they feel that it is worth, and may discard it entirely.” Id. (internal quotations, citations, and alterations omitted).
        
                (5). “This Court, of course, is not the jury . . . The weight and credibility of the \
witnesses, primarily experts, was for the jury, who were free to accept or reject whatever part of their testimony they chose.” Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted); Robinson, 51 So.3d at 950 n.5 (internal quotations and citations omitted) (“The credibility of a witness is a question of fact for the jury to resolve”).   In Robinson, the case was fully fleshed out at trial—and the Court ruled it would not second guess the jury.  Id. at 950.