Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

FRANKLIN COUNTY – The Mississippi Supreme Court this week denied the appeal of a man convicted of killing his brother-in-law who had claimed his wife should not have been allowed to testify against him in the original trial.

Richard Gibson was convicted in May 2023 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life for shooting his brother-in-law, Billy Brown. The murder took place in September 2022 and began with an argument as Gibson accused Brown of stealing his bullets.

The two men began to fight when Gibson’s wife and Brown’s sister, Katoya Gibson, broke up the fight and separated the two men. After the two men were separated, Gibson pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Brown in the arm, killing Brown.

In his appeal, Gibson argued that the trial court committed plain error by allowing his wife to testify against him and that the jury’s verdict was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

In its ruling, the court noted that Gibson did not object to KaToya’s testimony at trial “The ‘failure to object to testimony (at trial) waives any assignment of error on appeal’,” the court wrote. The ruling goes on to note that Gibson “in effect, consented” to KaToya’s testimony when he failed to object.”

As to the weight of evidence, Gibson argued that he acted in reasonable self-defense.

In its ruling, the court noted that it does not reweigh evidence or assess witnesses’ credibility. “The State presented significant evidence of Gibson’s guilt,” the ruling states. “There is no dispute that Gibson shot and killed Brown. KaToya testified that she ‘separated’ the men before Gibson pulled out a gun.”

Moreover, the ruling said, KaToya’s mother, Annette Walker, testified “that Gibson himself told her that he shot Brown ‘to teach him a lesson ‘ – not in self-defense.

“The jurors were also able to watch a video of the events before and after the fatal encounter and draw their own references regarding Brown’s demeanor and Gibson’s demeanor.”

The ruling states that the trial court, under Sixth District Circuit Judge Debra Blackwell, properly instructed the jury on Gibson’s claim of self-defense, “but the jurors rejected that argument and found Gibson guilty of first-degree murder.”

Gibson has been sentenced to life as a habitual offender.