Lyncoya Sharrod Ratcliff a/k/a Cory Ratcliff a/k/a Lyncoya Sharrad Ratcliff v. State of Mississippi

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court held that the evidence was insufficient to prove Ratcliff knew the firearm was stolen. Although the State showed that Ratcliff possessed and concealed a recently stolen firearm, those facts were equally consistent with concealing it because Ratcliff was a convicted felon, and the State presented no additional evidence sufficiently connecting him to knowledge of the firearm's stolen character. The court reversed and rendered the stolen-firearm conviction, while leaving undisturbed the separate felon-in-possession conviction.