Elizabeth Ann Bozard a/k/a Elizabeth A. Jones a/k/a Elizabeth Bozard a/k/a Elizabeth A. Bozard v. State of Mississippi

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Elizabeth Bozard's felony-evasion conviction, holding the evidence sufficient under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-9-72(2) because her flight from a traffic stop — a chase up and down I-55 during which she ran a red light, passed vehicles on the shoulder, struck a police cruiser, and stopped only after running over a third set of spike strips — showed reckless or willful disregard for the safety of persons or property and extreme indifference to the value of human life. Applying de novo review and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the court drew on its established reckless-conduct definitions and its earlier Watts decision to reject her request for resentencing on simple evasion, a lesser-included offense.