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Ruffin v. State

The evidence did not support jury charges on mutual combat or voluntary manslaughter after the defendant murdered a fellow inmate.

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Appellant Antonio Ruffin was, at the time of the criminal conduct involved in this case, an inmate at Hancock State Prison. He was indicted for malice murder and felony murder in connection with the death of fellow inmate Darrell Blackwelder after a fight in the prison yard. Appellant was found guilty on both counts and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.1

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence at trial showed that the day before the killing, appellant asked another inmate named Ware if he could borrow his leather work gloves. Ware did not see appellant take the gloves, but testified that he loaned them to another inmate who told Ware that he let appellant use the gloves. When Ware returned to his cell after the fight, he found one glove on the floor. Three days after the killing, a nine and one-half inch shank was found in the toilet cavity in Ware’s cell, and Ware claimed he did not know how it got there. The testimony of prison personnel and other inmates established that appellant was seen wearing gloves in the yard of the prison on the day the victim was killed.

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