Petitioner Thomas was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated assault in the Circuit Court of Hinds County, Mississippi, and was sentenced as a habitual offender to life without parole on May 3, 2013. The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed both convictions in Thomas v. State, 178 So.3d 771 (Miss. Ct. App. 2012), reh'g. denied, January 29, 2013. In a petition for writ of certiorari filed on February 1, 2013, Thomas argued that "the evidence was insufficient to convict him of being a felon in possession of a prohibited weapon, and that, should this conviction be reversed, he would be entitled to a new trial on the aggravated assault charge based on the doctrine of 'retroactive misjoinder.'"

Thomas's appeal was assigned to the Court of Appeals, which rejected his claims of error and affirmed the convictions. See Thomas v. State, __ So. 3d __, 2012 WL 4497345 (Miss. Ct. App. Oct. 2, 2012). ¶4. In his petition for writ of certiorari, Thomas argued that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of being a felon in possession of a prohibited weapon, and that, should this conviction be reversed, he would be entitled to a new trial on the aggravated assault charge based on the doctrine of "retroactive misjoinder."