Allen v. State

960 So. 2d 489, 2006 WL 2808154
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided October 3, 2006·No. 2004-KA-00906-COA·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

960 So.2d 489 (2006)

Gary Dewayne ALLEN a/k/a Gary Wayne Allen, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2004-KA-00906-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 3, 2006.

*490 Thomas M. Matthews, Jr., Thomas M. Matthews, III, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

GRIFFIS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Gary Dewayne Allen was convicted of sexual battery and sentenced to serve twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Allen claims that the statute of limitations bars his prosecution. We disagree and affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. In November of 2002, Michael Miles was a guest in Allen's home. While there, Miles looked around for a videotape to watch. Miles discovered a videotape that depicted Amanda, Allen's stepdaughter,[1] performing oral sex on Allen. The tape was turned over to the George County Sheriff's Department several days later. On December 4, 2002, a warrant was issued for Allen's arrest.

¶ 3. On July 1, 2003, Allen was indicted for sexual battery in violation of Section 97-3-95(2) of the Mississippi Code Annotated (Rev.2000). The original indictment charged:

That Gary Wayne Allen in George County, Mississippi, during the year 2002, did willfully, purposely, unlawfully and feloniously commit Sexual Battery upon a child who was at the time in question 14 years of age or more, but less than 18 years of age, to wit: [Amanda], 16 years of age, by engaging in the act of sexual penetration, while in a position of authority, to-wit: stepfather, by placing the penis of Gary Wayne Allen in the mouth of [Amanda], contrary to the form of the statute in such cases and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi.

¶ 4. Allen filed a "Demurrer or in the Alternative Motion to Dismiss." This pleading, in part, alleged that the language in the indictment, which read "during the year 2002," was not specific enough to allow Allen to properly defend the charges against him. On February 13, 2004, the circuit judge entered an order denying in part and granting in part the motion to dismiss. The circuit judge denied the motion and found that "[o]nly bare allegations as to the necessity of more specific allegations have been made by the Defendant. Dates alleged by indictments are subject *491 to amendments in criminal matters. . . . Being subject to amendment, the motion to dismiss is denied." However, the circuit judge granted the motion as to the charge of unlawful photographing or filming of another because it was barred by the statute of limitations. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-1-5 (Rev.2000).

¶ 5. On March 29, 2004, the circuit judge entered an order amending the indictment. The order, which states it was an ore tenus motion by the State and was agreed to as to form by Allen, amended the indictment to change the date of the alleged criminal acts. Thus, the language in the original indictment that charged the offenses occurred in "the year 2002" was amended to read that the criminal acts allegedly occurred "between July 31, 2000 and November 1, 2000."

¶ 6. After the jury was sworn, Allen's counsel made a motion to dismiss on the ground that the amended indictment was barred by the statute of limitations. Simply stated, Allen's counsel argued that because the criminal act occurred last on November 1, 2000, and the prosecution began with the issuance of a warrant on December 4, 2002, the two year statute of limitations under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-1-5 barred the prosecution of the sexual battery charge against Allen.

¶ 7. During the hearing on the motion, the State offered testimony of the victim that this conduct continued to occur, every other weekend and more often during the summer months, until shortly before Allen's arrest. The State argued and the trial court agreed to classify the offense as a continuing course of conduct. Alternatively, the State alleged that the statute was tolled because Amanda was "scared she would be taken away from her mother." The circuit judge determined that the statute was unclear and agreed with the State, and the court denied the motion.

¶ 8. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. The circuit judge denied Allen's post-trial motions.

ANALYSIS

¶ 9. Allen argues that the statute of limitations, Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-1-5, expired prior to the indictment and barred his prosecution. Our review centers on the interpretation of Section 99-1-5, as it existed on the date of the alleged offense, i.e. "between July 31, 2000 and November 1, 2000."

¶ 10. In 2000, on the date of the alleged offense, the statute of limitations for criminal acts in Section 99-1-5 (Rev.2000) provided:

A person shall not be prosecuted for any offense, with the exception of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, kidnaping, arson, burglary, forgery, counterfeiting, robbery, larceny, rape, embezzlement, obtaining money or property under false pretenses or by fraud, felonious abuse or battery of a child as described in Section 97-5-39, touching or handling a child for lustful purposes as described in Section 97-5-23, sexual battery of a child as described in Section 97-3-95(c) or exploitation of children as described in Section 97-5-33, unless the prosecution for such offense be commenced within two (2) years next after the commission thereof, but nothing contained in this section shall bar any prosecution against any person who shall abscond or flee from justice, or shall absent himself from this state or out of the jurisdiction of the court, or so conduct himself that he cannot be found by the officers of the law, or that process cannot be served upon him.
*492 Any prosecutions for felonious abuse or battery of a child as described in Section 97-5-39, touching or handling a child for lustful purposes as described in Section 97-5-23, sexual battery of a child as described in Section 97-3-95(c), or exploitation of children as described in Section 97-5-33, shall be commenced on or before the child's twenty-first birthday.

(emphasis added).

¶ 11. Allen argues that the statute of limitations expired before he was charged with a crime. Allen begins with the amended indictment, which alleged that the crime occurred "between July 31, 2000 and November 1, 2000." He then argues that the prosecution began on December 4, 2002, with the issuance of a warrant. Thus, he claims that the prosecution began more than two years after the date of the crime. He concludes that since he was charged with sexual battery, under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-95(2) (Rev.2000), then he was not charged with a crime that was specifically excluded from the statute of limitations in Section 99-1-5.

¶ 12. The State counters with two arguments. First, the State alleged that Allen engaged in a continuing course of conduct of sexual abuse against Amanda that did not terminate until shortly before his arrest. Second, the State argued that the statute of limitations should be tolled by concealment by one in parental authority over the child. The parties' briefs to this Court centered on these two issues.

¶ 13.

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