Archer v. State

118 So. 3d 612, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 644, 2012 WL 5204825
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 23, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-KA-01127-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 118 So. 3d 612 (Archer v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Archer v. State, 118 So. 3d 612, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 644, 2012 WL 5204825 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

FAIR, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Ricky Archer was convicted of fondling and statutory rape of his daughter, “Abby.”1 Archer was sentenced to sixteen years imprisonment on the rape count and two years for the fondling, with the sentences to run concurrently. On appeal he raises eleven varied issues. As we find no reversible error, we affirm Archer’s convictions and sentences.

FACTS

¶ 2. In 2006, Abby was twelve years old and in the fifth grade. Her parents were unmarried, and she lived with her father. Abby testified that one evening, Archer picked her up from a visit with her mother. Archer was drunk, and he drove around instead of taking them home. He asked Abby whether she had developed underarm and pubic hair. Eventually, Archer pulled to the side of the road and undressed Abby. After demanding and receiving assurances that she would not tell her mother, Archer began touching Abby and put his fingers into her vagina. Archer then drove to a more secluded place in Morgan City, Mississippi, where he had sex with Abby. Archer had sex with Abby again that night after they finally returned home. In her testimony Abby also recounted several other times Archer had sex with her, including two occasions where he did it in front of one of her sisters.

¶ 3. Abby’s older sisters, “Betty” and “Claire,” each testified that Archer had sex with Abby in their presence. Betty testified that Archer drove her and Abby to a secluded place where he had sex with Abby to introduce Betty to the idea of having sex with him,2 and then he had sex with Betty. Claire testified to a similar incident. Archer made statements to the effect that he was teaching the girls how to have sex. According to Abby, Archer continued to have sex with her for years after the first incident.

¶ 4. Abby did not disclose the abuse until 2008. She first told her mother, who did not respond because she was intoxicated at the time. Later, Abby told her aunt, who reported it to the authorities. At the time of trial in 2010, Abby was fifteen, Betty was eighteen, and Claire was twenty.

¶ 5. For the defense, Archer’s niece testified that Abby had told her the abuse did not happen and that she wanted her father to get out of jail. Archer also called his son to testify to a similar statement. Archer’s theory of the case was that Abby was angry with his discipline and had accused him at the prompting of her maternal aunt, who had allegedly threatened that Abby would be sent to a foster home if she did not testily.

[618]*618¶ 6. The indictment alleged that Archer committed statutory rape and fondling between August 1, 2006, and June 31, 2007. Archer was convicted of both counts, and he appeals.

DISCUSSION

¶ 7. Archer enumerates eleven issues on appeal, which we have reorganized somewhat for our analysis.

1. Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶ 8. In his first issue, Archer alleges there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. “[T]he critical inquiry is whether the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that [the] accused committed the act charged, and that he did so under such circumstances that every element of the offense existed; and where the evidence fails to meet this test it is insufficient to support a conviction.” Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 836, 843 (¶ 16) (Miss.2005) (quotations omitted). “[T]he relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)).

¶ 9. The linchpin of Archer’s argument is Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-69 (Rev.2006), which appears to require corroboration of the prosecutrix’s testimony to support a statutory rape conviction. In recent years, however, the Mississippi Supreme Court has unambiguously held that the statute requires corroboration only if the victim’s testimony is discredited or contradicted by other credible evidence. Anderson v. State, 62 So.3d 927, 943 (¶ 55) (Miss.2011); Poole v. State, 46 So.3d 290, 294 (¶ 25) & n. 9 (Miss.2010); Parramore v. State, 5 So.3d 1074, 1077-78 (¶ 12) (Miss.2009); Withers v. State, 907 So.2d 342, 353 (¶ 32) (Miss.2005). Archer relies on older cases to support his argument, ignoring the supreme court’s more recent holdings. We are bound by that precedent.

¶ 10. At any rate, this discussion is academic because Abby’s testimony was corroborated by her two sisters. Archer argues that their testimony is not credible, but the concerns he raises — the girls’ reluctance to come forward, prior denials of abuse, and alleged minor inconsistencies in the testimony — were properly left to the jury. “The law is clear that the weight and credibility to give to the evidence are within the province of the jury.” Victory v. State, 83 So.3d 370, 375 (¶ 22) (Miss.2012).

¶ 11. We find Archer’s convictions supported by sufficient evidence.

2. Weight of the Evidence

¶ 12. A challenge to the weight of the evidence will be successful only when the verdict “is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it to stand would sanction an unconscionable injustice.” Bush, 895 So.2d at 844 (¶ 18).

¶ 13. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, and a new trial should be granted “only in exceptional cases in which the evidence preponderates heavily against the verdict.” Id. The motion for a new trial is entrusted to the trial judge, who had a first-hand view of the trial. “[R]eversal is warranted only if the trial court abused its discretion....” Ivy v. State, 949 So.2d 748, 753 (¶ 21) (Miss.2007).

¶ 14. Archer argues that the absence of physical evidence and his attacks on the credibility of the victims require reversal. Again, however, credibility was [619]*619a question for the jury. See Victory, 83 So.3d at 375 (¶ 22). As an appellate court reviewing a cold record, we cannot say the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for a new trial. We do not find the verdict against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

3. Cross-examination; Impeachment; Misconduct

¶ 15. Only two witnesses testified for Archer — Latonya Edwards, his niece, and “Little Ricky” Archer, his son. Both recounted that Abby had denied the abuse some time after Archer’s arrest. Under this umbrella, Archer complains of the prosecutor’s cross-examinations and makes certain arguments regarding the testimony.

A. Latonya Edwards

¶ 16. During his cross-examination of Edwards, the prosecutor asked about an interview she had with him the day before, the first day of the trial.3 The prosecutor repeatedly contended that Edwards had told him only that Abby said she wanted her father to get out of jail. According to the prosecutor, Edwards had not mentioned Abby also denied a sexual relationship with her father. Edwards disputed the prosecutor’s account.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 So. 3d 612, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 644, 2012 WL 5204825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/archer-v-state-missctapp-2012.