Bishop v. State

982 So. 2d 371, 2008 WL 660093
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 13, 2008
Docket2006-KA-01957-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 982 So. 2d 371 (Bishop v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bishop v. State, 982 So. 2d 371, 2008 WL 660093 (Mich. 2008).

Opinion

982 So.2d 371 (2008)

Aaron BISHOP
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2006-KA-01957-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 13, 2008.
Rehearing Denied June 5, 2008.

*372 Ray T. Price, Hattiesburg, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Ladonna C. Holland, attorney for appellee.

Before DIAZ, P.J., EASLEY and GRAVES, JJ.

GRAVES, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. This appeal arises from Aaron Bishop's conviction of sexual battery under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-95(1)(d) and touching of a child for lustful purposes under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-5-23(1). On appeal, Bishop raises the following issues: (1) that his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation under the United States Constitution and Article 3, Section 26 of the Mississippi Constitution was violated; (2) that the trial *373 court erred in admitting the minor victim's out-of-court statements under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 803(25); and (3) that the trial court erred in admitting the expert testimony of Brenda Donald. We find all issues raised by Bishop to be without merit and therefore, affirm his conviction.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. On April 4, 2006, A.C.[1] gave her four-year-old daughter, C.C., a bath. At that time the child had a rash all over her body, commonly referred to as "slap cheek." As A.C. was getting the child out of the bathtub, C.C. asked her mother if she could show her father the bumps on her "too-too."[2] After A.C. explained to her daughter that girls do not show their "too-toos" to their fathers and that fathers do not show their "too-toos" to their daughters, C.C. disclosed to her mother that she had already seen her father's, Aaron Bishop's, "too-too." C.C. further described to her mother, in child-like terms, what her father's penis looked like and reported that she had performed oral sex on her father, that his "too-too [had] spit on her," that it "tasted yucky," and that he had instructed her to "never bite it." Furthermore, C.C. reported that her father "tickled her too-too with his finger."

¶ 3. On April 5, 2006, A.C. took C.C. to the Attala County Sheriff's Department to report the abuse. The Attala County Sheriff's Department contacted the Department of Human Services and arranged an interview for C.C. with Glenda Nail at the Sheriff's Department. Also present during this interview were Amy Lee of the Department of Human Services and Zellie Shaw of the Attala County Sheriff's Department. C.C. did not disclose any abuse during this interview. Also on April 5, 2006, A.C. took C.C. for a physical examination with Dr. Betty Turner. Dr. Turner found no physical evidence of sexual abuse, however, during the course of the examination C.C. reported "that her daddy had played with her too-too."

¶ 4. At that time, A.C. and C.C. moved out of the family's home and went to stay with A.C.'s grandparents. Later that day, Bishop came to the home where A.C. and C.C. were staying and asked A.C. why they had left. A.C. "told him because [C.C.] told me what he had done." Bishop first denied the allegations, and then reported that one day C.C. had walked in the bathroom while Bishop was masturbating and he had accidently ejaculated on her.

¶ 5. On April 7, 2006, C.C. was interviewed by Dr. Trudi Porter, a forensic interviewer, at the request of either the Attala County Sheriff's Department or the Department of Human Services. During that interview, C.C. reported to Dr. Porter that she had performed oral sex on her father and said, "It's nasty. Yuk. Yuk." On June 6, 2006, C.C. attended her first therapeutic session with Brenda Donald, which included play therapy. At the time of the pre-trial hearing in this case, Donald and C.C. had completed nine or ten therapy sessions. During the course of her therapy with Donald, C.C. made very detailed statements regarding the sexual abuse that she endured by Bishop.

¶ 6. Aaron Bishop was charged with sexual battery under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-95(1)(d) and touching of a child for lustful purposes under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-5-23(1) in the Justice Court of Attala County on *374 April 18, 2006. A grand jury indicted him on August 8, 2006. On September 27, 2006, Bishop was convicted of the aforementioned crimes after a jury trial.

¶ 7. Bishop was sentenced to serve a term of thirty years for sexual battery and fifteen years for touching of a child for lustful purposes. As to the fifteen-year sentence, for touching of a child for lustful purposes, after Bishop has served the first five years of the sentence he is to be placed in a post-release supervision program. The sentences are to run consecutively, and Bishop was also ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $1,000, and all court costs, fees and assessments in the case. The trial court denied Bishop's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict or in the Alternative for New Trial on October 11, 2006. From this conviction Bishop appeals to this Court.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether Bishop's Sixth Amendment Right to Confrontation under the United States Constitution and Article 3, Section 26 of the Mississippi Constitution Was Violated.

¶ 8. Bishop asserts that his right to confrontation was violated when the trial court admitted the out-of-court statements of C.C. through the testimony of her mother, A.C., and Brenda Donald. Bishop relies on Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990), a case decided under Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), which provided that a hearsay statement not falling within a deeply-rooted hearsay exception was not admissible under the confrontation clause unless it contained substantially particularized guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to the firmly-rooted hearsay exceptions. Bishop's reliance on these cases is in error, as Ohio v. Roberts was overruled by the United States Supreme Court in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 68, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). See also Whorton v. Bockting, ___ U.S. ___, ___ _ ___, 127 S.Ct. 1173, 1179-80, 167 L.Ed.2d 1, 9 (2007); Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 126 S.Ct. 2266, 165 L.Ed.2d 224 (2006).

¶ 9. The confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment provides: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him." In Crawford, "the United States Supreme Court held that `the Confrontation Clause of the Federal Constitution's Sixth Amendment bars the admissibility of out-of-court testimonial statements by an unavailable witness offered in a criminal trial to prove the truth of a matter asserted (also known as hearsay) unless the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness about the statement.'" Bailey v. State, 956 So.2d 1016, 1027 (Miss.Ct.App.2007) (citation omitted) (emphasis added).

¶ 10. The inquiry, therefore, turns on whether the statements offered against Bishop were "testimonial statement[s]" within the context of the confrontation clause.

Only [testimonial] statements of this sort cause the declarant to be a "witness" within the meaning of the Confrontation Clause.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
982 So. 2d 371, 2008 WL 660093, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bishop-v-state-miss-2008.