Bobby Wade Butler a/k/a Bobbye Wade Butler a/k/a Bobbie Wade Butler v. State of Mississippi

Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided June 30, 2020·No. NO. 2018-CA-01739-COA·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2018-CA-01739-COA

BOBBY WADE BUTLER A/K/A BOBBYE WADE APPELLANT BUTLER A/K/A BOBBIE WADE BUTLER

v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/20/2018 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. PAUL S. FUNDERBURK COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: ALCORN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: CHRIS S. NAILS ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: JOHN R. HENRY JR.

NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 06/30/2020 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:

BEFORE CARLTON, P.J., GREENLEE AND McCARTY, JJ.

McCARTY, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. Bobby Butler was indicted for two counts of sexual battery and two counts of fondling for crimes against his daughter. A jury convicted him of all counts, and he was sentenced to serve fifty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

¶2. On appeal, Butler argues that the trial court erred in allowing testimony in violation of Mississippi Rules of Evidence 403 and 404. Additionally, he claims the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶3. R.B. is Bobby Butler’s biological daughter.1 She was only twelve years old when Butler began sexually abusing her.

¶4. At that time, she lived with her parents in Kossuth, Mississippi. Butler would often stay home alone with R.B. while her mother worked night shifts at a grocery store. Although the dynamic of her relationship with her father was initially a normal one, R.B. testified that the “close” relationship she and Butler once shared diminished once he began molesting her.

¶5. The first incident began one night in 2012 when R.B.’s mother was at work. That night, R.B. fell asleep on the couch facing inward to the back cushions. She testified that when she woke up, she was surprised to find that Butler’s finger was “in her vagina.” Although initially too shocked to say or do anything, R.B. shifted her body to indicate that she was awake. She testified that she did not confront Butler or tell anyone else about the incident that night because she was “too scared.” Specifically, she was deterred by the fact that Butler had physically assaulted both her and her mother in the past.

¶6. Varying incidents of sexual abuse would intensify until R.B. reached the age of fifteen. On many occasions, when she and Butler were home alone, Butler would either insert his finger into R.B.’s vagina or attempt to guide her hand to touch his penis while she was asleep. R.B. testified that Butler even cut holes into her pants to more easily access her vagina while she was sleeping. From an adjoining laundry room, Butler habitually watched R.B. bathe by peering through holes he created in her bathroom wall. He also planted a cell-

1 We use initials to protect identities in this opinion.

phone in her bathroom to record her showering. His behavior extended to sexually crude comments he made under his breath about R.B.’s body. On a separate occasion when he, R.B., and R.B.’s mother shared a bed during a Memphis trip, Butler purposely rested his bare penis on the backs of R.B.’s legs. At times, he would justify touching R.B. by claiming that he was just “checking” on her.

¶7. R.B. often attempted to thwart her father’s abuse by sleeping with multiple pillows and bed-sheets, stuffing the holes in the bathroom with tissue, and locking the door to her room. But Butler would continuously foil her attempts by unplugging the holes in the bathroom and threatening to “take the hinges off the door.” R.B. eventually resorted to sleeping in blue jeans to make it “harder” for Butler to touch her vagina.

¶8. At trial, two witnesses testified that Butler also touched them on separate occasions. One such witness was R.B.’s close friend at the time, K.M. K.M. testified that she would often call Butler “dad” because of the close, father-daughter-like relationship they shared. She was fourteen years old when the incident took place.2

¶9. K.M. testified that one night, when she visited R.B. at Butler’s home, Butler suggested she sleep on the couch because the “back room” would get warm.3 When she did sleep on

2 Butler was indicted for this other alleged incident by the time of his trial for crimes against his daughter.

3 At this time, R.B.’s biological parents had divorced and were no longer living together. Butler lived in a separate house in Winesoga with a girlfriend when the referenced incident took place.

R.B. testified that even after her parent’s divorce, she continued to visit her father because she was too afraid not to.

the couch, she woke up to Butler “rubbing her vagina and whispering things.” As she pretended to sleep, Butler positioned his bare penis on the backs of her legs. When Butler circled the couch and attempted to move her hand from her chest, K.M. “woke up.” Butler told her that he was just checking on her.

¶10. The night ended with K.M. leaving Butler’s home earlier than anticipated after sending a text message to her sister. In that message, she detailed the incident and begged her sister to pick her up from Butler’s house. The message was introduced into evidence.

¶11. The second relevant witness who testified that Butler touched her was M.I.4 M.I. was twelve years old at the time of the incident and commented on the fact that Butler smoked cigarettes frequently. At one point, Butler resided with M.I. and her family. She testified that one night while she was asleep, she woke to Butler shining a bright cell phone light in her face and touching her vagina on the outside of her clothes. She confronted him and attempted to kick him before he fled to the living room. When she told her parents about the incident, Butler insisted that M.I. was only having a nightmare.

¶12. To further prove its case against Butler, the State presented R.B.’s punctured pants, copies of K.M.’s text-messages to her sister, and pictures of the holes in the bathroom wall into evidence. The State also presented several additional witnesses to testify on its behalf. Among them included Hope Meek, who owned the house that Butler rented and testified that

4 Butler was also indicted for this alleged incident by the time of his trial for crimes against R.B.

there were no holes in the wall prior to Butler moving in. She further testified that cigarette butts and ashes were sitting on a hot water heater in the laundry room next to the “main hole” from which a person in the adjoining bathroom could be seen clearly. Detective Heather Russell of the Corinth Police Department also testified. She specialized in crimes against children. Detective Russell’s investigation of R.B.’s claims revealed that there were holes in the wall of Butler’s Winesoga home, and she further examined R.B.’s pants and K.M.’s texts to her sister. Finally, Mary Liz-Deas, a family protection socialist for the Department of Human Services, substantiated R.B.’s claims and reported that R.B. was hardly able to maintain her composure while recounting the events of her father’s sexual abuse during the interview.

¶13. At the close of trial, the jury ultimately found Butler guilty of all four counts of sexual battery and fondling. He now appeals, claiming that the trial court erred by allowing testimony from K.M. and M.I. in violation of Mississippi Rules of Evidence 403 and 404 and that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶14. We analyze the admissibility of trial testimony under an “abuse of discretion” standard. For “[a] trial judge enjoys a great deal of discretion as to the relevancy and admissibility of evidence, and “[u]nless the judge abuses this discretion so as to be prejudicial to the accused, the Court will not reverse this ruling.” Corrothers v. State, 148 So. 3d 278, 310 (¶76) (Miss. 2014).

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Bobby Wade Butler a/k/a Bobbye Wade Butler a/k/a Bobbie Wade Butler v. State of Mississippi, (Mich. Ct. App. 2020).

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