Coleman v. State

915 So. 2d 468, 2005 WL 1154220
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 17, 2005
Docket2003-KA-02401-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 915 So. 2d 468 (Coleman 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
Coleman v. State, 915 So. 2d 468, 2005 WL 1154220 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

915 So.2d 468 (2005)

Sammy COLEMAN a/k/a Sammy Dean Coleman, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2003-KA-02401-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 17, 2005.
Rehearing Denied August 23, 2005.
Certiorari Denied December 1, 2005.

*469 Thomas M. Fortner, Virginia L. Watkins, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.

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

Before LEE, P.J., MYERS and BARNES, JJ.

MYERS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. On July 30, 2003, a jury in the Circuit Court of Hinds County, Second Judicial District, convicted Sammy Coleman of one count of rape and one count of aggravated assault against D.P. Coleman was charged with three counts of rape, but the jury only convicted him of one of the counts. Coleman had been convicted of two prior felonies; therefore, he was sentenced as an habitual offender and ordered to serve twenty years for the charge of rape and twenty-five years for the charge of aggravated assault in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, said sentences to run consecutively.

¶ 2. Aggrieved by the judgment of the circuit court, Coleman raises the following four issues on appeal:

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN ADMITTING CERTAIN PHOTOGRAPHS THAT WERE NOT PRODUCED IN DISCOVERY?
II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN DENYING INSTRUCTION D-7, REGARDING THE LESSER-INCLUDED OFFENSE OF SIMPLE ASSAULT?
III. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN DENYING COLEMAN'S MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT?
IV. WAS THE JURY'S VERDICT CONTRARY TO LAW AND AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE?

¶ 3. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTS

¶ 4. While there are a few undisputed facts in this case, the large majority of the facts are disputed by Coleman and D. P., who gave two vastly different accounts of what happened on the night of January 22, 2002, and the early morning hours of January 23, 2003. Given the verdict, the jury apparently credited Coleman's version of the night's events at a few points but ultimately credited D. P.'s version in general as the most reliable and accurate. *470 Thus, we will review the undisputed facts first, and then proceed to review each version of the facts, beginning with D. P.'s.

The undisputed facts

¶ 5. D.P. lived in South Jackson with her boyfriend, M. D., and her adopted daughter. D.P. also had an infant son, and it appears that the son also lived with D. P., although there was some indication that the son may actually have lived with D. P.'s sister. Coleman was an acquaintance of D. P.'s through M. D., but Coleman was not a close friend of D.P. or M.D. On January 22, 2002, Coleman had given M.D. a ride to a local pawn shop so that M.D. could sell his pet ferret, which had apparently become vexatious to D.P.M.D. needed a ride to the pawn shop because the vehicle used by D.P. and M.D. was in the shop being repaired. Coleman was driving a rather small, two-door hatchback.

¶ 6. Coleman and M.D. proceeded to the pawn shop, where the pawn broker took the ferret off M. D.'s hands for an undisclosed sum. When they returned to D.P. and M. D.'s dwelling at around 5:00 p.m., D.P. asked Coleman for a ride to a store around the corner. Coleman agreed, and they left. At this point, the undisputed facts end, and the different versions of the events begin. The different versions continue until D.P. is taken to the hospital, after which there are a few final undisputed facts.

D. P.'s version of events

¶ 7. According to D. P., upon entering the car, Coleman declared that M.D. had made a big mistake by letting D.P. get into the car with him. For some reason, this threatening comment did not alarm D. P.; so, she and Coleman went on their way. D.P. testified that upon entering Coleman's car she was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and that she was not wearing any undergarments. D.P. also testified that she and Coleman did not engage in any conversation, casual or intimate, during their travels that night. When they reached the store to which D.P. was hoping to go, Coleman did not stop, as D.P. requested, but continued driving. Instead of stopping where D.P. wanted to stop, Coleman proceeded to another store some distance away, near Gallatin Street. At this store, Coleman demanded that D.P. give him some money. She complied, assuming that he was asking for gas money, since he was driving her around on her errands. Coleman entered this store, purchased a beer, and returned to the car, where D.P. waited. At this point, D.P. still did not suspect any foul play or evil designs on the part of Coleman; thus, she did not attempt to flee while Coleman was inside purchasing his beer.

¶ 8. After leaving this store, Coleman told D.P. that he wished to visit a friend in Raymond. D. P., becoming progressively more alarmed, requested that Coleman take her back home. Coleman insisted on going to Raymond to visit his friend, and D. P., still hoping for the best, told herself that Coleman would simply visit his friend and then take her home. They traveled some back roads that D.P. did not recognize and eventually arrived at a house Coleman knew to be abandoned. Coleman left the vehicle to use the restroom, and, upon returning, told D.P. that she must have sexual intercourse with him whether she wanted to or not. She refused and began to struggle and scream. She managed to get free for a brief moment and attempted to flee, but Coleman caught her, beat her into submission, and forced her to return to the car with him. During her failed attempt to flee, she kicked off one of her sandals in order to leave a trail for anyone that might come looking for her. Coleman then forced D.P. to perform oral sex upon him before forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him. While they *471 were back in the car, however, a neighbor came up to the parked car, knocked on the window, and told the occupants that they would have to leave or he would call the police. (It should be noted here that this neighbor testified that he did not hear any screaming nor did he detect any other signs of a struggle between the persons in the car.)

¶ 9. Having only partially consummated his crime, Coleman sped away from the abandoned house and proceeded to another location in Raymond, mercilessly beating down any of D. P.'s attempts to escape or to plead for mercy. The next location to which Coleman took D.P. was a dead end road behind a restaurant near Highway 18 in Raymond. There again, he beat D.P. into submission and again forced her to have sexual intercourse with him in the car. From this location, Coleman proceeded to take D.P. to yet another location, all the while beating her about the head and shoulders in order to silence her protests, prevent her escape, and coerce her submission to his continued evil designs.

¶ 10. The next location to which Coleman took D.P. was a private drive somewhere near Jackson-Raymond Road. After turning down this private drive, Coleman's car became stuck in a ditch, at which point he forced D.P. to exit the car, threatening to cut her throat with his pocket knife if she did not comply. In order to prove his seriousness, he made her feel his pocket to show her that he had a pocket knife and was willing to use it to kill her. He forced her to carry two blankets to a nearby pond, but upon nearing the pond, D.P. refused to go any further, declaring that Coleman would have to kill her before she would allow him to hurt her any further.

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
915 So. 2d 468, 2005 WL 1154220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-state-missctapp-2005.