Cox v. State

423 S.W.3d 131, 2012 Ark. App. 499, 2012 WL 4127334, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 619
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 19, 2012
DocketNo. CA CR 12-48
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 423 S.W.3d 131 (Cox v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cox v. State, 423 S.W.3d 131, 2012 Ark. App. 499, 2012 WL 4127334, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 619 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge.

| Appellant Bobby Harold Cox III appeals an October 24, 2011, order of the Lonoke County Circuit Court denying his motion to dismiss criminal charges. Mr. Cox argued in his motion to dismiss, and now argues on appeal, that the criminal action against him was barred by double jeopardy as a result of serious prosecutorial misconduct resulting in a mistrial in a previous jury trial held on June 22, 2011. Our supreme court has long recognized the right to an immediate interlocutory appeal from the denial of a motion to dismiss on double-jeopardy grounds. See Dilday v. State, 369 Ark. 1, 250 S.W.3d 217 (2007). We affirm the order of the trial court.

This case was initiated on November 10, 2010, when Mr. Cox was charged with second-degree sexual assault. The State alleged that on April 11, 2010, Mr. Cox engaged in sexual contact with a twelve-year-old girl, M.W. Mr. Cox subsequently filed a motion in |2limine asking the trial court to prohibit any reference to prior allegations of sexual abuse against another, unidentified girl. This motion was filed in response to the incident report in the instant matter, which contained an allegation by M.W.’s mother that Mr. Cox’s grandmother had “called someone and made a complaint about Bobby messing with a fifteen-year-old girl, but it was dropped.”

A pretrial hearing on Mr. Cox’s motion in limine was held on June 20, 2011. At the hearing, Mr. Cox asserted that he never knew about the prior complaint involving the fifteen-year-old girl, and that the case was dropped after the first interview with the witness. Mr. Cox argued, “[b]ut it’s in a report, which means somebody told a police officer that, and I don’t want the police officer testifying or the person who gave it to the police officer testifying there was a prior allegation when it never got anywhere.” The State did not resist Mr. Cox’s motion, stating that it “never filed a 404(b) notice, and we do not intend to call the victim or any officers in that matter.” The trial court granted Mr. Cox’s motion in limine, prohibiting any reference to the prior allegation of sexual abuse.

A jury trial was held on June 22, 2011. The testimony established that in April 2010 M.W. lived with her parents and siblings in the same neighborhood as Mr. Cox. Mr. Cox lived with his girlfriend and a male roommate. M.W. and her family were friends with Mr. Cox and saw him on a regular basis.

M.W. testified that on a couple of previous occasions Mr. Cox had made her uncomfortable by touching her leg and her butt, and by trying to kiss her. He also told her “you make me horny,” and that if she were old enough he’d “do” her.

|sThe alleged sexual assault occurred one morning after M.W. and her younger sister had missed the school bus, and they went to Mr. Cox’s house because their parents had already gone to work. According to M.W., Mr. Cox had offered to take them to school and she was upstairs in his roommate’s room getting ready. M.W. testified that Mr. Cox came in, pushed her on the bed, and started kissing and touching her. M.W. stated that Mr. Cox touched her chest and put his hand up her skirt and touched her vagina. M.W. resisted and then tried to leave the room, but Mr. Cox would not let her leave and he exposed his penis. After that they went downstairs and Mr. Cox pushed M.W. up against the wall with his hand on her throat and threatened to kill her if she did not kiss him. M.W. testified that she was afraid to tell anyone about the assault, and that she only told her sister and a couple of friends. About a month later, M.W.’s sister told their mother about the incident.

M.W.’s mother, Heather, testified that after receiving this information from M.W.’s sister, she spoke with M.W. and her husband about it. It was Mother’s Day, and Mr. Cox was at his grandmother’s house for a barbecue. Heather went there and confronted Mr. Cox about the allegations, and according to Heather, Mr. Cox apologized and said they had kissed a couple of times.

Heather testified that Mr. Cox followed her to her neighbor George Hamby’s house, where M.W.’s father, Kenneth, was also present. Heather stated that Mr. Cox “got out of his truck and was crying and stuff and said that he came to apologize for what he had done and don’t hit him in the nose, and they got into a fight.” Heather then called the police and reported the allegations.

| ¿Kenneth testified that when Mr. Cox arrived at George’s house, Mr. Cox kept screaming, “I’m sorry for what I done,” and said, “just don’t hit me in the nose.” George corroborated the fact that Mr. Cox apologized repeatedly and said, “I won’t do it again.” Kenneth then struck Mr. Cox multiple times. Kenneth testified that Mr. Cox’s grandfather showed up and reached for his gun, and Kenneth said, “let him tell you what he done to my twelve-year-old baby.” According to Kenneth, Mr. Cox said, “I’m so sorry pop,” and his grandfather responded, “you done fd up now,” and they left. On cross-examination, Kenneth acknowledged that Mr. Cox had loaned him money in the past to buy methamphetamine and that the two men had smoked methamphetamine together.

Mr. Cox put on defense witnesses who testified that M.W. was frequently hanging on Mr. Cox and jumping in his lap. In addition, M.W. had allegedly written “I love BJ (Mr. Cox)” in her school binder, and this was also written on the walls of her house. Mr. Cox’s girlfriend testified that she was with him constantly to make sure he was not smoking methamphetamine, and that he could never have been alone with M.W. Mr. Cox’s grandfather denied that there had been any admission of wrongdoing or apology from Mr. Cox, and he maintained that Mr. Cox was innocent.

Mr. Cox testified on his own behalf, and he stated that he had given M.W.’s family a fair amount of money and that Kenneth would buy methamphetamine for them to smoke. However, he said that before his altercation with Kenneth he had “quit hanging out with them” and was giving them no more money. He indicated that on the day of the fight he [ Swas going to George’s house to buy methamphetamine, and he thought that Kenneth was trying to rob him. He said that he never apologized to Kenneth for anything.

Mr. Cox stated that M.W. would sometimes jump in his lap, and that he told her to stop. He recalled taking M.W. to school on April 11, 2010, but he denied doing anything inappropriate. Mr. Cox maintained that he never touched M.W. inappropriately or talked to her in the manner she said, and that she was not telling the truth. Direct examination of Mr. Cox concluded as follows:

Now, you’re accused of sexual contact with a — against by forcible compulsion with somebody under fourteen— «©
Uh-huh.
—and you’re over eighteen.
Yes, sir.
Did you commit that crime?
No, sir. No, sir.
Did you ever touch M.W. inappropriately?
No, sir.
Did you ever — when she jumped on you when you were playing basketball, that’s her touching you, correct?
Yes, sir. l>

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
423 S.W.3d 131, 2012 Ark. App. 499, 2012 WL 4127334, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-state-arkctapp-2012.