Dupuis v. State

872 So. 2d 724, 2004 WL 1049243
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 11, 2004
Docket2002-KA-00183-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 872 So. 2d 724 (Dupuis 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
Dupuis v. State, 872 So. 2d 724, 2004 WL 1049243 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

872 So.2d 724 (2004)

Timothy DUPUIS, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KA-00183-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 11, 2004.

*725 Joseph A. Fernald, Brookhaven, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jean Smith Vaughan, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

MODIFIED OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

GRIFFIS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. The Appellant's motion for rehearing is denied. The original opinion is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted.

¶ 2. Timothy Dupuis was convicted of touching a child for lustful purposes, Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-23(1) (Rev.2000).[1] Aggrieved by the judgment of conviction, Dupuis appeals the verdict and seeks relief in the form of a reversal of the jury's verdict and acquittal. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. On Easter Sunday, April 15, 2001, Bob and Susan Smith's[2] two daughters spent the night with his sister, Nancy Dupuis, and her husband, Timothy Dupuis. The Dupuises had two children living with them, a teenage son and a young boy. Nancy and Timothy Dupuis slept in their bedroom and the Smith girls along with the Dupuises's youngest son slept in the *726 living room. At some point in the evening, the Dupuises's oldest son came home and he slept in his room.

¶ 4. The next morning around 5:30 a.m., Bob Smith received a telephone call. It was his oldest daughter, Jenny, who was under the age of fourteen. She asked to speak to her mother. When Susan took the phone, her daughter was crying and told her that, "Uncle Tim messed with me." Susan immediately went to the Dupuises's home and found Jenny wrapped in a blanket crying. Susan woke the other children and Nancy Dupuis, and she explained what had happened. Susan called the police and her husband and told them to meet her at the hospital.

¶ 5. When they arrived at the hospital, Jenny was interviewed and examined by a nurse and then a doctor. She told the nurse that "her uncle messed with her this morning." Jenny told the nurse that she woke up on the couch and her uncle was rubbing her back and legs telling her she was beautiful. She said that she pretended to be asleep and he told her to spread her legs so he could feel her. Jenny told the nurse, "he started rubbing my thing and put his fingers up in me and moved them around." The doctor examined Jenny, and she told him what happened. He performed a pelvic examination and a urinalysis. Neither of these test revealed any abnormalities or trauma.

¶ 6. Jenny was also interviewed by a counselor at the Children's Advocacy Center in McComb. Again, Jenny identified Dupuis and told the counselor he had "messed with her."

¶ 7. Based on Jenny's testimony, Timothy Dupuis was indicted for the crime of sexual battery, pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-3-95. At trial, the jury heard testimony from several witnesses for the State including the medical staff who examined Jenny, her counselor, her mother and Jenny herself. Jenny testified that Dupuis, "stuck his fingers inside my panties, inside of my private, with his finger." Dupuis testified in his own defense along with his older son. Dupuis stated that he did not touch Jenny or molest her.

¶ 8. Both the State and Dupuis submitted a jury instruction on the form of the verdict. Both instructions asked the jury to decide whether Dupuis was guilty of sexual battery, guilty of touching and handling a child for lustful purposes, or not guilty. The court granted the State's version of the form of the verdict instruction and denied Dupuis' instruction, finding it a duplicate of the State's instruction. The jury found Dupuis guilty of touching a child for lustful purposes, pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated § 97-5-23(1) (Rev.2000), and he was sentenced to a term of fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

¶ 9. Dupuis appeals to this Court asserting that (1) the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and contrary to the instruction of law; (2) the State violated a motion in limine and the Mississippi Rules of Evidence by trying to elicit testimony of prior bad acts of Mr. Dupuis; and (3) no physical evidence or corroborating medical evidence existed to support the allegation of touching for lustful purposes. Since issues one and three challenge the weight of the evidence, they will be discussed together. On rehearing, Dupuis argues that it was plain error for the court to convict him of a crime for which he was not indicted.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF LAW

I. Whether the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and contrary to the instruction of law as given by the court.

¶ 10. Dupuis alleges the evidence presented by the prosecution could *727 not have supported a guilty verdict. He asserts that no physical evidence was presented to support the assault, and the verdict was based entirely on the testimony of the victim and her report to the social worker. The Mississippi Supreme Court has often held that issues regarding the weight and credibility of evidence lie with the jury. Eakes v. State, 665 So.2d 852, 872 (Miss.1995). We will reverse only where the evidence, as to at least one of the elements of the crime charged, is such that a reasonable and fair minded juror could not find the accused guilty. Id. This Court will order a new trial only when it is convinced that the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it would sanction an unconscionable injustice. Id. In determining whether a jury verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, this Court accepts as true all evidence which supports the verdict and will reverse only when convinced that the trial court has abused its discretion in failing to grant a new trial. Id.

¶ 11. The record indicates Dupuis filed a motion for a new trial which challenged the sufficiency of the evidence. Dupuis states in his brief the trial court denied the motion on February 4, 2002. However, the record does not show that the trial court ever entered an order denying Dupuis's motion for a new trial. Additionally, it appears from the trial transcript that Dupuis made a motion for a directed verdict at the end of the prosecution's case, but failed to renew his motion at the conclusion of the presentation of evidence.

¶ 12. In Harris v. State, 413 So.2d 1016, 1018 (Miss.1982), the supreme court held:

It is elemental that after a motion for directed verdict is overruled at the conclusion of the State's evidence, and the appellant proceeds to introduce evidence in his own behalf, the point is waived. In order to preserve it, the appellant must renew his motion for a directed verdict at the conclusion of all the evidence.

¶ 13. If any error existed in the court's refusal to grant Dupuis a directed verdict at the close of the State's case-in-chief, Dupuis waived it when he proceeded to present evidence on his behalf. Because Dupuis did not renew this motion by way of a motion for a directed verdict at the conclusion of the evidence or by a motion for a peremptory instruction, any objection he had to the sufficiency of the evidence was waived. Id.

¶ 14. Furthermore, while an order denying the motion for a new trial was entered by the trial court, Dupuis admits that the trial court did in fact deny the motion on February 4, 2002.

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Related

Larry Gene Singleton v. State of Mississippi
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Dupuis v. State
972 So. 2d 7 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2007)

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872 So. 2d 724, 2004 WL 1049243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dupuis-v-state-missctapp-2004.