Expose v. State

99 So. 3d 1141, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 543, 2012 WL 5259187
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 25, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-CT-01256-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 99 So. 3d 1141 (Expose 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
Expose v. State, 99 So. 3d 1141, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 543, 2012 WL 5259187 (Mich. 2012).

Opinions

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

WALLER, Chief Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A jury in the Stone County Circuit Court found Anthony Mercie Expose guilty of having forcible sexual intercourse with Shannon M. Bessee. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded his conviction because it found that the trial court had erred in refusing an instruction that would have informed the jury that consent is a defense to forcible sexual intercourse and that the State had the burden of proving that Bessee had not consented. We find that the trial court did not err in refusing this instruction. Additionally, we find that the post-trial discovery of a domestic-violence conviction involving Bes-see’s husband does not warrant a new trial. Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and affirm the verdict and sentence of the Stone County Circuit Court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. On March 24, 2009, Shannon M. Bessee moved to Wiggins, Mississippi, to live with her then-fiancé, Jason Bond. The couple was expecting their first child.

¶ 3. Three days later, Bessee; Bond; Bond’s friend, Quantis Husband; and Quantis’s girlfriend traveled to a Biloxi casino for an evening of entertainment. Around midnight, the party returned to the home shared by Bessee and Bond. What then happened in the early morning hours of March 28, 2009, is disputed. Bes-see claimed that Anthony Mercie Expose, an old friend of Bond’s, raped her. Expose acknowledged that he and Bessee had sex, but he asserted that it was consensual. Both Bessee and Expose testified at trial.

Bessee’s Testimony

¶ 4. During their drive home from the casino, Bessee and Bond got into an argument. As a result, the two of them slept in separate rooms that night. Bessee fell asleep before Quantis and his girlfriend left.

¶ 5. Around 2:30 a.m., Bessee awoke to a man standing over her. It was Expose, whom she knew as a friend of Bond’s. Three days earlier, Bond had introduced Bessee to Expose’s family at the local Wal-mart. Additionally, Bond and Bessee had given Expose a ride home on one occasion.

¶ 6. Bessee asked Expose how he had gotten into the house. Expose said that [1143]*1143the door had been unlocked and that he had come to visit. She told him that it was not a good time and that he needed to leave. Expose tried to engage in conversation and eventually asked Bessee if she would drive him to a friend’s house. After trying unsuccessfully to wake Bond, Bes-see agreed to give Expose a ride.

¶ 7. Bessee was unfamiliar with the area, so Expose directed her where to go. After driving for some time, Expose asked her to stop the vehicle and wait a few minutes; he said that he had to talk to someone or do something. Bessee complied, and minutes later, Expose returned. They repeated stops like this one or two more times. Bessee said that she did not know what Expose did during those stops.

¶ 8. They drove around for approximately twenty or thirty minutes, with Expose directing Bessee to turn this way and that. Bessee became confused as to where they were. She began to be concerned. “I could feel that something wasn’t right,” Bessee said.

¶ 9. Finally, they turned onto a “gravel, red-dirt road” that had a house at the end of the road. The house was completely dark and there were no streetlights around.

¶ 10. Expose asked Bessee to turn off the vehicle’s headlights; he then got out. Bessee locked the doors, but the driver’s side window remained slightly open. Expose walked to the driver’s side, reached through the window, unlocked the door, and pulled Bessee out of the vehicle. He then dragged her down an embankment, pushed her face down into an ant bed, and began trying to remove her clothes. Bes-see pleaded for Expose to stop. But the more she resisted, the more aggressive he became. He put his elbow on her throat, removed her pants, and forced her to have sex.

¶ 11. Afterward, Bessee had bugs and ants crawling all over her body and biting her. She and Expose returned to the vehicle. Before doing so, however, Bessee decided to leave a piece of evidence at the scene. “I had flip-flops on and I threw them off, because I didn’t know where I was at. All I could think about was if they get [Expose], they will find my shoes,” Bessee said. Exhibit S-2 is a picture of the alleged crime scene showing a pair of black, Nike sandals lying on the ground.

¶ 12. Expose demanded that Bessee take him to a friend’s place. As they pulled onto the main road, Expose began smoking a pipe. Expose told Bessee to stop in front of what appeared to be an apartment complex. As Expose exited the vehicle, Bessee kicked him out the door. She then sped off and eventually found her way home.

¶ 13. At home, Bessee woke Bond and told him what had happened. They drove immediately to the Wiggins Police Department. An ambulance took Bessee to the Stone County Hospital where she underwent a rape-kit examination. The nurse who examined Bessee described her as teary and disheveled, and said that she had a lot of dirt on her. Bessee complained of cramping in her vaginal area and pain in her face and throat. She had bruises on her hands, wrists, and knees. And she had ant bites everywhere — “hundreds and hundreds of them,” Bessee said. Eddie Rogers, an investigator with the Stone County Sheriffs Department, saw Bessee at the hospital and noticed the ant bites. “[T]he ant bites ... had really festered, I guess would be the word, and they were showing up really well.... They were on her legs and her thighs and her hands,” Rogers said. Four days later, “pussy, boil-looking sores” broke out all over Bessee’s body. Exhibits S-5, S-6, [1144]*1144and S-7 show pictures of ant bites on Bessee’s hand and legs.

¶ 14. In addition to receiving medical care at the hospital, Bessee spoke to police. She identified Expose as her assailant from a photo lineup.

Expose's Testimony

¶ 15. Expose maintained that he and Bessee had consensual sex on the night in question. He stipulated to DNA testing, which showed that the semen taken from Bessee belonged to him.

¶ 16. Expose testified that Bond had introduced Expose to Bessee before she had moved to Wiggins. He and Bessee “hit it off,” he said.

¶ 17. According to Expose, he and Bes-see had had consensual sex four or five times during the week before the March 28 incident. On those prior occasions, she would pick him up at his house, and they would drive to a particular bridge and have sex under the bridge.

¶ 18. After spending the evening of March 27 at a club, Expose visited Bond’s and Bessee’s home at approximately 1:00 a.m. the next day. Bond, Bessee, Quantis, Quantis’s girlfriend, and another man were there. Bond was asleep.

¶ 19. After awhile, Quantis, his girlfriend, and the other man left, leaving Expose and Bessee alone.1 They chatted awhile before they decided to go for a ride.

¶ 20. Expose said that Bessee offered to give him ten dollars and that he took the money. They then stopped by a friend’s house, and he used the money to purchase crack cocaine. Bessee, who was questioned about this ten dollars during her testimony, did not recall giving Expose the money. “I know that there was $10 missing out of my car,” she said.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 So. 3d 1141, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 543, 2012 WL 5259187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/expose-v-state-miss-2012.