Goforth v. State

70 So. 3d 174, 2011 Miss. LEXIS 449, 2011 WL 4089967
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 2011
DocketNo. 2010-KA-01341-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 70 So. 3d 174 (Goforth 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
Goforth v. State, 70 So. 3d 174, 2011 Miss. LEXIS 449, 2011 WL 4089967 (Mich. 2011).

Opinion

WALLER, Chief Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Amanda Goforth, a former high-school teacher, was indicted on five counts of sexual battery involving one of her former students. She was convicted on two counts and acquitted on the remaining three. Because we find that Goforth was not afforded a constitutionally adequate opportunity to confront one of the witnesses against her, we reverse. Further, we find that Goforth’s conviction and sentence must be reversed and rendered. Any subsequent reprosecution would subject Goforth to the dangers of double jeopardy due to the multiple, identically worded counts in her indictment and the jury’s split verdict.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. From 2008 to 2009, Amanda Goforth taught biology at Newton County High School. Her husband worked in oil fields in Texas on a two-week-on, two-week-off basis. Their only child was less than two years old during that time.

¶ 3. Both years, Goforth taught a troubled student named Jane Doe.1 Around January 2009, soon after Doe’s fifteenth birthday, Goforth began mentoring her. Doe had spent the prior semester in alternative school2 after having been caught in possession of illegal drugs at the high school. Doe had been having problems at home as well. Goforth gave Doe some clothes and, at one point, even contacted the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) concerning Doe.

¶ 4. In November 2009, Goforth reported Doe’s drug-use problems to Newton County High School Principal Ken Stringer and to Newton County Deputy Sheriff Mark Spence, who served as a school resource officer for the Newton County School District.3 Deputy Spence, it turned out, had prior and ongoing investigations of Doe concerning drug possession and two stolen cell phones.4 About this same time, Deputy Spence learned about accusations of sexual impropriety between Goforth and Doe.

[177]*177¶5. On November 23, 2009, Deputy Spence spoke with and obtained a statement from Doe. Later that same day, Deputy Spence interviewed Goforth at the Newton County Sheriffs Department. Deputy Spence informed Goforth of her Miranda5 rights; thereafter, Goforth executed a waiver-of-rights form and gave a statement.

■ ¶ 6. Goforth stated that, following Doe’s stint in alternative school, she had donated clothes to Doe and had tried to mentor her. She said that Doe had spent the night at her house on one occasion. Go-forth recounted that a sobbing Doe had called her one evening and said that she had nowhere to stay. Goforth thus allowed Doe to spend that one night in a spare bedroom.

¶ 7. Deputy Spence specifically asked Goforth whether she had ever considered adopting Doe. Goforth said that adoption had never been a serious option. She explained that Doe had wanted her and her husband to adopt Doe. Goforth said that her and Doe’s relationship had soured after Goforth and her husband chose not to adopt Doe. She said that Doe had become upset about their decision, and that Doe had returned to using drugs once again as a result.

¶ 8. It was not until after Doe had returned to using drugs, according to Go-forth, that Doe began to exhibit a desire to be more than friends. Goforth said that Doe had started calling and texting her more frequently. Then, in August or September of 2009, Doe had tried to break into her house. “[Doe] called me and told me to let — let her in my house, and I said no.... [T]hen she[ ] beat[ ] on my windows and she scared me ...,” Goforth said. Goforth stated that she had called the police about this incident, but that she did not press charges against Doe because “she was drunk, and she had been on drugs, and I wanted to give her a second chance.”

¶ 9. Deputy Spence then mentioned that he already had taken a statement from Doe and from Doe’s friend, Chase Rigdon, and he informed Goforth that he had a cell phone with some incriminating photos.6 Goforth, at that point, said that she was not saying anything further. Yet, after a few further exchanges, Goforth continued to talk.

¶ 10. Goforth told Deputy Spence that Doe had had men drive her to Goforth’s house, and that Doe had threatened Go-forth and her eighteen-month-old child if Goforth did not engage in sexual activity with her. Goforth said that Doe had told her that she and John Thomas Roberts, Doe’s then-boyfriend, would take Goforth’s child to Mexico if Goforth did not comply with Doe’s desires. Goforth said that the mention of Roberts’s name had especially frightened her. Goforth and Roberts had dated in the past. She described Roberts as “bad,” and alluded that Roberts had [178]*178forced her to do things in the past. Go-forth added that Roberts was the only person whom she had ever bailed out of jail.

¶ 11. Goforth further alleged that Doe had threatened to kill her “multiple times.” She said that she even had in her possession a piece of paper with a note from Doe that read: “come with me or die.” Go-forth explained that “come with me” meant going to Mexico with Doe. This note, in fact, was later produced it trial. Exhibit D-l is a small, half-torn post-it note that reads “would you rather die or go with me?”

¶ 12. Goforth acknowledged that she had engaged in sexual activity with Doe on five occasions, beginning in May 2009, and that Doe had made Goforth use a dildo each time. Goforth said that on the final encounter, Doe had shown up with Rigdon, that Rigdon had had a gun, and that she had been forced to have sex with Rigdon as well. Goforth said that Rigdon and Doe had returned to her house again on a later date, and that Doe had sought to come inside. Goforth said that she had called the police at that point because she had had enough. When asked why she had not contacted the police before then, Goforth replied, “Because I was scared that this would happen, and I would be in the wrong, and I was trying to get her sent back to alternative school because you know she’s had drugs.”

¶ 13. At trial, Newton County Deputy Sheriff Chris Hollingsworth testified that police had been called out to Goforth’s house one evening. Deputy Hollingsworth could not recall any dates, but he confirmed that he had been one of the four officers who had responded to a call about an attempted break-in by Doe. He recalled finding Rigdon sitting inside a vehicle. Doe, he said, was apprehended and taken to the sheriffs department until her mother came and picked her up. Deputy Holl-ingsworth said that Goforth did not press charges.

¶ 14. Toward the conclusion of Go-forth’s interview with Deputy Spence, he asked Goforth whether the dildo belonged to her, or whether Doe had brought it to Goforth’s house. Goforth claimed that Roberts had bought it. She said that the dildo was still at her house, and she consented to accompanying Deputy Spence to retrieve it. Goforth later executed a waiver-of-search form. That same evening, Goforth, Deputy Spence, Deputy Jeremy Pinson, and Angela Spence, an administrative assistant with the Newton County Sheriffs Department,7 all traveled to Go-forth’s home. Goforth retrieved the dildo from a bedroom dresser drawer. She was arrested and charged later that evening.

¶ 15.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 So. 3d 174, 2011 Miss. LEXIS 449, 2011 WL 4089967, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goforth-v-state-miss-2011.