Griswold v. State

716 S.W.2d 767, 290 Ark. 79, 1986 Ark. LEXIS 2087
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 6, 1986
DocketCR 86-88
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 716 S.W.2d 767 (Griswold v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griswold v. State, 716 S.W.2d 767, 290 Ark. 79, 1986 Ark. LEXIS 2087 (Ark. 1986).

Opinion

Jack Holt, Jr., Chief Justice.

In this appeal appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence of forcible compulsion as an element of rape. We find the evidence sufficient and affirm.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of three counts of rape involving three female children, ages thirteen, ten, and five, and sentenced to twenty years on each count, with the sentences to be served consecutively. His arguments on appeal are directed at two of the convictions. He does not challenge his conviction for raping the five-year-old. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Sup. Ct. R. 29(l)(b).

Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction on counts one and two because of a lack of evidence of forcible compulsion.

The rape statute in effect when the crimes occurred was Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-1803 (Repl. 1977), as amended by Act 620 of 1981, which provided:

(1) A person commits rape if he engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person:
(a) by forcible compulsion; or
(b) who is incapable of consent because he is physically helpless; or
(c) who is less than eleven (11) years old.
(2) Rape is a class Y felony.

Forcible compulsion as used in the statute has been defined as “physical force, or a threat, express or implied, of death or physical injury to or kidnapping of any person.” Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-1801 (Repl. 1977).

The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal is whether there is substantial evidence to support the verdict. Cooper v. State, 275 Ark. 207, 628 S.W.2d 324 (1982). “Substantial evidence is that which is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable and material certainty and precision, compel a conclusion one way or the other. It must force or induce the mind to pass beyond a suspicion or conjecture.” Id.

Here, the testimony revealed that the appellant is the uncle of the thirteen and ten-year-old victims, and that they and their mother (the appellant’s sister) were living in the same house with the appellant and his wife. Both the children’s mother and the appellant’s wife worked at a poultry plant and the rapes allegedly occurred while they were at work and appellant was home alone with the children after school. The state offered the testimony of the thirteen-year-old and the ten-year-old as proof on the issue of force. The thirteen-year-old testified as follows:

Q: Did he (the appellant) do anything to you or make you do anything that you didn’t want to do?
A: Once in a while.
Q: And did that hurt you when he did that (had intercourse with her), cause you pain?
A: It just made me upset.
Q: Did you ever ask him not to do that?
A: Yes.
Q: Did he ever tell you not to tell?
A: Yes.
The ten-year-old victim similarly testified:
Q: Did he make you do these things, did he force you to do these things?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you recall what he would tell you when he would take you in there (the bedroom)?
A: He says, “Don’t tell anybody; anyway, they wouldn’t believe you.
Q: Did he ever make you touch any of his private parts?
A: Yes.
Q: Did he ever hold your hands or force you or press you down or anything like that, or did he just ask you to touch his private parts?
A: He’d tell me to.
Q: Now, did Thomas ever threaten you or hurt you in any way?
A: He told me not to tell, because nobody would believe me.
Q: Did he force you to do this?
A: Yes.
Q: How did he force you?
A: He said do it or else.
Q: What did he mean by “else”?
A: I don’t know, he never told me.
Q: How many times did he do that — “or else”?
A: Every time he —

We have considered the quantum of proof necessary to prove forcible compulsion before. In Canard v. State, 278 Ark. 372, 646 S.W.2d 3 (1983), the appellant was convicted of raping his daughter, who was 11 at the time. Her testimony was that, “ ‘He unzipped his pants and took his penis out and put it into me and started raping me.’ She testified that she told him that she “ ‘didn’t want to, but he did anyway.’ ” In finding this evidence sufficient, we noted:

In Spencer v. State, 255 Ark. 258, 499 S.W.2d 856 (1973) we stated that the quantum of force need not be considered as long as the act is committed against the will of the victim. Here, the daughter testified that she “didn’t want to, but he did anyway,” and that she was very much afraid of appellant. She also used the word “rape,” which, in the context of her testimony, not only denotes sexual intercourse but also that it was done against her will. This fact, when considered with the age of the victim and the fact that appellant is her father, leads us to conclude there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that forcible compulsion was present. . . .

In Spencer v. State, supra, the appellant admitted intercourse but said it was with the consent of the prosecutrix. We held that appellant’s arguments were facts to be argued to the jury, but that the jury was the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and it was within their province to determine whether the victim was acting under duress and fear.

Here, the thirteen-year-old victim testified that she asked appellant not to have intercourse with her and that it upset her when he did, and the ten-year-old victim testified appellant told her to “do it or else.” This was sufficient proof for the jury to find the acts were consummated against the will of the girls.

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Bluebook (online)
716 S.W.2d 767, 290 Ark. 79, 1986 Ark. LEXIS 2087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griswold-v-state-ark-1986.