Jason McManus v. State of Mississippi

213 So. 3d 80, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 529
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 16, 2016
DocketNO. 2015-KA-00705-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 213 So. 3d 80 (Jason McManus v. State of Mississippi) 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
Jason McManus v. State of Mississippi, 213 So. 3d 80, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 529 (Mich. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

BARNES, J.,

FOR THE COURT:

¶1. A Rankin County jury found Jason McManus guilty of the sexual battery of Vicki, 1 who is the daughter of his former girlfriend and current wife, Melanie. The trial judge sentenced McManus to thirty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), with fifteen years suspended and five years of supervised probation. McManus now appeals, arguing the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.'

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. In 2010, Vicki testified that when she was fourteen years old, McManus and her mother, Melanie, started dating. Shortly thereafter, McManus moved in with Vicki and her mother in Pearl, Mississippi. Vicki had known McManus “pretty much [her] whole life.” Initially, Vicki did not like McManus, but over time he became “like [her] best friend—[she] could tell him anything.”

¶3. One such conversation occurred when Vicki was fifteen years old. Vicki testified that McManus was the first person she told about losing her virginity. She “told him that it was hurting, and ... he said that he wanted to help it not hurt.” On that day, no sexual incident occurred between them, but on a later day, one did. Vicki testified that she and McManus went to the Easy Stop convenience store in Pearl to get her mother a Diet Coke and some ice cream. McManus instructed Vicki to call her boyfriend, because he wanted to “help” her. After they had- parked, Mc-Manus told Vicki to pull down her pants *82 and underwear. Vicki was talking to her boyfriend when McManus “put his hand in [her] vagina.” She did not “fight him off.” Feeling uncomfortable though, Vicki told her boyfriend she had to go. Her clothes were pulled down to her knees. They did not speak on the way home. Once home, Vicki went to her bedroom. She did not tell her mother about the incident because Vicki thought her mother would not believe her.

¶4. Even after this incident, though, Vicki continued to consider McManus one of her best friends, and they remained close. She testified that McManus was somebody that “was there for [her],” and somebody to whom she could talk. Vicki testified that the inappropriate touching also continued on occasion, when they would go to the store together. Even so, Vicki admitted that McManus never physically hurt her or threatened her in any way. McManus also provided for her family financially, working at the Nissan manufacturing plant in Canton, and then for an offshore drilling company.

¶5. The abuse went past-touching when Vicki told McManus she wanted an iPod for a late birthday or early Christmas present. 2 He told her he could get one from a coworker at Nissan. One day when Vicki came home from school, McManus told her that he had obtained an iPod for her, but the only way she could get it was to have sex with him twice. Initially she refused, but then agreed. Melanie was at work, and McManus was home alone with Vicki in the late afternoon because he worked the night shift at Nissan. Vicki was fifteen years old at the time and testified the incident occurred between November and December 2011. She remembered this time period because it was after she had lost her virginity in June or July 2011, after she had turned fifteen years old, but before McManus had proposed to her mother.

¶6. Vicki testified in detail about the incident. McManus told her to go to the bathroom, get a towel, and remove her tampon. She complied, and then went into her mother’s bedroom. McManus laid the towel down on the bed; Vicki lay sideways while he remained standing. She took her shorts and underwear off. McManus “pulled his penis out of the hole of his boxers,” and put on a condom. She testified that “he stuck his penis in my vagina,” but she started “scooting back because ... I had changed my mind.” She told him if he did not stop, she would tell her mother, at which point McManus “jumped up and said, ‘what am I doing? I can’t do this. You’re my stepdaughter or you’re like my daughter.’ ”

¶7. Vicki testified that the encounter lasted less than a minute. She put her clothes back on and went to the living room, crying. Ultimately, McManus gave her the iPod. This incident was the only time McManus had sexual intercourse with Vicki, and he never inappropriately touched her again. He did, however, talk to her about having sex again.

¶8. The sexual abuse came to light when Vicki told a family friend that McManus kept asking her to have sex. The family friend told Melanie while she was at work. When Melanie came home, she confronted both Vicki and McManus about the allegation. McManus started crying and said it was just a joke, but Vicki admitted it was true. That same evening—May 18, 2012— McManus proposed to Melanie, who asked her daughter if she felt uncomfortable about it. Vicki responded she did not; so Melanie agreed. McManus and Melanie were married in August 2012.

*83 ¶9. During an argument, Vicki finally told her mother about McManus having sex with her. Melanie had caught Vicki with her boyfriend over at her grandmother’s house. 3 Melanie kept telling Vicki how disappointed McManus would be with her actions, and what a great person McManus was. Angry, Vicki asked her mother that if McManus was such a great person, why did he have sex with her. Vicki testified that her mother was shocked at Vicki’s accusation, and did not believe her. Vicki related that Melanie told her to pack up her things, and sent her to live with her estranged biological father. This arrangement lasted approximately one week before Vicki called her mother asking to return home, as she and her father were living mostly in motel rooms and fought all of the time. Vicki testified she wanted a more “stable place” to live, even though McManus was there occasionally.

¶10. While Vicki was living with her father, Vicki’s godmother, Andrea Hale, asked Vicki about McManus’s having sex with her. Initially, Vicki told Hale that it was true, but later that day Vicki recanted because she was tired of Hale asking her questions.

¶11. After the disclosure to her mother, Vicki did not go to the hospital, and did not inform law enforcement for nearly two years about the sexual abuse because “it was in the past and it was over.” Additionally, no abuse had occurred in a while, and Vicki “felt like it should [be] left alone.”

¶12. However, on October 6, 2013, Officer Jake Windham, a detective with the Pearl Police Department, received a sexual-abuse complaint from Lieutenant Brian Ellis by Vicki and the mother of one of Vicki’s friends, whom Vicki had told. 4 Vicki had a forensic interview, and Officer Wind-ham testified he did not detect any deception from Vicki, and her statements were consistent. The disclosures during the interview pointed to McManus as a suspect, and were sufficient to continue the investigation.

¶13. In November 2013, McManus was arrested on the charge of sexual battery, and an indictment was returned against him. 5 A jury trial commenced in February 2015. Vicki and Officer Windham testified for the State.

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Bluebook (online)
213 So. 3d 80, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jason-mcmanus-v-state-of-mississippi-missctapp-2016.