Jeremy Wade Holloway v. State of Mississippi

196 So. 3d 962, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 466, 2015 WL 5332382
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 15, 2015
Docket2012-KA-01389-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 196 So. 3d 962 (Jeremy Wade Holloway 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
Jeremy Wade Holloway v. State of Mississippi, 196 So. 3d 962, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 466, 2015 WL 5332382 (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

IRVING, P, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A Rankin County jury found Jeremy Wade Holloway guilty of two counts of sexual battery and one count of rape. The circuit court sentenced him to two concurrent terms of thirty years for the sexual-battery counts and to a concurrent term of forty years for the rape count, with ten years suspended and five years of supervised probation, all in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). •

¶2. On appeal, Holloway argues that (1) the circuit court erred in excluding certain evidence; (2) that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the offenses; (3) the circuit court abpsed its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial; and (4) the cumulative effect of the errors mandates reversal of his convictions.

■ ¶ 3. Finding no error, we affirm Holloway’s convictions and sentences.

FACTS

¶ 4. On the night of February 15, 2011, Ellis Wilkerson and his girlfriend, Cather *964 ine Branch, 1 arrived at the Brandon City Park, where they walked along a trail onto a bridge located toward the back of the park. While the couple was on the bridge, a man, wearing a ski mask and holding a gun, appeared from the bushes and ordered them to get on the ground, and, as Catherine began to lie down, he grabbed her by her hair and .dragged her up a hill. There, he forced her to perform oral sex on him and then disappeared. Catherine vomited, and as she was recovering from this assault, a second assailarit,-later identified as Holloway, Wilkersoris roommate, appeared wearing a mechanic’s jumpsuit and a mask. He pointed a gun at Catherine and also forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterwards, he vaginally raped her and then forced her to perform oral sex on him once again. After the assault, Holloway told: Catherine to stay on the ground and not to look at him. In the meantime, the first assailant and Wilkerson came,up the hill where Holloway and Catherine were. , One ,of the assailants punched Wilkerson, and the two assailants , left.

¶ 5. After lying on the ground for about thirty minutes, Wilkerson and Catherine went to the nearby Kroger parking lot, where Catherine’s car was parked. Catherine asked Wilkerson if they should go to the police, and he told her that the assailants had informed him that they would be killed if they reported the assault.' Catherine then asked Wilkerson if she could stay with him, but he refused. After Wilk-ersoii left, Catherine got into her car and started to drive toward her home. However, reluctant to go home, she went to the Pearl Police Department (PPD) instead and reported the assault. She informed the police that she had been sexually assaulted at the park. The PPD informed the Brandon Police Department (BPD), and officers from the BPD escorted Catherine to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). There,- Catherine was examined, and nurse Kelly Burke administered a rape kit to her.

¶6. While Catherine was at UMMC, BPD Officer David Smith went to Wilkerson’s apartment to speak with him because, at that time, he believed that Wilkerson was also a victim. Holloway answered the door and helped Officer Smith locate Wilkerson, who was not at the apartment at the time. Officer Smith later spoke separately with Wilkerson and Holloway at the BPD. Also, Holloway gave Officer Smith permission to search his cell phone. Officer Smith looked through the phone and noticed phone-call traffic between Holloway, For-tenberry, and Wilkerson between 10:30 p.m. and ' 10:45 p.m. on February 15, 2011. However, at that point, all three men were free to leave.

¶7. At 5:00 a.m, the next morning, Officer Smith interviewed Catherine, who had been taken to the BPD after completion of her examination at UMMC, Based on his investigation and the description that Catherine gave of one of her assailants — “tall with long hair and ... skinny” — Officer Smith obtained a search warrant for Holloway’s DNA. On February 17, 2011, Holloway gave oral and written statements to Officer Smith, submitted a buccal swab for DNA testing, and was,' subsequently, arrested. Also, Holloway consented to a search of his and Wilkersoris' apartment. During the search, Officer Smith retrieved a pistol inside a holster and a ski mask that Hol *965 loway admitted' to using during the assault on Catherine.

¶ 8. In his written statement, Holloway wrote:

My TV ended up getting knocked off [the] wail[;] Ellis [Wilkerson] felt bad[,] and[,] between David [Fortenberry] and himselff,] [Wilkerson] came up with a plan to make a fake rape scenario' to get back at [Catherine] for the TV[,] and we were told to hide in [the] bushes and wait for them to walk by and David approached her with [a] bb gun and told her to get down[;] ... then I was- next and I told her to take [her] pants off[,] and then she claimed rape[ ]....

Officer Smith stated that during his interview with Holloway, Holloway “was a little upset that [Catherine] did not — [Catherine]'didn’t put up more resistance, and it would have felt better to him if he, at least, had to have forced her to have sex. And [Holloway] felt that it was consensual because it was so easy.”

¶ 9. As stated, Holloway was indicted, tried, and convicted of two counts of sexual battery and one count of rape. 2 Holloway filed a post-trial motion, which was denied by the circuit court. Following the denial of Holloway’s post-trial motion, he instituted this appeal, but later filed a motion with this Court seeking a stay of the appeal and a remand of the case to the circuit court for consideration of an alleged Brady 3 violation. We granted the motion and directed the circuit court to hold a hearing on the limited issue of whether there had been a Brady violation. The -hearing addressed whether Holloway’s neighbor, Chris Moore, gave an exculpatory oral and written statement to -Officer Smith that was never tendered to Holloway. The circuit court held the Brady hearing on April 29, 2014, and found that there was no Brad/y violation.

DISCUSSION

I. Rule J/.12 Evidence

¶ 10, Holloway argues that the circuit court committed reversible error when it refused to allow evidence that Catherine willingly engaged in oral sex with Wilkerson in the Kroger parking lot shortly after she had been assaulted in the park. Prior to trial, Holloway filed a motion entitled, “Motion to Offer Evidence Pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Evidence 412 and Offer of Proof.” In the motion, he alleged the following:

... The Defendant, upon information and belief, would show unto the [c]ourt that on the night in' question, prior to the incident giving rise to the allegations' in the indictment,' the complainant, Catherine, had consensual oral-sexual intercourse with Defendant James David Fortenberry.
... That immediately after the alleged incident the complainant, Catherine, had consensual oral sexual intercourse with Defendant Ellis Wade Wilkerson, Jr.

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Bluebook (online)
196 So. 3d 962, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 466, 2015 WL 5332382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeremy-wade-holloway-v-state-of-mississippi-missctapp-2015.