Jordan v. State

936 So. 2d 368, 2005 WL 2980738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 8, 2005
Docket2002-KA-02057-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 936 So. 2d 368 (Jordan v. State) 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
Jordan v. State, 936 So. 2d 368, 2005 WL 2980738 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

936 So.2d 368 (2005)

Dextor Latroy JORDAN, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KA-02057-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

November 8, 2005.
Rehearing Denied January 17, 2006.

*369 Imhotep Alkebu-Lan, Chokwe Lumumba, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by John R. Henry, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

BRIDGES, J., for the Court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. The Circuit Court for the Second Judicial District of Hinds County tried Dexter Latroy Jordan on two charges of kidnaping, two charges of sexual battery and one charge of rape. On November 6, 2002, the jury found Jordan guilty of all five counts. The circuit court sentenced Jordan to a one hundred sixty (160) year term in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Jordan filed unsuccessful motions for a directed verdict, for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and for a new trial. Aggrieved, Jordan appeals and raises three issues, listed verbatim:

I. THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT DENIED JORDAN'S MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT.
II. THE ONE COUNT OF RAPE AND TWO COUNTS OF SEXUAL BATTERY AND RAPE ARE DUPLICITOUS AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMBINED.
III. THE SENTENCE OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS *370 CONSTITUTE [SIC] CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT.

Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. Jordan was charged with rape and two counts of sexual battery of D.W. Additionally, the State alleged that Jordan kidnaped D.W. and her son, K.W. On July 22, 2000, D. W., a nurse's assistant at Whitfield Mississippi State Hospital, got off work at 11:30 p.m. Vanessa Green babysat K.W. for D.W.D.W. picked up K.W. and took K.W. to visit his father, Lanthony Smith. Lanthony was going to keep K.W. while D.W. went shopping. D.W. arrived at Lanthony's apartment in Jackson, Mississippi, shortly after midnight.

¶ 3. D.W. got out of her car and got K.W. out of his car seat. D.W. dropped K. W.'s bottle, so she bent down to pick it up. As she stood up, a man wearing all black and a black ski mask confronted D.W. with a pistol. He ordered D.W. back into her car, and pushed her as she entered her driver's side door. He put K.W. in the back seat and told D.W. to drive. D.W. complied and left the apartment complex. D.W. proceeded down Lynch Street, avoided a police precinct, and continued towards Springridge Road. The gunman became frustrated at D.W.'s inability to drive the speed limit. When they got to Springridge Road, the gunman ordered D.W. to pull over. They switched seats and he continued to drive.

¶ 4. The gunman, still threatening D.W. with a pistol, told her to undress. D.W. lost her bearings, but she remembered a sign for "Raymond-Bolton Road." They eventually ended up in a wooded area in Bolton that D.W. did not recognize. D.W. did remember that she heard running water and that the gunman said he visited that area to fish.

¶ 5. The gunman got out of the car and forced D.W. to join him. The gunman, still wearing the ski mask, put the pistol barrel in K. W.'s mouth. Then the gunman made D.W. perform oral sex. That act led to the first sexual battery charge. The gunman also sodomized D.W. That act led to the second sexual battery charge. Finally, the gunman forced D.W. to have intercourse with him. That act led to the rape charge.

¶ 6. Afterwards, the gunman told D.W. that his name was Bruce Andrews. D.W. promised that she would not turn him in, so Andrews removed his ski mask. D.W. testified that Andrews left the mask and the pistol at the scene of the rape. Then she and Andrews left the wooded area and went to a trailer. According to D. W., Andrews told her to bring $200 to the trailer on the following morning.

¶7. Next, Andrews drove D. W.'s car to a BP gas station in Bolton, Mississippi. According to D. W., she was still undressed. They saw two Bolton police officers at the gas station. D.W. testified that Andrews took K. W., put him in a car parked behind hers, and told D.W. she had better not "do anything stupid." Then, Andrews spoke to one of the police officers, went inside and paid for D. W.'s gas, and pumped gas into her car. Andrews retrieved K. W., drove D. W.'s car near a pay phone, and told D. W., still undressed, how to get back to Jackson. Andrews then got in a car with another man.

¶ 8. D.W. traveled West on I-20. Around Clinton, Mississippi, Deputy Trey Brister of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department, stopped D.W. for speeding. D.W. told Deputy Brister what happened, but Deputy Brister testified that D.W. told him the gunman's name was Michael Green. D.W. never mentioned the name Michael Green *371 during her testimony. She always referred to the gunman as "Bruce Andrews."

¶ 9. Deputy Brister escorted D.W. to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) in Jackson. While at UMC, Amy Thweatt, a registered nurse and a sexual assault nurse examiner, performed a rape kit on D.W. That rape kit resulted in a positive identification for semen, but no one performed a DNA analysis to connect that finding to Jordan. D.W. later identified Jordan from a photographic lineup.

¶ 10. Deputy Brister contacted the gas station. Howard Shelby, an off-duty police officer with the Bolton Police Department, was working security at the gas station when D.W. stopped. Officer Shelby was still working when Deputy Brister contacted the gas station. Deputy Brister described Andrews/Green.

¶ 11. Officer Shelby remembered D. W.'s car and Officer Shelby also remembered Andrews/Green. However, Officer Shelby knew Andrews/Green as "Jordan." Officer Shelby knew where Jordan lived, so he and Officer Richard Dean went to Jordan's house. When they arrived, Fernando Jones was backing out of Jordan's driveway and Jordan was walking towards his trailer. The officers blocked Jones's car and called to Jordan. Jordan ran into the woods behind his trailer and evaded the two officers. However, Jordan turned himself in the next day.

¶ 12. Jordan pled "not guilty" and the matter proceeded to trial. At trial, Jordan claimed that he did not kidnap D.W. or K.W. Jordan said he avoided the two officers because he was on probation and had outstanding traffic tickets. He said he ran from the officers because he did not know what Officers Shelby and Dean wanted. He admitted that he was in D. W.'s car that night, as was K. W., but he claimed that he did not kidnap them. Jordan testified that D. W., his girlfriend, consented to, if not desired, his presence. Jordan claimed that, on previous occasion, he kept K.W. when D.W. needed to leave him with someone.

¶ 13. Jordan claimed that he did not force oral sex, sodomy, or intercourse on D.W. Jordan said he had intercourse with D.W. on that night, but Jordan testified that D.W. consented. According to Jordan, D.W. was his girlfriend at the time, though he had numerous girlfriends.

¶ 14. Jordan presented a "scorned woman" defense. Jordan claimed D.W. invented the charges because she got mad at him. According to Jordan, D.W. wanted Jordan to commit to a monogamous relationship with her and her only. However, Jordan had many girlfriends and did not want to commit. Jordan's defense strategy centered on the notion that D.W. said she would get even with him for his decision to avoid commitment. Further, the theory of Jordan's defense rested on the proposition that D.W. invented the charges against him as a method of revenge.

¶ 15. Jordan presented evidence that corroborated his version. Jordan testified that he knew D.W. and K.W. well before the events detailed above.

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Bluebook (online)
936 So. 2d 368, 2005 WL 2980738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-state-missctapp-2005.