Nelson v. State

2011 Ark. 429, 384 S.W.3d 534, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 516
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 13, 2011
DocketNo. CR 11-336
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 2011 Ark. 429 (Nelson 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
Nelson v. State, 2011 Ark. 429, 384 S.W.3d 534, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 516 (Ark. 2011).

Opinion

DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice.

11Appellant, Brian N. Nelson, appeals the judgment of the Grant County Circuit Court convicting him of four counts of sexual assault of a minor and sentencing him consecutively to 672 months’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. For reversal, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the constitutionality of the Arkansas Rape Shield Statute, Ark.Code Ann. § 16-42-101 (Repl.1999); he also contends that his custodial statement should have been excluded and that evidence regarding the victim’s character for truthfulness should have been admitted. As the constitutionality of the rape-shield statute is challenged, our jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1 — 2(a)(1) and (a)(8) (2011). We affirm.

Appellant was charged with various counts and degrees of sexual assault against a minor. The victim, C.F., was a boy who was fourteen years old at the time of the assaults in 2008. C.F. testified at trial that on three separate occasions Appellant and he engaged in various forms of sexual conduct including masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex. Appellant also testified at trial, giving a slightly different version of events, but admitting to three occasions Rin which he and C.F. engaged in masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex. Both C.F. and Appellant testified that the two were neighbors, that Appellant hired C.F. to mow his yard, and that C.F. had spent the night in Appellant’s home at the invitation of Appellant’s then ten-year-old son. A Grant County jury convicted Appellant on four counts of sexual assault. Appellant presents four arguments for reversal of the judgment entered pursuant to the jury’s verdict.

Appellant’s first point for reversal is a very narrow and specific challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. At the close of the State’s case, Appellant moved for a directed verdict arguing specifically that the State had failed to prove that Appellant was in a position of trust or authority over C.F. or served as C.F.’s temporary caretaker. The circuit court denied the motion, recalling that there had been testimony that Appellant agreed and C.F.’s parents agreed that C.F. could spend the night at Appellant’s home. The circuit court reasoned that the jury could use its collective wisdom to consider that testimony and determine if Appellant then became the temporary caretaker of C.F. At the close of all the evidence, Appellant renewed his motion for directed verdict as to the issue of Appellant being a temporary caretaker or person in position of trust and authority over C.F. The circuit court denied the renewed motion.

We treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Vance v. State, 2011 Ark. 392, 384 S.W.3d 515. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and considers only the evidence that supports the verdict. Id Substantial evidence is that evidence |swhich is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the other, without resorting to speculation or conjecture. Id

As relevant to this argument on appeal, Appellant was convicted of sexual assault in the first degree, a violation of Ark.Code Ann. § 5-14-124(a)(3) (Repl.2006), and of sexual assault in the second degree, a violation of Ark.Code Ann. § 5-14-125(a)(4)(A)(iii) (Repl.2006).1 Under both statutes, the State had the burden of proving that at the time of the assault, Appellant was a “temporary caretaker” of the victim, or a “person in a position of trust or authority” over the victim. On appeal, Appellant contends that the evidence of these two statutory terms is insufficient because, although there was testimony that Appellant’s then ten-year-old son had invited C.F. to spend the night at Appellant’s home, nothing was offered to show that C.F.’s parents prearranged the circumstances of C.F.’s care while he stayed the night in Appellant’s home.

This court observed in Bowker v. State, 363 Ark. 345, 214 S.W.3d 243 (2005), that the General Assembly had not defined these two statutory terms and that no Arkansas cases had defined these terms, thus the rules of statutory interpretation should be used in determining their meaning. This court went on to say as follows:

Until the legislature defines the term, we must look to the plain meaning of the term, “temporary caretaker.” “Temporary” is defined as “lasting for a time only; existing or continuing for a limited (usually short) time; transitory.” Black’s Law \¿Dictionary 1504 (8th ed.1999). “Caretaker,” which is also defined as “caregiver,” means “a person, usually not a parent, who has and exercises custodial responsibility for a child or for an elderly or. disabled person.” Black’s Law Dictionary 225 (8th ed.1999).
Further, on the issue of temporary caretaker, we are guided by the court of appeals’ reasoning in Murphy v. State, 83 Ark.App. 72, 117 S.W.3d 627 (2003). Murphy and Ray were convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a sixteen-year-old boy. On appeal, Murphy and Ray challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, which required the State to prove their status as temporary caretakers or persons in a position of trust or authority of the victim. The court of appeals cited with approval People v. Secor [279 Ill.App.3d 389, 216 Ill.Dec. 126], 664 N.E.2d 1054 (Ill.App.1996), for the definition of a person in a position of trust or authority in relation to the victim, and stated:
In Secor, the court affirmed a conviction of sexual assault against a fourteen-year-old victim who was spending the night with the appellant’s son in their home. The appellant was not a stranger to the victim, but rather a friend and neighbor of the victim’s family. The court determined that although the appellant and victim were not related, their relationship raised a strong inference of trust and supervision; and further, that the appellant’s function in that relationship could be characterized, at a minimum, as that of a babysitter or chaperone. This situation is analogous to the instant case. Under the facts of this particular case [Murphy ], we find that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could have determined that the appellants were in a position of trust or authority in relation to the victim.

Id. at 353-54, 214 S.W.3d at 248 (quoting Murphy v. State, 83 Ark.App. 72, 80, 117 S.W.3d 627, 632 (2003)).

In the present case, the testimony was undisputed that Appellant hired C.F. to mow his yard on numerous occasions. It was also undisputed that C.F. spent the night in Appellant’s home at the invitation of Appellant’s son. C.F.’s father testified that on two occasions, he and C.F.’s mother agreed that C.F. could stay the night. C.F.’s father explained that he knew that C.F. had been working for Appellant mowing his yard and that he thought Appellant would take care of C.F. C.F.’s father acknowledged that he never gave any 1 instructions to Appellant on how to care for C.F. other than a request that Appellant refrain from drinking alcohol around C.F.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Matthew Dennis v. State of Arkansas
2025 Ark. App. 410 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2025)
Sanchez-Fuentes v. Garland
Fifth Circuit, 2022
Raul Torres-Garcia v. State of Arkansas
2021 Ark. App. 174 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2021)
Lonnie Ross, Jr. v. State of Arkansas
2020 Ark. App. 464 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2020)
Scotty Joe Scaggs v. State of Arkansas
2020 Ark. App. 142 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2020)
Rowland v. State
2017 Ark. App. 415 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2017)
Schnarr v. State
2017 Ark. 10 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2017)
Alsbrook v. State
2016 Ark. App. 8 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2016)
Nelson v. State
2014 Ark. 28 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2014)
Clayton v. State
2013 Ark. 453 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2013)
Waller v. Banks
2013 Ark. 399 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 Ark. 429, 384 S.W.3d 534, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-state-ark-2011.