Sims v. State

127 So. 3d 307, 2013 WL 6438930, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 861
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided December 10, 2013·No. No. 2012-KA-01427-COA·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

IRVING, P.J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A Yazoo County jury convicted Julian Sims of gratification of lust, kidnapping, statutory rape, and sexual battery. The circuit court sentenced Sims as a habitual offender to fifteen years for the gratification-of-lust conviction, thirty years for the kidnapping conviction, thirty years for the statutory-rape conviction, and thirty years for the sexual-battery conviction, with all sentences to run concurrently and to be served in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Sims filed a motion for a directed verdict, a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), and a motion for a new trial. The circuit court denied all three motions. Feeling aggrieved, Sims appeals and argues that the circuit court erred in denying his motions because the evidence is insufficient to support the verdicts and the verdicts are against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. One day in October 2010, fourteen-year-old Sara1 went to visit with Georgia May Carter, Diane Moore, and Lillian2 at the house the three women shared. Sims, Moore’s boyfriend, was sitting on the front porch of the house that day. After Sara knocked on the front door, Sims told her to go in. She went in and called out to Carter and Lillian, but neither answered. She looked around to see if anyone was home, but no one was there. Sims came into the house and locked the door behind him. When Sara tried to leave, Sims told her that she was not going anywhere. Sims then grabbed her by her arm, pushed her over a chair, put a condom on, pulled down her underwear, and inserted his penis into her rectum. Sara told Sims to stop and attempted to push him off of her. After Sims finished assaulting her, he told Sara not to tell anyone, and she did not at that time.

¶ 4. Skylah Fanroy testified that on the day of the October incident, she and Sara were walking down the street together, and Sara said that she was going to see if Carter was home. Fanroy stated that Sara asked Sims if Carter was home, and he responded that she was. Sara then walked into the house, and Sims walked in behind her.

115. Carter testified that Sims had been living at the house with her and her granddaughter, Moore, for about two weeks before he was arrested in December 2010, but he had been coming there to visit Moore for about two months prior to his arrest. Moore testified that Sims did not begin living or visiting with her at the house, where the October incident occurred, until November 2010. She also stated that when no one was there, they would lock the doors.

¶ 6. In December 2010, Sims approached Sara’s house while her younger brother, Jared, played outside. Sims, claiming that he had a toothache, asked Jared if Sara had any pain pills. Jared went inside and [310] told Sara that Sims was outside. When Sara went outside with Jared, Sims asked her for the pills, then asked her if she would walk him to the stop sign down the street. Sara told Sims that she did not know what he was talking about regarding the pills and would not walk with him to the stop sign. He then grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down the street and into an alley, with Jared following them. He told Jared to “watch his back.” Sims pulled out his penis, put Sara’s hand on it, and told her that he was going to get her pregnant. Sims starting kissing Sara on her mouth and neck. After Sims let her go, Sara and Jared went home. Jared told their mother what happened. Their mother called their father, who called the police. Sara testified that she did not tell anyone about the incidents because she was afraid for her life.

¶ 7. Jared’s testimony corroborated Sara’s testimony regarding the December incident. He added that, during the incident, Sims told Sara, “This [is] what you [are] gonna get.” He stated that Sara kept trying to pull away from Sims, but Sims held her hand tight.

¶ 8. Dr. Farhan Nafis examined Sara after the December incident. Dr. Nafis testified that he had performed a physical exam but not a pelvic exam because Sara did not complain of any pain or discomfort in her pelvic area. Dr. Nafis also stated that because the October incident had occurred two months prior to the examination, any evidence of trauma to Sara’s rectum would have healed by then.

¶ 9. Sims testified that the October incident never occurred. However, he stated that he did go to Sara’s house in December and asked Jared if Sara had any pain pills. After Jared told him that Sara was washing dishes, Sims began walking down the street. He stated that Sara called his name, walked toward him, and said that she had some pills, but not with her. Sims stated that he was “about to continue walking],” and that Sara “caught up with him ... at a little jog.” Sims knew that Jared was following them. He stated that Sara hugged him and told him that she had a tooth pulled. He claimed that he tried to console her by hugging her and that she “went in [his] pants and she grabbed [his] private part.” He testified that he did not stop her and that when he let her go, she pulled her hands out of his pants.

¶ 10. Additional facts, as necessary, will be related in the analysis and discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶ 11. Sims argues that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict made at the conclusion of the evidence and his motion for a JNOV. The Mississippi Supreme Court has stated that

in the face of a motion for [a] directed verdict or for [a] judgment notwithstanding the verdict, the critical inquiry is whether the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that [the] accused committed the act charged, and that he did so under such circumstances that every element of the offense existed; and where the evidence fails to meet this test[,] it is insufficient to support a conviction.

Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 886, 843 (¶16) (Miss.2005) (quoting Carr v. State, 208 So.2d 886, 889 (Miss.1968)) (internal quotation marks omitted). The supreme court went on to say that

this inquiry does not require a court to ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt [311] beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

Id. (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)) (internal quotation marks omitted). When the evidence points “in favor of the defendant on any element of the offense with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty,” the judgment must be reversed and rendered. Id. (quoting Edwards v. State, 469 So.2d 68, 70 (Miss.1985)).

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Sims v. State, 127 So. 3d 307, 2013 WL 6438930, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 861 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

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