State of West Virginia v. Jack Jones

742 S.E.2d 108, 230 W. Va. 692, 2013 WL 1500587, 2013 W. Va. LEXIS 319
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 2013
Docket11-1504
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 742 S.E.2d 108 (State of West Virginia v. Jack Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of West Virginia v. Jack Jones, 742 S.E.2d 108, 230 W. Va. 692, 2013 WL 1500587, 2013 W. Va. LEXIS 319 (W. Va. 2013).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

This ease is before this Court upon the appeal of Jack Jones from his convictions in the Circuit Court of Ohio County of six counts of sexual assault in the first degree, seven counts of sexual abuse by a custodian or parent and one count of conspiracy. All of the convictions represented acts of sexual misconduct perpetrated by Jones against a child, R.M.1 According to the evidence of the State, Jessica M., the mother of R.M., participated with Jones in some of the acts of sexual misconduct against R.M. Jessica M.’s criminal convictions concerning R.M. were affirmed by this Court in State v. Jessica Jane M., 226 W.Va. 242, 700 S.E.2d 302 (2010).

Following trial by jury in 2009, the circuit court entered an order denying Jones’s post-trial motions and sentencing him to an aggregate penitentiary term of 161 to 355 years. The circuit court reimposed that sentence by order entered on September 30, 2011.

Asking for a new trial, Jones sets forth several assignments of error, among which is his contention that his confrontation and due process rights were violated because he was not permitted to let the jury know that the complaining witness, R.M., had made various statements that sexual misconduct had been perpetrated against her by individuals other than Jones. Jones asserts that evidence of R.M.’s statements implicating others should have been admitted at trial as an exception to this State’s rape shield statute, W.Va. Code, 61-8B-11 [1986].

In reviewing Jones’s assignments of error, this Court has carefully examined the appendix-record and the briefs and argument of the parties. For the reasons stated herein, we find the assignments of error to be without merit. Accordingly, this Court affirms Jones’s convictions as well as his penitentiary sentence reflected in the September 30, 2011, order.

I. Factual Background

R.M., born in December 1998, is the biological daughter of Jessica M. The biological father has been absent from this State for some time and is not involved in this case. In 2001, Jessica M. began a relationship with the petitioner, Jack Jones, an adult male born in 1970. Jones lived at Jessica M.’s residence in the Wheeling area from time to time and is the putative father, with Jessica M., of two children, Molly, born in 2003, and Isaac, born in 2005. Throughout the relationship between Jessica M. and Jones, drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence took place at the residence in the presence of the children. As a result, the circumstances necessitated the continued involvement of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and its office of Child Protective Services.

In 2006, the Department of Health and Human Resources instituted abuse and neglect proceedings in the Circuit Court of Ohio County against Jessica M. and Jones on grounds unrelated to the sexual misconduct charges underlying this appeal. One of the primary allegations in the abuse and neglect proceeding was that, while under the influence of an illegal substance, Jessica M. drove away in a vehicle, leaving one of the infant children, age two, on the sidewalk. Soon after, R.M., Molly and Isaac were placed in foster care. The record indicates that Jessica M.’s parental rights to R.M. were terminated in November 2007.

At age seven, R.M. entered the foster home of Sally Keefer and was seen exhibiting age-inappropriate sexual knowledge and sexual conduct, such as “French kissing.” Soon after, R.M. told Ms. Keefer that she had been sexually abused by Jessica M. and Jones. Following the disclosure, R.M. underwent a number of interviews and counseling and therapy sessions during which she related to social workers, Child Protective [696]*696Services workers and psychologists various incidents of sexual misconduct perpetrated against her by Jessica M. and Jones.

II. Procedural Background

In January 2008, an Ohio County grand jury returned separate indictments against Jessica M. and Jones, charging them with committing sexual offenses against R.M.2 The indictment against Jones set forth six counts of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of W.Va.Code, 61-8B-3(a)(2) [1991], and seven counts of sexual abuse by a custodian or parent in violation of W.Va.Code, 61-8D-5 [1998]. Those counts charged Jones with a wide variety of acts of sexual misconduct against R.M. over a period of time, when R.M. was age 11 or younger. An additional count charged Jones with conspiracy in violation of W.Va.Code, 61-10-31 [1971], alleging that Jones engaged in sexual intercourse or intrusion with R.M., while Jessica M. held R.M. down.

Following a mistrial in June 2009, Jones’s second trial began in December 2009. The evidence submitted by the State was graphic. According to that evidence, Jones had been sexually assaulting or sexually abusing R.M. since she was three or four years old. Some of the incidents occurred when Jessica M. was absent from the residence, and some occurred with Jones committing the act while Jessica M. held R.M. down on the bed. The acts attributed to Jones included vaginal and anal penetration of R.M. with Jones’s penis, penetration by Jones of R.M. with his fingers and with a stick, oral sex by Jones upon R.M. and oral sex by R.M. upon Jones. In addition, R.M. witnessed Jessica M. and Jones having sex and was exposed to pornographic movies. The evidence of the State included the testimony of Joan Phillips, M.D., of Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston who examined R.M. and found “blunt force penetrating trauma” to R.M.’s vagina. At the time of the December 2009 trial, R.M., who testified as a witness for the State, was age ten.

Although Jones did not testify, he called a psychologist to the stand who stated that as a result of excessive interviews by social workers, Child Protective Services workers and other psychologists, it could not be determined whether R.M., a young child, was able to accurately report that sexual offenses were committed against her. In addition, Jones called R.M.’s grandmother and aunt who testified that R.M. never disclosed to them any sexual misconduct by Jones. In addition, Jones called Stephen R. Guertin, M.D., who contested the findings of abnormality found by Dr. Phillips.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Jones guilty of six counts of sexual assault in the first degree, seven counts of sexual abuse by a custodian or parent and one count of conspiracy. Thereafter, the circuit court entered an order denying Jones’s post-trial motions and sentencing him to an aggregate penitentiary term of 161 to 355 years.3 The circuit court reimposed the sentence by order entered on September 30, 2011.

This appeal followed.

III. Standard of Review

Although the assignments of error set forth by Jones require the application of separate and distinct standards of review, we note the following general standard in view of Jones’s request for a new trial:

In reviewing challenges to findings and rulings made by a circuit court, we apply a two-pronged deferential standard of review. We review the rulings of the circuit court concerning a new trial and its conclusion as to the existence of reversible error under an abuse of discretion standard, and we review the circuit court’s underlying factual findings under a clearly erroneous [697]*697standard.

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Bluebook (online)
742 S.E.2d 108, 230 W. Va. 692, 2013 WL 1500587, 2013 W. Va. LEXIS 319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-west-virginia-v-jack-jones-wva-2013.