State v. Creviston

735 S.W.2d 91, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4272
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 25, 1987
DocketNo. 14744
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 735 S.W.2d 91 (State v. Creviston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Creviston, 735 S.W.2d 91, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4272 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

FLANIGAN, Judge.

A jury found defendant guilty of sodomy, § 566.060.3,1 and he was sentenced to a term of ten years. Defendant appeals.

Defendant’s first point is that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict and that the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal filed at the close of all the evidence. Specifically, defendant asserts that the state failed to prove that an act of “deviate sexual intercourse” occurred between defendant and S.B., the five-year-old female victim.

“A person commits the crime of sodomy if he has deviate sexual intercourse with another person to whom he is not married who is less than fourteen years old.” Section 566.060.3. “ ‘Deviate sexual inter-

course’ means any sexual act involving the genitals of one person and the mouth, tongue, hand or anus of another person.” Section 566.010.1(2).

Defendant argues that the state failed to prove “that a sexual act occurred involving the genitals of either defendant or S.B. and the mouth, tongue, hand or anus of either of them.” “At most,” says defendant, “S.B.’s testimony demonstrated that defendant may have touched and/or rubbed her vaginal area through her clothing. While such acts may be sufficient to prove a charge of first degree sexual abuse, § 566.100, this evidence has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had deviate sexual intercourse with S.B.”

In determining the validity of defendant's point, this court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, accept all substantial evidence and all legitimate inferences fairly deducible therefrom tending to support the verdict, and reject contrary and contradictory evidence. State v. Petrechko, 486 S.W.2d 217, [93]*93218[1] (Mo.1972). All evidence unfavorable to the state must be disregarded. State v. Summers, 506 S.W.2d 67, 69[1] (Mo.App.1974).

So viewed, the state’s evidence showed that on December 27, 1984, in the late afternoon, S.B., a five-year-old girl, was with defendant, age 38, in defendant’s garage next door to the house where S.B. lived with her parents. S.B. was wearing green overalls.

S.B. testified that defendant “sat me down on his lap and rubbed me back and forth. He spread my legs out. I was sitting on top of [defendant]. I was on his lap. He touched me in my private place (vagina). He rubbed me down there. [Defendant] told me he had a ‘hard belly.’ I felt his hard belly and it felt like hard rock. Defendant touched my ears. Defendant told me to keep it secret and that if I told, they would kill him and make me go to prison.

“Mama came in. I was glad to see her. I was scared. Mama took me home. When I got home I talked to Mama and told her what [defendant] did. Mama took my clothes off and looked at my [vagina]. She put some medicine on it because it was raw. No one else was in the garage at the time this happened but Mama walked in while it was happening. While I was in the garage no parts of my clothing were taken off.”

On cross-examination by defendant’s counsel the following was elicited.

Q. How long did this man have his hand in your pants? Do you remember about how long it was?

A. No.

Q. Do you remember if it was a long time or a short time?

The mother of S.B. testified: “I first noticed S.B. missing late in the afternoon while I was fixing dinner. I went to look for her. She was in the garage with [defendant]. I had some pie pans in my hand. I pushed the door to the garage open with my foot. When I opened the door defendant was sitting in a chair and S.B. was standing between his legs and with her back to me and he had his left arm around her waist and his other hand in front of her. Her body was blocking my actual vision of where his hand would have been. S.B. had a big brownie in her hand. S.B. had a stunned look on her face.

“I took her by the arm and led her home. On the way home she told me that her legs hurt and that she could not walk without hurting. When I got home I took her into the bathroom and asked her if [defendant] had touched her. S.B. told me that [defendant] had touched her twinkie [vagina]. I took her clothing off and removed her panties and saw that she was raw and red and swollen. She was raw and red around the vagina. I examined the inside of the vagina. I did not notice anything unusual inside the vagina. She had not been penetrated because the hymen was intact and there was no blood. She was red and raw on the vagina and I put medication on her.”

One defense witness, John Glore, testified, on direct examination, that the victim’s mother told the witness that she saw “the defendant and her daughter in close proximity of one another with the defendant having ahold of the daughter.”

From the foregoing evidence the jury was entitled to find that the defendant rubbed S.B.’s vagina, causing it to become “raw, red and swollen,” and that he accomplished the rubbing by having his hand in her pants. The jury was entitled to find that this was a sexual act involving the genitals of S.B. and the hand of defendant. It is unnecessary to determine whether the evidence was also sufficient to support a finding that there was a sexual act involving the hand of S.B. and the genitals of defendant. There was also evidence that S.B. was less than 14 years old and unmarried. This court holds the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict. Defendant’s first point has no merit.

Defendant’s second point is that the trial court erred in giving Instruction 7 because the instruction “submitted a definition of ‘sodomy’ in violation of the Notes on Use to the verdict director, MAI-CR2d 20.08.2, in [94]*94that ‘sodomy’ is not one of the words expressly required or permitted to be defined by those Notes on Use and defendant was prejudiced by the instruction because it could only serve to prejudice and confuse the jury.”

This case was tried while MAI-CR2d was in effect. Instruction 7 was a composite of MAI-CR2d 33.00 and the definition of “sodomy” contained in MAI-CR2d 33.01. Defendant does not challenge the accuracy of the definition of sodomy which was contained in Instruction 7. His position is that the trial court erred in giving any definition of sodomy by an instruction separate from the verdict-director.

Instruction 7, in addition to stating what constitutes sodomy as defined in § 566.-060.3 (deviate sexual intercourse with another person to whom [defendant] is not married who is less than 14 years old), also contained the definition based on § 566.-060.1 (deviate sexual intercourse with another person to whom [defendant] is not married, without that person’s consent by the use of forcible compulsion).

Defendant’s contention that the trial court erred in giving Instruction 7 is well taken and the state concedes the error. “Whenever there is an MAI-CR instruction ... applicable under the law to the facts, the MAI-CR instruction ... shall be given or used to the exclusion of any other on the same subject.” Rule 28.02(c). “Giving ... an instruction ... in violation of this Rule, or any applicable Notes on Use, shall constitute error, its prejudicial effect to be judicially determined.” Rule 28.02(e).

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Related

State v. Harrell
342 S.W.3d 908 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2011)
State v. Lane
791 S.W.2d 947 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
Creviston v. State
787 S.W.2d 875 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Bright
782 S.W.2d 91 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Potter
747 S.W.2d 300 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Taylor
735 S.W.2d 412 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
735 S.W.2d 91, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-creviston-moctapp-1987.