State v. Grinolds

827 P.2d 686, 121 Idaho 673, 1992 Ida. LEXIS 36
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 27, 1992
DocketNo. 18146
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 827 P.2d 686 (State v. Grinolds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Grinolds, 827 P.2d 686, 121 Idaho 673, 1992 Ida. LEXIS 36 (Idaho 1992).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The information charged defendant with two counts of rape, alleging that the victim was under the age of eighteen, and also that sexual intercourse was accomplished by force in violation of sections (1) and (3) of I.C. § 18-6101. The second count was allegedly “separate and distinct temporally and physically from the act described in Count I.” Grinolds pled not guilty. He was tried jointly with codefendant Lonnie Powers. The jury found him guilty of only statutory rape, but also found that he had in fact committed two separate and distinct acts of intercourse with the victim. He was sentenced to a term of four years fixed and eight years indeterminate on Count I, and to a term of one year fixed and two years indeterminate on Count II, with the sentence on Count I to run consecutively to the sentence on Count II.

On November 27, 1988, Grinolds, Powers, and two friends gathered at Grinolds’ mobile home for a party. Early in the evening the victim, a fourteen-year-old girl, joined the party, and they all consumed alcohol. Later, they left Grinolds’ home and went to a bar where they continued to drink. The girl testified that her drinks were purchased by Grinolds, and that he handed them to her. She testified that she remembered leaving the bar but remembered nothing else until she awoke in a bedroom in Grinolds’ trailer with Grinolds having sexual intercourse with her. She did not remember how her clothes were removed. She testified that she told Grinolds “no,” but after struggling with him, “gave up.” She testified that Powers then had sexual intercourse with her, and then Grinolds had intercourse with her again. Tr. Vol. I, 150-53.

Also present in the trailer were Garry Bostick and James Teal. Bostick testified to a sequence of events as follows: the four men returned from a bar to the trailer without the girl and then later went out for a joy ride which included purposely driving over some street signs, after which they returned to the trailer; Bostick discovered the girl naked in bed in the bedroom and quickly so informed the others; Grinolds [675]*675and Powers went to the bedroom, and after a few minutes Bostick went to the bedroom and saw Grinolds having sexual intercourse with the girl; Bostick returned to the front room, and a few minutes later Grinolds and Powers came out; after the passing of an unspecified amount of time Grinolds and Powers returned to the bedroom; Bostick went to the bedroom a few minutes later and saw Grinolds again having sexual intercourse with the girl and observed the girl perform fellatio on Powers. Tr. Vol. I, 62-74.

Grinolds contends that his constitutional and statutory protection against double jeopardy was violated by reason of being charged with and convicted of two separate acts of rape that were not separate in time or place. He asserts that he engaged in only one act of sexual intercourse, during which he stopped, and then after a brief interruption, he continued the act. The State contends that the testimony of its witnesses established that Grinolds had sexual intercourse with the girl, that Powers then had intercourse with her, which was followed by another act of intercourse between Grinolds and the girl. Because the jury by its verdict acquitting Powers of the charge of rape found that Powers did not have intercourse with the girl, Grinolds contends that there was no separate intervening act of intercourse, and hence Grinold’s sexual activity with the girl was but one continuing act of intercourse which involved two penetrations of the same person in the same place and on the same day, i.e., a continuing transaction.

Grinolds directs our attention to State v. Estes, 111 Idaho 423, 725 P.2d 128 (1986), where the defendant was convicted of rape and on appeal contended that the trial court erred in its refusal to require the prosecutor to elect which of several acts of sexual intercourse was relied on to prove the crime. The victim testified that the defendant entered her room and raped her four times. This Court held: “Although four acts of sexual penetration occurred, they were part of one continuing transaction. The separate penetrations were not separate acts at different times, in different places, with different actors or circumstances.” State v. Estes, 111 Idaho at 427, 725 P.2d at 132.

Testimony presented at trial in the person of Gary Brent Bostick established to the satisfaction of the jury that Grinolds had intercourse with the girl in the bedroom, then left the bedroom and went to the living room for an unspecified period of time, and then returned to the bedroom and again engaged in sexual intercourse with the girl. The jury was instructed that the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the second act of intercourse was separate and distinct from the act alleged in Count I. Tr. Vol. II, 362.1 The jury was properly instructed, and there is substantial evidence in the record supporting its finding that there were two separate and distinct acts of rape.

The defendant asserts that two instances of prosecutorial misconduct require that his conviction be vacated and the case be remanded for a new trial. One instance occurred when the prosecutor in his closing argument made a reference to the codefendant Powers not taking the stand:

If Lonnie Powers was to be consistent with his opening statement, that is, that he wants to be up front, and he wants to be open and honest with you, and he wants all the truth to come out, then he would have stood here today, through his attorney, and said, find me guilty of lewd conduct.

Tr. Vol. II, 377. Grinolds argues that this statement, although not directed at him, inferentially was a comment reflecting on Grinolds not taking the stand—since he, too, like Powers chose not to testify. In its order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial the district court noted that the closing argument was directed at Powers, not at Grinolds, and that the statement was [676]*676in essence no more than an argument that Powers’ attempt to place culpability on the victim lacked candor. The court further noted that the jury was instructed that they were to draw no inferences from the fact that the defendants did not testify. R. 86. The district court correctly denied Grinolds’ motion for a new trial on this ground.

Grinolds contends that a second instance of prosecutorial misconduct occurred during the state’s cross-examination of a defense witness, Chris Onstott. The defendant asserts that the prosecution asked a series of questions that dealt neither with the subject matter of the direct examination or with the credibility of the witness:

Q (By the prosecutor, Mr. Mosman) Isn’t it true that your acquaintanceship includes a sexual relationship?
A Definitely not.
MR. BOWLES: Your Honor, I’d object to that as being immaterial, irrelevant, and not for any purpose as far as impeachment is concerned as to the testimony of this witness.
THE COURT: Overruled. The answer will stand.
MR. BOWLES: What was the answer?
THE WITNESS: Definitely not.
Q (By Mr. Mosman) Definitely not.
A I’ve never had sex with Jeff.
Q Isn’t true that you were pregnant with his child last fall?

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Bluebook (online)
827 P.2d 686, 121 Idaho 673, 1992 Ida. LEXIS 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grinolds-idaho-1992.