State v. Harris

678 S.W.2d 473, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2788
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 22, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 678 S.W.2d 473 (State v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Harris, 678 S.W.2d 473, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2788 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

DUNCAN, Judge.

The defendant, James Norman Harris, was convicted of aggravated sexual battery and received a penitentiary sentence of not less than five (5) years nor more than five (5) years. On appeal he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, claims that the venue of the crime was not proven, alleges the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the case, and asserts that he should have been sentenced by the trial judge rather than by the jury. We find no merit to these complaints.

The victim of this crime, a five (5) year old girl — six (6) years old at the time of the trial — was the step-grandchild of the defendant at the time the offense occurred.1 The victim testified that she and her mother were living with her grandmother and the defendant in the grandparents’ home during the summer of 1982. She testified that one morning when her mother and grandmother had gone to work, the defendant got on top of her, lying face to face with her, and went up and down on her while he rubbed his “paw paw” on her. She confirmed, on direct examination, that “paw paw” referred to the defendant’s private parts. The victim demonstrated to the jury, by pointing to the vaginal area of her own body where the defendant had rubbed his private parts on hers.

The young victim testified that she thought the defendant kept his clothes on, and thought he took his private parts out where she could see them. She also stated he touched her private parts with his hands, and she thought the defendant went inside her clothing to do so. She said that after the incident, the defendant went to the bathroom to wash, and that he told her not to 'tell anyone about what happened.

The victim’s mother, Mary Weathers, testified that she and her daughter were living with the defendant and her mother in Gibson County from March to the “[ljast of June — first of July,” 1982. She said that “about three (3) weeks” after they moved out, her little girl became extremely upset and told her about the defendant’s attack on her.

The defendant testified and denied that he sexually assaulted the victim.

The jury accredited the testimony of the State’s witnesses. We find the evidence to be sufficient to meet the evidentia-ry requirements of T.R.A.P. 13(e) and Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

The defendant also claims that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the offense occurred in Gibson County. There is no merit to the claim.

The victim’s mother, Mary Weathers, testified that she and her daughter moved to Gibson County to live with her mother and step-father in March, 1982. The victim testified that this offense occurred while she was living with her grand[475]*475mother and the defendant. Venue may be established by a preponderance of the evidence and it is not necessary that it be shown beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Baker, 639 S.W.2d 670, 672 (Tenn.Cr.App.1982). Also, venue may be proven by circumstantial evidence. Gilliland v. State, 187 Tenn. 592, 216 S.W.2d 323 (1948). We find that under the evidence in this case the jury was clearly warranted in finding that the crime was committed in Gibson County.

The defendant next argues that the State was also obligated to prove that the offense occurred within that portion of Gibson County which falls within the jurisdiction of the Gibson County Circuit Court, rather than the jurisdiction of the Humboldt Law Court. We disagree.

The Humboldt Law Court was created by chapter 22, 1868-1869 Tenn.Pub.Acts, which reads in pertinent part as follows:

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the Law Court of Humboldt has general common law jurisdiction, original and appellate, in all cases at law, of a civil or criminal character, arising in the civil districts named in the first section of this Act, and that no resident of said districts shall be sued in the Circuit Court of Gibson County, nor presented or indicted therein, unless the offense was committed in the county out of said districts. Where the court has the jurisdiction of the cause of action, counterparts of writs may issue from said court for joint defendants residing out of said districts.

Pursuant to this Act, criminal cases arising from the civil districts within the jurisdiction of the Humboldt Law Court are tried in that court.

First, as we have found, the State met its burden in establishing venue of the crime, thus fulfilling the requirement of Art. 1, § 9 of the Tennessee Constitution that a defendant shall have the right to trial “by an impartial jury of the county in which the crime shall have been committed.” Therefore, no constitutional right of the defendant has been abridged.

Second, the evidence established that the house in which the crime occurred was located between the cities of Trenton and Rutherford, Tennessee. We may take judicial notice that this area of Gibson County is not within any of the civil districts that comprise the jurisdiction of the Humboldt Law Court; rather, this area of Gibson County lies within one of the civil districts within the jurisdiction of the Gibson County Circuit Court. Therefore, as we see it, the record demonstrates the jurisdictional authority of the trial court to try the defendant’s case.

Third, the Gibson County Circuit Court is a court of general jurisdiction and is authorized to try criminal cases. The law is that where a court exercises general jurisdiction, then there is a presumption that no jurisdictional defect exists in the absence of an affirmative showing to the contrary. New York Casualty Company v. Lawson, 160 Tenn. 329, 24 S.W.2d 881, 883 (1930); Richardson v. Mitchell, 34 Tenn.App. 318, 237 S.W.2d 577 (1950); Brewer v. Griggs, 10 Tenn.App. 378, 394 (1929). Thus, since the trial court was authorized to try criminal cases and properly had the defendant before it, then it will be presumed that the trial court had jurisdiction of the defendant and the subject matter of his trial, and with nothing in the record to show a lack of jurisdiction, it follows that the defendant is in no position to assert that the trial court was without jurisdiction over his case. See Bomar v. Stewart, 201 Tenn. 480, 300 S.W.2d 885 (1957); see also Shepard v. Henderson, 1 Tenn.Cr.App. 694, 449 S.W.2d 726 (1969).

The defendant has not affirmatively shown, nor, as we have said, does it affirmatively appear from the record, that the defendant was tried in the wrong court. To the contrary, the record satisfactorily shows, as we have indicated heretofore, that the defendant was tried in the proper court. As a matter of fact, the defendant does not even contend that he was tried in the wrong court. His position is merely that the State was required to affirmative[476]*476ly prove that the Gibson County Circuit Court was the court of proper jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
678 S.W.2d 473, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harris-tenncrimapp-1984.