State v. Johnson

201 S.W.3d 551, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1360, 2006 WL 2615233
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided September 13, 2006·No. 27168·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

PHILLIP R. GARRISON, Judge.

Ernest Richard Johnson (“Defendant”) was convicted by a jury of forcible sodomy, a violation of Section 566.060. 1 The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Defendant to a term of five years imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing into evidence a condom found in Defendant’s closet. We affirm.

Defendant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial reveals the following.

Seventeen-year-old K.C. (“Victim”) lived with her mother (“Pam”), her twelve-year-old sister (“S.C.”), and her step-father, Defendant. On the morning of May 5, 2004, Victim awoke in her bedroom to find Defendant going through her belongings. Pam had already left for work and S.C. had stayed the night at a friend’s house. Defendant was holding several letters written by Victim’s boyfriend, and he began yelling at her accusing her of “having *554 sex” with her boyfriend. Defendant had also found a pornographic magazine in her bedroom. Victim denied having sex with her boyfriend and she asked Defendant to leave. Defendant told Victim that he did not believe her, and he “wanted to see for his self.” Defendant began to remove Victim’s clothing while she fought him and yelled for him to leave. 2 Amidst the struggle, Victim kicked, hit, scratched and bit Defendant. Despite Victim’s efforts, however, Defendant was able to remove all of her clothes. He then began rubbing her breasts and told her that he was going to find out for himself if she was still a virgin. Defendant unzipped his pants and pulled them down. He then forced Victim’s legs apart and inserted one of his fingers into her vagina. As Defendant continued to rub Victim’s breasts and body, he told her that she had a perfect body and that she and her little sister were the only reason he was staying with Pam. Defendant eventually stopped, but he told Victim that he was going to come back next weekend when Pam and S.C. were gone and finish what he started. He also told Victim he was going to “f--k” her. Victim broke three acrylic nails in the struggle, which lasted approximately forty minutes.

After Defendant left Victim’s room, she tried to call one of her friends, but the phone cord had been disconnected from the wall. Victim contacted a friend using her cell phone, and she was able to get a ride to school, where she told some friends what had happened. Victim left school after her first class and went to the Dallas County Sheriffs Office.

Victim met with Deputy Terry Gentry and told him what had happened that morning. She also gave a written statement. After officers had taken photographs of Victim’s injuries, she was taken to the hospital for an examination. Her pelvic examination was normal and the only injury they found on Victim was a zipper mark on her stomach.

At approximately 4:00 p.m. that same day, officers met Defendant at his home and he agreed to go to the Sheriffs office to talk about what had happened. After being advised of his Miranda rights, Defendant gave an oral statement, which was recorded. In his statement, Defendant said that he had held Victim’s arms when she was trying to slap him, but he denied trying to rape her. Officers photographed Defendant’s injuries consisting of bite marks, scratch marks and bruises around his chest, arms, neck and face. Defendant told officers that Victim had scratched him, but he said the other marks were horse bites from a few days before. Defendant also told officers that they would find a pornographic magazine and a folder containing letters from Victim’s boyfriend on a shelf in his bedroom closet.

After receiving consent from Pam, officers searched her home. They found a folder belonging to Victim in Defendant’s bedroom closet. The folder contained the letters Defendant was holding when he first entered Victim’s bedroom as well as the pornographic magazine he had found. The officers also found a packaged condom under the folder. Defendant never used condoms when he and Pam engaged in intercourse, because Pam had a hysterectomy.

Defendant was subsequently charged with the felony of forcible sodomy, in violation of Section 566.060. Prior to trial, Defendant apologized to Pam and told her “you know, I never cheated on you except *555 for this.” He also told her that he was guilty but he hoped the jury would be lenient because he did not finish what he started. Defendant was tried before a jury and on June 3, 2005, he was found guilty of forcible sodomy. The jury recommended a sentence of five years imprisonment. The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Defendant to five years in the department of corrections. This appeal followed.

In his sole point on appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing into evidence the condom found in Defendant’s closet, because the condom was evidence of other bad acts and was not probative evidence concerning the charged offense. We disagree.

The trial court is vested with broad discretion in determining the admissibility of evidence, and we will not disturb its ruling absent a clear abuse of that discretion. State v. Naasz, 142 S.W.3d 869, 878 (Mo.App. S.D.2004). A trial court abuses its discretion where its ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock the sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration. Id. “On direct appeal, this Court will review the trial court’s determination not for mere error, but for prejudice and will reverse the conviction only if the error is so prejudicial as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial.” State v. Dismang, 151 S.W.3d 155, 161 (Mo.App. S.D.2004).

Defendant argues that “evidence of one condom found in [his] closet was, if at all, of only marginal logical relevance, and not legally relevant, as it was extremely prejudicial and inflammatory.” Defendant further states that there are no allegations that Defendant used a condom during the incident, “so its presence did not tend to prove a matter in issue.” Defendant asserts that the introduction of the condom coupled with Pam’s testimony “painted the picture that [Defendant] was the type of person who might commit extramarital sexual acts because he had a condom in the closet even though he and Pam had never used them[.]”

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State v. Johnson, 201 S.W.3d 551, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1360, 2006 WL 2615233 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

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