State v. Massey

621 S.E.2d 633, 174 N.C. App. 216, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 2400
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedNovember 1, 2005
DocketCOA04-1443
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 621 S.E.2d 633 (State v. Massey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Massey, 621 S.E.2d 633, 174 N.C. App. 216, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 2400 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

MARTIN, Chief Judge.

Defendant was convicted of five counts of first-degree sexual offense with a child under 13, ten counts of felonious sexual act with a minor over whom he assumed the position of parent residing in the [219]*219home, and four counts of indecent liberties. These verdicts were consolidated for sentencing, and defendant received five consecutive sentences of a minimum of 275 months and a maximum of 339 months. After careful review of the record, we find no error as to defendant’s conviction of five counts of first-degree sexual offense and two counts of felonious sexual act with a minor. However, we must reverse his remaining convictions of felonious sexual act with a minor and indecent liberties convictions, and remand the case for a new trial.

The State presented evidence at trial which tended to show the following: in July 2000, defendant moved in with H.J., her mother Rebecca, and half sister A.T. H. J. was six years old at that time. It was agreed that defendant would be treated as a stepfather. H.J. testified that when she was eight, in September 2002, shortly after the birth of her brother, defendant made her pull off her clothes and get in her mother’s bed with him. He would turn her on her side and “stick his thing in [her] backside,” and that this happened about twenty times. She testified that by “his thing” she meant defendant’s penis.

She further testified that he would touch her breasts, that before he put “his thing” in her “backside” he would lick his fingers and touch her “backside,” and that the same thing would happen in the living room as well as the bedroom. H.J. stated that he asked her to lick his penis, but she refused, and that he licked her breasts and on her “front part.” She also explained that sometimes these acts also occurred in the living room on Sunday, when the race would be on television. H.J. testified that defendant licked her twice, but that it was not at the same time he was putting “his thing” in her “backside”, but afterwards. She explained that her mom found out on 5 June 2003 when A.T. saw defendant “holding on to her”, and told Rebecca, who then talked to H.J. Subsequently, H.J. talked to the sheriffs and went to the hospital for an examination.

Sara Ehlers Dentel, a forensic nurse examiner, testified that she completed a rape kit on H.J. and took photographs of H.J’s vaginal and rectal areas. During her examination, she found what appeared to be bruising and ulcerations inside H.J’s rectum consistent with H.J.’s statements.

Detective Amette Miles testified that she interviewed H.J. regarding the allegations, and H.J. told her that defendant put “his thing” in her “backside” in the master bedroom; that he had licked her vagina twice; that, sometimes prior to placing “his thing” in her “butt,” he [220]*220would spit on his hands and digitally penetrate her; and that on several occasions defendant also did this in the living room on the couch. After taking this statement, Detective Miles testified that she traveled with two other officers to HJ.’s home, where they questioned defendant. After initially denying the allegations, they again asked defendant “if he did it,” and defendant began to cry and nodded his head affirmatively.

Miles testified that defendant gave a statement that prior to 5 June 2003, he had sodomized H.J. at least six times. Miles explained that defendant stated that he had licked H.J. two or three times, that H.J. had licked his penis, but he could not remember how many times, and that sometimes this had taken place in the master bedroom and sometimes in the living room on the couch.

Agent. Suzi Barker, forensic biologist with the State Bureau of Investigation, testified there was semen found on the panties worn by H.J. on 5 June 2003. Agent Brenda Bisset, a forensic DNA examiner, testified that the DNA profile from this semen matched the DNA profile obtained from defendant. Defendant offered no evidence.

On appeal, defendant brings forward assignments of error regarding 1) the sufficiency of the short form indictments; 2) the trial court’s failure to completely instruct the jury concerning several of the counts in the indictments; 3) the trial court’s instructions were based on theories not alleged in the indictments; 4) the deprivation of his constitutional right to jury unanimity due to jury instructions that resulted in ambiguous verdicts; and 5) the violation of his constitutional right to a jury regarding his sentencing in the aggravated range. We address each of these arguments in turn.

I.

Defendant contends the short-form indictments returned in these cases were defective because they failed to allege all the essential elements of the charges. This argument is without merit. Indictments must be sufficient to put defendant on notice of the charges. State v. Kennedy, 320 N.C. 20, 24, 357 S.E.2d 359, 362 (1987). “An indictment is constitutionally sufficient if it apprises the defendant of the charge against him with enough certainty to enable him to prepare his defense and to protect him from subsequent prosecution for the same offense.” State v. McGriff, 151 N.C. App. 631, 634, 566 S.E.2d 776, 778 (2002) (internal citations omitted).

[221]*221In child sex abuse cases, due to the uncertainty of children regarding dates and times, courts are lenient regarding differences between alleged dates and those presented at trial. Id. at 635, 566 S.E.2d at 779. To show prejudice from such leniency, we require that defendants show a deprivation of their defense due to lack of specificity. Id. Moreover, even though short-form indictments do not list all of the elements of a particular crime, their use as charging instruments for statutory sex. offense has been authorized by the legislature. State v. Miller, 159 N.C. App. 608, 613, 583 S.E.2d 620, 623 (2003), aff'd, 358 N.C. 133, 591 S.E.2d 520 (2004). “In general, an indictment couched in the language of the statute is sufficient to charge the statutory offense,” and “need only allege the ultimate facts constituting the elements of the criminal offense and that evi-dentiary matters need not be alleged.” State v. Blackmon, 130 N.C. App. 692, 699, 507 S.E.2d 42, 46, cert. denied, 349 N.C. 531, 526 S.E.2d 470 (1998).

Here, the first-degree sex offense indictments match the form required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15444.2(b); the sex offense in a parental role indictments match the language of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.7; and the indecent liberties indictments match the wording of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-202.1. Therefore, they are sufficient to inform the defendant of the charges against him. In addition, defendant has not shown deprivation of his ability to prepare a defense due to a lack of specificity in the indictments. Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.

II.

Defendant also maintains the trial court erred by instructing jury on theories of guilt not alleged in the indictment because the date and time periods in the jury instructions were not specified in the indictments. We disagree.

The fact that a crime was committed on a date other than that which is alleged in the indictment “is not fatal” and “a variance between allegation and proof as to time is not material where no statute of limitations is involved,” Blackmon, 130 N.C. App.

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State v. Massey
621 S.E.2d 633 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)

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621 S.E.2d 633, 174 N.C. App. 216, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 2400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-massey-ncctapp-2005.