State v. Orr

698 S.E.2d 633, 389 S.C. 286, 2010 S.C. App. LEXIS 156
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedAugust 11, 2010
Docket4724
StatusPublished

This text of 698 S.E.2d 633 (State v. Orr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Orr, 698 S.E.2d 633, 389 S.C. 286, 2010 S.C. App. LEXIS 156 (S.C. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

LOCKEMY, J.

Harold Orr, III appeals his convictions for first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act upon a minor, arguing the trial court erred in (1) denying his motion for a mistrial, (2) limiting his cross-examination of *288 Sheila Sheppard, and (3) failing to require Officer Paulson to testify at trial pursuant to Rule 6, SCRCrimP. We affirm.

FACTS

Orr was indicted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act upon a minor in Charleston County. The State alleged Orr sexually assaulted his wife’s nine-year-old granddaughter (the victim) on November 25, 2003. 1 At trial, the victim testified Orr sexually assaulted her while she was sleeping on the couch in the home Orr shared with her grandmother. According to the victim, Orr removed her shorts, pushed her underwear to the side, and began “licking” her “private part.” Sheila Sheppard, Orr’s wife and the victim’s grandmother, testified she walked into the living room and saw Orr “having oral sex” with the victim. Sheppard stated she then hit Orr on the head with a cordless telephone and he ran out of the house.

While police officers were on the scene, Orr returned to the house. When he entered, the victim and Sheppard both identified him as the person who assaulted the victim, and he was taken into custody. The victim was transported to the hospital for a sexual assault examination. Other than a small abrasion near the hymen, the victim’s examination was normal. The victim’s clothes were taken into evidence and later testing by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) indicated the presence of saliva and male DNA in the victim’s underwear. Further testing revealed Orr’s DNA matched the DNA found in the victim’s underwear. The jury found Orr guilty of first-degree ciiminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act upon a minor. Orr was given concurrent sentences of twenty-five years’ imprisonment for the criminal sexual conduct charge and fifteen years’ imprisonment for the lewd act charge. This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In criminal cases, the appellate court sits to review errors of law only. State v. Baccus, 367 S.C. 41, 48, 625 *289 S.E.2d 216, 220 (2006). Thus, this court is bound by the trial court’s factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. Id. “On review, this [c]ourt is limited to determining whether the circuit court abused its discretion.” State v. Simmons, 384 S.C. 145, 158, 682 S.E.2d 19, 26 (Ct.App.2009). “This [c]ourt does not reevaluate the facts based on its own view of the preponderance of the evidence but simply determines whether the circuit court’s ruling is supported by any evidence.” Id.

LAW/ANALYSIS

I. Motion for Mistrial

Orr argues the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial. We find this issue is not preserved for our review.

Officer Austin Rogers of the North Charleston Police Department testified Orr returned to the house while he and another officer were still on the scene. Officer Rogers testified:

Rogers: I approached Mr. Orr, who after — I don’t know if I can say what he said to me—
Solicitor: No. That’s hearsay.

Officer Rogers then testified he placed Orr under investigative detention and escorted him out of the house and into his patrol car. Later, during cross-examination, Orr requested an in camera hearing. During the hearing, Orr read a portion of the transcript from the Jackson v. Denno hearing at his first trial, at which Officer Rogers testified Orr told him “he just wanted to straighten things out,” and that he “didn’t do anything.” Orr informed the trial court he wanted to ask Officer Rogers about Orr’s statement in order to elicit that specific response. The State argued Orr’s statement was hearsay. Orr maintained his statement was an excited utterance, and thus, an exception to the hearsay rule. Orr argued his statement was an excited utterance because he was under stress after being accused of sexually assaulting the victim and seeing the police at his house.

The trial court sustained the State’s objection to the admission of Orr’s statement and ruled it was not an excited utterance. The trial court found it was not an excited utter *290 anee because if it were then any self-serving statement made “at or near the time of an arrest ... would qualify for admission under the excited utterance exception.” Orr then expressed concern over the jury’s impression after Officer Rogers was not allowed to testify as to what Orr said upon entering the house. The trial court agreed to give the jury a curative instruction. Orr declined a curative instruction, arguing it would only draw more attention to the issue. Subsequently, Orr made a motion for a mistrial.

On appeal, Orr maintains the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial. By rejecting the trial court’s offer to give a curative instruction, Orr waived any challenge to Officer Rogers’ testimony on appeal. See Cock-N-Bull Steak House, Inc. v. Generali Ins. Co., 321 S.C. 1, 11, 466 S.E.2d 727, 732 (1996) (finding party waived right to complain of error when trial court’s offer of curative instruction refused); see also State v. Tucker, 324 S.C. 155, 169, 478 S.E.2d 260, 267 (1996) (finding issue unpreserved when defendant refused trial court’s curative instruction); State v. Watts, 321 S.C. 158, 164, 467 S.E.2d 272, 276 (Ct.App.1996) (“In rejecting the trial court’s offer to strike the testimony or give a curative instruction, [the defendant] waived any complaint he had to the challenged testimony.”). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s decision to deny Orr’s motion for a mistrial.

II. Cross-Examination of Sheppard

Orr argues the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to cross-examine Sheppard regarding allegations of infidelity in their marriage. We disagree.

During his cross-examination of Sheppard, Orr requested an in camera hearing to proffer testimony regarding infidelity allegations in his marriage to Sheppard. Orr argued it was his intent to show there was distrust in the marriage and that Sheppard had a bias against him. During the in camera hearing, Sheppard admitted she had accused Orr of cheating; however, she testified Orr had never accused her of cheating. Orr then read Sheppard’s testimony from the transcript of his first trial at which Sheppard admitted Orr had accused her of cheating. When asked whether her previous testimony was accurate, Sheppard testified: “[Orr] never accused me of *291 cheating.

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Related

State v. Watts
467 S.E.2d 272 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1996)
State v. Page
663 S.E.2d 357 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2008)
State v. Haselden
577 S.E.2d 445 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 2003)
State v. Simmons
682 S.E.2d 19 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2009)
State v. Tucker
478 S.E.2d 260 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1996)
State v. Moore
593 S.E.2d 608 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 2004)
State v. Baccus
625 S.E.2d 216 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 2006)
Cock-N-Bull Steak House, Inc. v. Generali Insurance
466 S.E.2d 727 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
698 S.E.2d 633, 389 S.C. 286, 2010 S.C. App. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-orr-scctapp-2010.