State v. Raines

748 S.W.2d 865, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 509, 1988 WL 22106
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 15, 1988
DocketNo. 15153
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 748 S.W.2d 865 (State v. Raines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Raines, 748 S.W.2d 865, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 509, 1988 WL 22106 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

FLANIGAN, Judge.

A jury found defendant James Raines • guilty of rape, § 566.030,1 and sodomy, § 566.060, and he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for each offense, the sentences to run consecutively. Defendant appeals.

Defendant’s first point is that the trial court erred in failing to sustain his motion to dismiss because Count II of the information, on which the sodomy conviction was based, “fails to allege essential elements of the offense of sodomy.”

[866]*866In addition to its formal portions, Count II of the information reads:

“[T]he defendant, in violation of Section 566.060, RSMo, committed the felony of sodomy, punishable upon conviction under Section 566.060.2, RSMo, in that on or about the 16th day of July, 1986, in the County of Greene, State of Missouri, [defendant] had deviate sexual intercourse with S.K., to whom defendant was not married, without the consent of S.K. by the use of forcible compulsion.”

Count II set forth the full name of S.K., the victim.

In State v. Evans, 701 S.W.2d 569, 576-577[8,9] (Mo.App.1985), an information charging sodomy in substantially the same language as Count II of the instant information was held to be sufficient. The court rejected defendant’s argument that the information failed to inform the defendant of the offense with which he stood charged and failed to state plainly and concisely the essential facts constituting the crime. The court pointed out that the information followed the pattern form MACH-CR. 20.08.

The only difference between Count II of the instant information and the information in State v. Evans is that the latter information had the word “forcible” before the word “sodomy.” MACH-CR. 20.08 similarly does not contain the word “forcible” preceding the word “sodomy.” Rule 23.-01(b) sets forth what an information must contain. Count II of the instant information is substantially consistent with MACH-CR. 20.08 and thus, as provided in Rule 23.01(e), it complies with Rule 23.-01(b). Defendant’s first point has no merit.

Defendant’s second point is that the evidence is insufficient to support the rape and sodomy convictions because the testimony of S.K., the prosecutrix, was so contradictory and inconsistent as to require corroboration.

In determining whether the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict, this court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, consider all substantial evidence and all legitimate inferences fairly deducible therefrom tending to support the verdict, and reject contrary and contradictory evidence. State v. Petrechko, 486 S.W.2d 217, 218[1] (Mo.1972). All evidence unfavorable to the state must be disregarded, State v. Summers, 506 S.W.2d 67, 69[1] (Mo.App.1974), except to the extent that the evidence affects defendant’s claim of contradiction and inconsistency-

In a prosecution for rape, corroboration of the victim’s testimony is not required unless that testimony “is so contradictory and in conflict with physical facts, surrounding circumstances, and common experience that its validity is thereby rendered doubtful.” State v. Harris, 620 S.W.2d 349, 353[5] (Mo. banc 1981). Resolution of conflicts of evidence and determination of the credibility of witnesses are jury matters, and this court is to determine only whether there was substantial evidence to be believed by the jury which would sustain a guilty verdict. Id. at 354. The same principles apply to a prosecution for sodomy. State v. Wilson, 361 Mo. 78, 233 S.W.2d 686, 688[4—6] (1950).

The state’s principal witness was S.K., the victim. Only she and defendant were present during the commission of the offenses.

S.K. testified that she and her stepsister K.M. went to Graffiti’s Lounge in Springfield about 9:00 p.m. on July 15, 1986. There they had some drinks. Defendant sat down at their table and bought the two women drinks. K.M. had to go to work at midnight and she asked defendant if he would give S.K. a ride to K.M.’s apartment. Defendant agreed to do so. During the course of the evening defendant bought a rose for S.K.

K.M. went to work around midnight. Thirty minutes later, S.K. and defendant left the lounge in defendant’s pickup truck. Instead of taking S.K. to K.M.’s apartment, defendant drove her to a wooded area.

S.K. testified that defendant stopped the truck and ordered her to take off her clothes. “... He pulled out a black case from his glove box and said if I didn’t do everything that he told me he would kill [867]*867me. State’s Exhibit 4, a black leather case, is the case he pulled out of the glove compartment.”

S.K. further testified that defendant sodomized her and had intercourse with her. The two were at the scene for an hour or an hour and a half, during which time defendant committed several acts of rape and sodomy. At one juncture S.K. told defendant she had to relieve herself and he gave her some tissue which she used and then threw on the ground. S.K. testified that “while everything was going on [defendant] took my purse and kept it over on his side and a lip liner of mine fell out on the ground.” She also testified that defendant threw the rose out on the ground.

After the offenses were completed, defendant drove S.K. to K.M.’s apartment and left her there. S.K. testified that she ran into the apartment “and called the police as fast as I could. I wanted for them to come. I couldn’t get the key out of the door and I was afraid [defendant] was going to come back so they kept me on the line and talked to me until they got there. After I talked to the police I called my father. [Defendant] telephoned and said, ‘Don’t be an idiot.’ The police were there and I tried to hang onto the phone as soon as I knew who it was, but he hung up. I recognized his voice.”

The police took S.K. to a hospital where she was examined. Later that morning the police took S.K. to the scene, where the rose, the tissue, and the lip liner were found. S.K. testified she was not married to defendant and did not know him before that night.

S.K.’s testimony concerning the events at Graffiti’s Lounge was corroborated by K.M. and by the lady who sold the rose to defendant. Police officer Williamson, who was dispatched to K.M.’s apartment at 2:05 a.m., testified that S.K. was there when he arrived and that she was quite upset and said she had been sexually assaulted. While he was talking to S.K., the phone rang and she answered it. The officer testified that S.K. became hysterical and said, “it was him that called.”

A state’s witness who saw S.K. at the hospital at about 3:00 a.m. testified that S.K. was “emotionally distraught.” A registered nurse examined S.K. about 3:00 a.m. and S.K. was “upset and teary eyed.” Officer Claypool accompanied S.K. to the scene on the morning of July 16 and found the rose, the lip liner, and the tissue.

Officer Gary Dulen, who arrested defendant on July 18,1986, advised him of his Miranda rights.

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Bluebook (online)
748 S.W.2d 865, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 509, 1988 WL 22106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-raines-moctapp-1988.