State v. Scott

735 S.W.2d 825, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2532
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 17, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by126 cases

This text of 735 S.W.2d 825 (State v. Scott) 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. Scott, 735 S.W.2d 825, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2532 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, Judge.

The appellant, John E. Scott, was convicted of aggravated rape by a jury of his peers. He was sentenced to serve a term of forty (40) years in the Department of Corrections as a Range I standard offender. After the trial court denied the appellant’s motion for a new trial he appealed to this Court pursuant to Rule 3(b), Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure.

In this Court the appellant raises five (5) issues. These issues question (a) the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, (b) the testimony of an expert witness to the effect the rape of the victim was accompanied with violence, (c) the rulings of the trial court permitting the State to call a rebuttal witness and denying the appellant’s request to call a witness in surrebut-tal, (d) the ruling of the trial court excluding evidence of the “flirtatious conduct” of the victim, and (e) the length of the sentence imposed by the trial court.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In July of 1984 Ms. Binkley, the common law wife of the appellant, injured her foot. The appellant asked the victim’s mother to permit the victim to live with them so the victim could help Ms. Binkley with her household chores during her period of disability. The victim’s mother acceded to the request. The victim was ten (10) years of age.

During her stay the victim was taken to a creek, where people in the community went swimming, by the appellant and his family. While enroute to the creek, the appellant placed his arm around the victim and told her “I’d like to have a set of twins by you.” After arriving at the creek the appellant attempted to “put his hands at the top part of my [the victim’s] body and tried to touch me [the victim] at the bottom in between my legs.”

On the evening in question the appellant instructed the victim to come to his bedroom before supper. He threatened “to take the belt and beat” the victim if she didn’t comply with his request. However, the appellant relented when he discovered the victim was helping Ms. Binkley with supper. Later, when the victim went outside to advise the appellant supper was ready, the appellant, who was clad in his swimming trunks and lying on a blanket under a tree, directed the victim to sit on the blanket with him. He then unclothed the victim and sexually penetrated her. The appellant told the victim: “If you don’t do what I tell you I’m going to beat you.” The victim testified the appellant was drunk when he raped her. When she was permitted to leave, she returned to the house, ate supper, and went to bed.

After the victim had retired for the evening the appellant came to the window of the bedroom she occupied and told her to “come back [outside] or I’m going to beat you.” She complied with these instructions because she was afraid. The appellant raped the victim a second time. The appellant visited the victim’s bedroom later that night and raped her a third time. The victim testified she was sexually penetrated by the appellant on all three occasions.

When the victim advised Ms. Binkley the following afternoon she had been raped by the appellant, Ms. Binkley took the victim to the home of a neighbor, who transported the two of them to the Franklin County Jail. They reported the rapes to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.

An examination at the Franklin County Hospital revealed superficial cuts on the victim’s face, approximately a dozen scratches on her back, a bruise on her right thigh, grass and leaves on the buttock, *827 vaginal area, and the opening to the vagina, and superficial lacerations and abrasions in the posterior portion of the vaginal area. The doctor also found multiple lacerations on the vulva, the lips of the vagina. The hymeneal ring had been recently ruptured. The specimens taken from the victim’s vagina reveal the presence of spermatozoa.

The appellant denied having sexual contact with the victim. He contended he was impotent and incapable of sexual penetration. He denied telling the victim he would like to have twins by her. The defense contended the ten year old victim was “getting even” with the appellant because he threatened to whip her and made her do household chores.

When the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, this Court must review the record to determine if the evidence adduced at trial is sufficient “to support the findings by the trier of fact of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Tenn.R.App.P. 13(e). In making this determination we do not reweigh or reevaluate the evidence. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tenn.1978); State v. Hatchett, 560 S.W.2d 627, 630 (Tenn.1978); State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn.1973); Braziel v. State, 529 S.W.2d 501, 505 (Tenn.Crim.App.1975). To the contrary, we are required to afford the State of Tennessee the strongest legitimate view of the evidence contained in the record as well as all reasonable and legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. State v. Cabbage, supra.

Questions concerning the credibility of witnesses, the weight and value to be given the evidence as well as all factual issues raised by the evidence are resolved by the trier of fact, not this Court. State v. Cabbage, supra; Braziel v. State, supra; State v. Grace, supra. In Grace our Supreme Court said: “A guilty verdict by the jury, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony for the State and resolves all conflicts in favor of the theory of the State.” 493 S.W.2d at 476.

Since a verdict of guilt removes the presumption of innocence and raises a presumption of guilt, State v. Grace, supra, the accused has the burden of proving to this Court that the evidence preponderates in favor of his innocence and against the verdict of guilt returned by the trier of fact. State v. Sneed, 537 S.W.2d 699, 701 (Tenn.1976); Underwood v. State, 604 S.W.2d 875, 877 (Tenn.Crim.App.1979). This Court will not disturb a verdict of guilt unless the evidence contained in the record clearly preponderates against the verdict and in favor of the accused’s innocence. Underwood v. State, supra.

In the case sub judice the appellant has failed to establish that the evidence contained in the record preponderates against the verdict of the jury and in favor of his innocence. There is sufficient evidence contained in the record from which a rational trier of fact can conclude that the appellant is guilty of the offense of aggravated rape beyond a reasonable doubt. Tenn.R.App.P. 13(e); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The evidence clearly establishes that the appellant sexually penetrated the victim, who was less than thirteen (13) years of age, against her will. See State v. Howard,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
735 S.W.2d 825, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-scott-tenncrimapp-1987.