State v. Tyrrell

453 N.W.2d 104, 234 Neb. 901, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 95, 1990 WL 41178
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1990
Docket89-366
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 453 N.W.2d 104 (State v. Tyrrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Tyrrell, 453 N.W.2d 104, 234 Neb. 901, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 95, 1990 WL 41178 (Neb. 1990).

Opinion

Caporale, J.

Pursuant to verdicts, defendant-appellant, Gregory B. Tyrrell, was adjudged guilty of first degree sexual assault, in violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-319(l)(a) (Reissue 1989), and burglary, in violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-507 (Reissue 1989). He was thereafter found not to be a mentally disordered sex offender and sentenced to imprisonment for consecutive terms of not less than 16 years 8 months nor more than 50 years for the sexual assault and not less than 6 years 8 months nor more than 20 years for the burglary. Tyrrell asserts the district court erred by (1) receiving the victim’s out-of-court identification of him as her assailant, (2) receiving the victim’s in-court identification of him as her assailant, (3) finding the evidence sufficient to sustain his conviction of burglary, (4) considering in its sentence determinations the suppressed out-of-court statements which Tyrrell had made to police, (5) imposing consecutive rather than concurrent sentences, and (6) otherwise imposing excessive sentences. The record sustaining none of those assigned errors, we affirm.

The victim spent the evening of Monday, September 21, 1987, alone in her Grand Island, Nebraska, apartment ironing and watching television before retiring to bed. Shortly before 3 a.m. on September 22, she awoke to the sound of rustling jeans and footsteps coming down her apartment hallway. She also saw the light from a flashlight moving down the hallway toward the bedroom where she had been sleeping. A male figure then appeared in her bedroom doorway.

The intruder shined his small, yellow pocket flashlight into the victim’s eyes, whereupon she arose and moved to the foot of *903 her bed. She there struggled with the intruder momentarily, and the intruder, who was wearing gloves, struck the victim’s face. As a result, the victim fell back on the bed, at which time the intruder got on top of her and held her down. When the victim continued to scream and fight, the intruder told her he had a gun and to shut up. Fearing that her assailant might kill her, the victim stopped screaming and struggling, and began to closely observe the intruder as he sat on top of her.

The victim testified that as part of her training as a supervisor of a chain of convenience stores, she had been taught how to react in the event of a robbery. She testified that she had also been involved in teaching such procedures and that such training teaches persons to be particularly observant of the details of a robbery and of the description of individuals perpetrating such a crime. The victim testified that she was cognizant of this training in observing the intruder as he sat on top of her on the bed.

She also testified that she has 20/20 vision but wears a single contact lens in her right eye to correct a “slight astigmatism.” While she testified that she was not wearing the lens when she was assaulted, she also testified that the lens is “mainly for the prevention of headaches” and that she has no trouble seeing without it. The victim’s testimony further indicated that an electric light shining through the curtain of a large bedroom window, along with the light from her assailant’s flashlight, which was shining the “entire time” he was in the bedroom, provided enough light for her to observe her assailant.

While still holding her down on the bed, the assailant removed the victim’s panties, the only article of clothing she was wearing at the time. Using his left hand, from which he had removed the glove, the assailant repeatedly penetrated the victim’s vagina. During most of this time, the assailant kept the flashlight in his right hand and also used the right hand to hold the victim down on the bed, “[s]o the light was shining up sometimes even into his face.” At times, the assailant shined the flashlight on the victim’s body. The victim testified that she had a “clear vision” of her assailant’s face while she was being assaulted, and specifically described the clothing which he was wearing.

*904 After 5 to 10 minutes, the assailant stood up and ordered the victim to turn over and lie on her stomach. The victim complied, noticing by looking at her clock radio that it was exactly 3 a.m. As she lay on her stomach, she observed her assailant as he “was fumbling with the buttons trying to unfasten his pants.” The victim “could see him very clearly” and “could see that he didn’t have a gun in any pockets or stuffed in his jeans,” so she decided to fight. She thus stood up, moved to the foot of the bed, and placed one foot on the floor and the other knee on the bed. The assailant then approached her and “stood there with his hands on [her] shoulders for a few seconds and then [she] kicked him between the legs.” The assailant took about three steps back, groaned, looked at the victim, looked at the door, looked back at the victim, and ran out the bedroom door.

With the victim “screaming at the top of [her] lungs” and following him, the assailant ran out of the apartment while attempting to fasten his trousers. The victim had locked the deadbolt lock on her apartment door before retiring, but observed that her assailant “had obviously unlocked the doors before he came into [her] bedroom because all he did was reach out and pull on the knob” when he exited the apartment. The victim continued to pursue her assailant within the well-lighted common area inside the apartment building, at one point meeting him face to face. She then chased him out the outside door of the apartment building. After realizing that she was naked, the victim ran back into her apartment and immediately summoned the police.

Officer Bergmark of the Grand Island Police Department responded to the call and arrived at the victim’s apartment approximately 5 minutes after she had summoned the police. After taking a short time to regain her composure, the victim described the incident and her assailant for Bergmark. Bergmark testified that the victim did not hesitate in answering his questions regarding the description of her assailant, and testified that her answers were “clear and concise.”

The victim testified that before going to bed, she had “definitely locked” the sliding screen door and had attempted to lock the sliding glass door, but because she “had been having *905 some problems with the latch” on the sliding glass door, she could not be sure that it was locked. Before leaving the victim’s apartment, Bergmark inspected the sliding screen door and sliding glass door to the apartment and found that the screen door was unlocked. The victim testified that after she returned to her apartment, she checked the sliding glass door and found that it was not locked, so she “relocked” it.

On September 23,1987, the victim met with Captain Hetrick and Lieutenant Shum of the Grand Island Police Department to create a composite sketch of her assailant. After this sketch had been constructed, she viewed a photographic lineup consisting of an array of six photographs and determined that a picture of her assailant was not included.

On September 28, the victim again met with Hetrick to view another photographic lineup.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
453 N.W.2d 104, 234 Neb. 901, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 95, 1990 WL 41178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tyrrell-neb-1990.